Apprenticeships Compared to Degrees

Unemployed for 2 years under Thatcher. Zero careers advice. Here's how I found my path: Fresh out of school in the 1980s with no direction and no guidance. The journey: - Enrolled in a 2-year minerals surveying course for mining work - Pit closures made that career path obsolete before I started - Switched to City & Guilds in Estimating and Quantity Surveying at Liverpool Tech - Got the qualification but no jobs existed in northwest England - Finally landed assistant QS role in the south with day release study The key difference? Earning while learning through a 5-year part-time degree instead of 3 years full-time study. This approach kept me: → Grounded in real-world application → Motivated by immediate relevance → Financially stable while studying → Connected to industry from day one What I learned about education and careers: Traditional university isn't the only path: - Getting a degree guarantees nothing in today's job market - Practical experience often trumps theoretical knowledge - Discovering your chosen profession isn't for you halfway through creates debt that takes years to repay The apprenticeship model works: - Learning a trade while earning wages - Building real skills that employers value - No student debt burden - Clear career progression Most importantly: No one should look down on tradies because they don't have a degree. Some of the smartest, most capable people I know learned their skills on the job, not in lecture halls. In the industry, I've seen graduates struggle while experienced tradies become successful business owners. The lesson? There are many routes to a fulfilling career. The key is finding what works for you and not being afraid to pivot when circumstances change. What's your career journey story? Did you take the traditional path or find your own way? 👇

Apprenticeships will matter more than ever. Apprenticeships, long treated as a secondary route into work, will move from a niche pathway to a necessary engine of workforce development. As the UK faces rising skills shortages and growing youth unemployment, as well as pressure to keep pace with fast-moving technologies, the case for combining structured learning with on-the-job training is becoming impossible to ignore. The government’s recent pledge to create 50,000 apprenticeships underscores this shift. “Apprenticeships have a critical role to play in shaping the future workforce,” Hays UK&I CEO Thomas Way said. “While university degrees will always have a place in the modern working world, apprenticeships offer something uniquely powerful: hands-on experience and a direct connection to the skills businesses need today and tomorrow.” Tesco’s decision to expand its 15-month Stronger Starts programme to 1,500 apprenticeship places by 2027 is an early signal of where things are heading. Successful apprentices leave with GCSE-equivalent credentials, functional skills and a guaranteed path to permanent work. Employers across the West Midlands have also pledged more than 16,000 training and work experience opportunities as part of plans to tackle youth unemployment, which sits at double the national average in parts of the region. Hospitality giants like Diageo and Mitchells & Butlers PLC are using structured programmes to create pathways for young people who have struggled to break into work. For a labour market being reshaped by automation and artificial intelligence, apprenticeships will become a strategic necessity: “As technology evolves at pace, organisations must build a sustainable pipeline of talent equipped for roles that didn’t exist a decade ago,” Way said. “Investing in apprenticeships isn’t just about filling roles – it’s about future-proofing our industries.” ✍🏾 Solange Uwimana 📷 Getty Images 💡 This is one of a several ideas LinkedIn News is highlighting in our annual list of predictions. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/BI26UnitedKingdom Join the conversation in the comments or share your own prediction in a post or video with #BigIdeas2026.

It was the end of 1983, a little over 42 years ago, as I was finishing my A-levels, my Head of Sixth Form called me into his office to ask about my university plans. When I told him that the 1980s student lifestyle wasn't for me, and that I had instead decided to get a job in IT and study on day release, his reaction was immediate: he completely lost interest. Mr. R never spoke to me again before I left school. I had stepped off the traditional UCAS conveyor belt, so I no longer counted toward his success metrics. Fast forward to last week. We held our Degree Apprenticeship Assessment Centre, you may have seen my earlier post, and if you’ve seen me speak at the Make UK Defence National Summit or #JOSCARLive, you know how passionate I am about this pathway. It was a fantastic day, but one conversation truly shocked me. One of our strongest candidates—a high achiever at a Grammar School—shared that the moment he announced his chosen pathway didn't include full-time university, his school completely switched off to him. It is 2026, and schools are still using the exact same playbook from four decades ago. This is a profound institutional failure. Schools are actively marginalising brilliant students for making incredibly smart, forward-thinking career choices, simply because those choices don't boost the school's traditional university league table rankings. Let’s look at the reality of the Degree Apprenticeship this student is applying for: 🔶 An Honours Degree at a university ranked 12th in the UK for Engineering. 🔶 A track record where almost all our apprentices graduate with a First-Class Degree. 🔶 Four years of invaluable, hands-on industry experience. 🔶 Over £100,000 in earnings during their studies. 🔶 Absolutely ZERO student debt. To ignore a student for choosing this over £50,000+ of debt and zero industry experience is beyond short-sighted. It is time to call this out. Schools must urgently realign their definition of "success." We need an education system that prioritizes what industry actually needs and what is practically best for the students—not just what looks good on a prospectus. It was the right choice for me 40 years ago, and it is the right choice for the brilliant talent I met this week. Let's stop penalising students for being ahead of the curve. #DegreeApprenticeships #EarlyCareers #Engineering #MakeUK #JOSCAR #FutureTalent #EducationReform #Apprenticeships #STEM

