Apprentice Economist Review

Day-to-day responsibilities are very varied as it will depend on what projects you are working on. Becasue Arup are a consultancy, they type of project you can be working on will effect the type of activities you do daily. However, common day-to-day activities involve report writing, economic modelling, researching, bidding for future work, project management and many others.

Yes, I am constantly learning new skills. Constant leaning is core to any apprenticeship and Arup have a good culture around constantly learning and developing new skills. Aside from the things I have learnt at University, I have developed a deep knowledge of the full Microsoft office suite. I have also taken training and had much practice building economic and financial models. Other skills include professional report writing, Business Case development, presentation and interpersonal skills, coding for data science, and client engagement.

I really enjoy my programme. It combines the theoretical learnings from our Economics University Course with the practical applications of economics in the workplace. I understand this experience differs depending on who your employer is for example, if you work for certain government departments your experience of work may be more or less economics focused. However, at Arup there is lots of practical economic experience. However, the main downside is that is can be difficult to get onboarded onto certain projects if you have limited experience.

The programme is reasonably well structured. The Degree is a regular BSc in Economics but spread over 4 years, instead of the normal 3, to account for the fact you're studying one day a week. This spreads out the workload a bit more evenly across the programme and provides clear structure throughout. The structure in the workplace is a bit more ad-hoc as your progression and learning will depend a lot on your own independent work ethic, motivation and access to good project opportunities. Your employer and university try well to interact with one another.

Arup provides a good amount of support to apprentices. You have regular catch ups with your line manager who helps you manage your resourcing as well address any issues you're having, you are also provided with a buddy when you start, to help address any day-to-day questions. Once you have been working for a bit, it also encouraged you to choose a workplace mentor who can provide you with extra advice and experience. However, being onboarded onto different projects is still done on a very ad-hoc basis. It depends on availability and budget, and is up to the individual apprentice to 'find' their own work. It would be better if there was more effort to directly put apprentices onto projects inline with their educational/developmental needs.

The University of Kent provides an adequate amount of support. It is difficult for them to provide lots of support as the course is a distance learning course and takes place primarily online, with one residential week at the beginning of each year and one 'face-to-face' day of lessons per term. Being online, and only having one lecturer for quite a large online cohort, means it can be difficult to get additional support if you need it. You have to be quite independent.

The BSc Economics provides a good theoretical understanding of the concepts that surround economics, and many of the modules have a quantitative focus that helps you dive into the technical elements of the theories. However, as is the nature with economics as a subject, lots of the theoretical principles you learn in classes have little relevance in the real world when it comes to modelling/forecasting etc in the workplace. However, there are modules such as Data, Statistics and Econometrics that have much more relevance to the workplace than the more theoretical modules like Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.

Yes there is a huge verity of extra-curricular activities to get involved in at Arup. There are many sports teams including football, cricket, rugby, climbing etc that meet regularly. There are also trips such as the company ski trip and sports group specific ones such as the climbing trip to the peak district. There are also many company networks for meeting similar people.

Yes

Arup are a good place to work. The culture is one of mutual respect and opportunities. Everyone is very nice and willing to help you learn and develop. There is a huge focus on doing good work that will actually benefit people's lives and not just what is most profitable and the vast variety of work across different sectors means you never get bored doing the same thing.

Really research the company and take an interest in some of the projects they have worked on. Arup have had influence on so many countries and sectors that it is easy to find one or two you are interested in. Then talk about that in your application and/or interview. They like to know that you're passionate about the work they do and how you would like to contribute.