{"id":1946,"date":"2022-03-21T10:12:28","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T10:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/?p=1946"},"modified":"2022-03-21T10:57:57","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T10:57:57","slug":"graduate-apprenticeships-a-potential-route-to-university-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/2022\/03\/21\/graduate-apprenticeships-a-potential-route-to-university-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Apprenticeships \u2013 a potential route to university for all\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Dr Matthew Barr, Programme Director <\/span>for<\/span> the Graduate Apprenticeship in Software Engineering at the University of Glasgow<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n

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Last week, my colleague Anna and I were in a school on the south side of Glasgow to talk to pupils about our Graduate Apprenticeship in Software Engineering. Many of the young people we met were confident in articulating their plans for life after school, and several were already considering university or college. Others were less certain. Was university for them? What does it mean to go to university? Shouldn\u2019t they get a job instead?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In some schools, pursuing a university degree is understood to be an option for many pupils. That is not always the case, however, which is why we\u2019re visiting schools in areas of multiple deprivation across the west of Scotland. We\u2019re talking to pupils who might be the first in their family to attend university, or those for whom getting a job when they leave school is the first and only priority.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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A Graduate Apprenticeship \u2013 where students earn a living wage while working towards their degree \u2013 seems an obvious solution for pupils who find themselves in such circumstances. The problem, though, is that many pupils are unaware of university-level apprenticeships. This isn\u2019t surprising, given that GAs are a relatively new offering in Scotland, but it\u2019s essential that we get the word out to the young people that might benefit from these opportunities the most.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many bright, brilliant young people in Scotland with a passion for tech. And our tech sector desperately needs them! There are plenty of well-paid and hugely rewarding jobs out there for young people with Software Engineering skills, and an apprenticeship is an ideal route to securing such a job. Indeed, the job starts right away: by the time an apprentice graduates, they will already have accrued four years of work experience.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But we don\u2019t want our apprentices to miss out on the university experience, either. That\u2019s why our GA programme includes eight-week blocks of on-campus learning in years one and two, allowing apprentices to bond as a cohort while taking advantage of all that university life has to offer. The block-based structure of our GA programme also means that we are able to frontload a lot of our teaching, making sure that our apprentices get all of the basics down as early as possible \u2013 making them productive in the workplace as quickly as possible.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is an opportunity that I would have seized upon, had it been an option 25 years ago. And, when I talk to pupils, parents, or teachers about the possibilities offered by a Graduate Apprenticeship, the advantages quickly become obvious: a good salary, four years\u2019 work experience, and a University of Glasgow degree \u2013 where do I sign up?! But we need to get the message out there, which is why I was delighted to be given the opportunity to write this blog.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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There is more information <\/span>on our website<\/span><\/a>, including our entry requirements. It\u2019s worth noting that Higher Computing is absolutely not a requirement \u2013 we\u2019re looking for four B grades at Higher, including a B in Maths. We also have a number of alternative routes on to the programme, which take into account certain HNC and HND qualifications, and we offer support with CV and cover letter writing when it comes to applying to employers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The website also lists the <\/span>opportunities currently on offer<\/span><\/a>. This year, for example, we\u2019re offering places with top multinational corporations like Barclays and Morgan Stanley, dynamic public sector companies including the BBC and Student Loans Company, and cutting-edge tech firms like Smarter Grid Solutions and VeryConnect.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We\u2019re also more than happy to come and talk to pupils \u2013 please do get in touch with me directly at <\/span>Matthew.Barr@glasgow.ac.uk<\/span><\/a> to arrange a visit, or for more information. The Graduate Apprenticeship in Software Engineering is such a fantastic opportunity, and we don\u2019t want anyone to miss out!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Dr Matthew Barr, Programme Director for the Graduate Apprenticeship in Software Engineering at the University of Glasgow   Last week, my colleague Anna and I were in a school on the south side of Glasgow to talk to pupils about our Graduate Apprenticeship in Software Engineering. Many of the young people we met were …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61927,"featured_media":1948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,130,139],"tags":[176,178,22,177],"class_list":["post-1946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-from-our-community","category-main-news","category-secondary-news","tag-apprenticeships","tag-blog","tag-secondary","tag-uni"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/public\/computingscience\/uploads\/sites\/9355\/2022\/03\/21105716\/20220321_105616753_iOS.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1946"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1947,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1946\/revisions\/1947"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/glowblogs\/computingscience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}