Social mobility is a journey: one that often feels like walking against the rain, uncertain of the path ahead. But apprenticeships provided me with the stepping stones I needed to move forward. #SocialMobility isn’t just about #breaking #barriers: it’s about having the #opportunity to do so in the first place. I am a socially mobile individual, but I am socially mobile because of the apprenticeship scheme. Without it, my #career journey would have looked very different. Apprenticeships open doors that many from #LowerIncome or non-traditional backgrounds wouldn’t otherwise have access to. They provide not just #education, but hands-on #experience, a salary, and a pathway into competitive industries that often feel out of reach for those without #connections or financial privilege. But right now, #funding for apprenticeships is at risk. Potential cuts could limit #opportunities for future #generations of socially mobile individuals: those who, like me, rely on these schemes as a stepping stone into professional careers. Without proper #investment, the #talent pipeline narrows, diversity of thought is lost, and social mobility stalls. Apprenticeships #work. They create real #change. They provide an alternative route into industries that have historically been difficult to access for those from working-class backgrounds. Cutting funding means cutting opportunities, and that’s something we can’t afford to ignore. If we are serious about social mobility, we must protect and expand apprenticeship schemes, not shrink them. Investing in apprenticeships means investing in potential, in future leaders, and in a workforce that reflects society as a whole, not just those who can afford to navigate unpaid internships or expensive degrees. I am living proof that apprenticeships change lives. Let’s make sure they continue to do the same for others. #SocialMobility #Apprenticeships #DiversityAndInclusion #EqualOpportunities

Are Degree Qualifications Dying? In today’s AI-driven world, the gap between generations in professional services, such as law, consulting, and accounting, is widening as we enter the next technological revolution. I recall when laptops and the internet first arrived in the business world. They changed the way we worked and some companies were slow to adopt and change. It meant that tasks that tooks hours or days in the past, took only minutes. An email used to be a letter that took at least 3 days to be read and replied to. Companies that adopted first gained an advantage, but they also needed to change the way they operated because everything became much faster and happened in real-time. The same will happen now with the spreading use of AI. Older professionals bring something AI cannot replicate: deep domain knowledge, leadership experience, and the emotional intelligence to navigate complex client relationships. They are not just adapting to AI, they are leading its integration into their businesses. Meanwhile, younger professionals face a very different challenge. The traditional path of learning through repetitive tasks is disappearing. AI automates what were once valuable learning opportunities. Now, they must master AI tools and develop leadership, influence, and strategic thinking—skills that were once learned over decades. In this new world, the value of a degree as proof of knowledge is diminishing. When AI puts information at everyone’s fingertips, what matters more is how you use that information; how you communicate, influence, and lead. I believe the future lies in apprenticeships for leadership. Just as trades like construction have long relied on practical learning to build technical mastery, we must now do the same for the skills of: 💥 Conflict resolution 🫸 Influence ⏎ Change leadership 👂Coaching and communication At Foxleigh, we specialise in teaching these skills in a practical, hands-on way. And we see two critical trends emerging: ❎ A growing conflict: Younger professionals are struggling to develop the practical skills their senior colleagues expect, while older professionals are frustrated by the lack of readiness in the next generation. ✅ A powerful opportunity: Businesses can transform how they develop talent creating a new generation of leaders who don’t just know things, but know how to use knowledge with confidence, empathy, and flexibility. We need to stop expecting the next generation to learn leadership the way we did, which to be honest, was hit and miss at best! Let’s build a better way and focus on the critical skills for the future, rather than looking at the past? This is going to be part of our next discussion at next weeks live podcast recording at The Orchard in London Looking forward to an amazing evening. David Williams, Nick Ashmore, Kelli Peter, Alex Walker, James Chetwode, Iana Volshmid, David Royle #AgeWithoutApology #FutureOfWork #LeadershipDevelopment

I have lost count of how many times I've said these seven words... ❗ No one is ever just an apprentice. ❗ Why is that important? Because apprentices, while learning, are also part of a team, which means: 🚀 Apprentices are helping the team successfully achieve its goals. 🚀 Apprentices are, therefore, helping the organisation to achieve their goals. 🚀 Apprentices are bringing fresh ideas to improve processes and increase efficiency. Maisie Goodyear is a Digitas UK Media Apprentice, and I have the honour of supporting her during her Multiverse Data Technician Apprenticeship. And this was Masie's worry before starting her apprenticeship, but now she's thriving, and so is her team: "My apprenticeship so far has not only provided me with hands-on experience that I wouldn't be able to achieve elsewhere but also helped me develop personally. I am now so much more confident as a result of feeling like I'm growing exponentially in a multitude of different ways. I was slightly worried before the apprenticeship that I should have gone to university, but in hindsight, I am so happy with my decision to be *not just* an apprentice!" This is the reality for so many apprentices. University is great for some, but it’s not the only path to success. Learning on the job, developing real skills, and making an impact from day one - That’s the power of apprenticeships. For National Apprenticeship Week, let’s challenge outdated mindsets. Apprenticeships aren’t a "second choice" - they’re a smart choice. #NAW2025 #Apprenticeships #NotJustAnApprentice #MyMultiverse #FutureofWork #NationalApprenticeshipWeek

There's a plumber I used for years, who a couple years ago passed the work onto his son. When he comes by, I always end up in a longer conversation than I expected. The job turns out to be more intricate than it looked. There is diagnosis involved, he has to manage the likely annoying customer (me), judgment under conditions no manual anticipated. He is in the apprenticeship program, learning it the way his father did - in the field, next to someone who probably has seen the issue before. I didn't grow up thinking this was an available path. It wasn't presented as one. And I don't think my experience was unusual. We have handed capable young people one map (to go to college) and told them it was complete. It was not. Germany, however, has 1.22 million people in active apprenticeships right now. The United States has 680,000 - in a country 4 times larger. Per capita, Germany runs this model at 7 times our rate. Seven times. And it covers 300 occupations: management, software development, banking, mechatronics. It is not the consolation path. For a substantial share of the German workforce, it is the path. Meanwhile, McKinsey & Company projects a gap of 130,000 electricians and 240,000 construction workers in the US by 2030 - specifically to build the AI data centers reshaping every knowledge-work profession. The most abstract technology of our age is bottlenecked by a shortage of the most physical human capability there is. As you likely can guess, electricians face an automation probability of only 15%. Office administrators face 96%. The hierarchy of prestige we built over a generation - that working with your mind is "better" than working with your hands - is almost exactly inverted from the hierarchy of durability. The trades are not the bottom of the ladder. In the AI economy, they are the ground the ladder stands on. IBM figured some of this out nearly a decade ago. Their New Collar apprenticeship program - no degree required, registered with the Department of Labor - has moved a nurse, a teacher, and a shoe-store manager into careers in cybersecurity and cloud computing. Hired on day one. Paid from day one. Learning by doing it alongside people who already know. In India, that model is not optional. The law mandates it for any company with 30 or more employees. There is something clarifying about that. The model does not need to be a passion project. It needs to be a requirement. I think about the plumber's son when I think about my own kids. The question I want to answer for them is one nobody answered for me: here are the paths. All of them. But, we don't know what all of those paths really are. Was the trades path ever presented to you as a real option - or was college always assumed to be the only answer? Check out the longer article on this subject that I wrote on my Substack - link in the comments. #WorkforcePlanning #FutureOfWork #Apprenticeship #AI #SkillsBasedHiring

Be Proud Your Kid Chose the Trades… Let’s talk about something that parents across the world grapple with… College vs. Career The moment your kid tells you, “I think I want to be a machinist,” or “I’m thinking about going into welding instead of university,” you pause. Not because you’re disappointed, but because society trained you to believe that college was the only respectable way forward. That university degree was the golden ticket to success. But times have changed, and it’s time we changed with them. Choosing a skilled trade isn’t a fallback plan. It’s a strategic, financially savvy, and emotionally rewarding path, one that’s building the very foundation of modern civilization. That CNC machinist, that welder, that electrician, plumber, or automation technician, they’re the ones holding your country together. They’re the ones making sure there’s clean water in your tap, cars on your roads, electricity in your home, and products on your shelves. College is not for everyone, and that’s not a dig, it’s a fact. University is often a debt trap, sending our youth into the world with a diploma in one hand and $100,000 in debt in the other, praying a job exists that actually requires the degree they paid for. Meanwhile, trade school grads are out there, two years in, zero debt, making $60K+ with overtime, benefits, and no cubicles in sight. Some go on to start their own businesses, lead teams, invent new tech, or even run multi-million-dollar manufacturing facilities. Still think this is the “plan B” path? The idea that the trades are for those who “can’t make it” in college is outdated, elitist, and flat-out wrong. It takes brains, discipline, creativity, and drive to run a lathe, program a CNC machine, build an HVAC system, or wire a control panel. These careers demand real-world problem solving and continuous education. It’s lifelong learning, just without the crushing student loans and endless lectures. So to the parents reading this, be proud. Your child isn’t “settling.” They’re choosing purpose over prestige. Skill over status. Real work over hollow titles. They’re not wasting four years and tens of thousands of dollars trying to impress anyone—they’re out there building something real, tangible, and essential. And here’s the best part…they’re happy. Tradespeople often report higher job satisfaction than their white-collar counterparts. Why? Because they create, they solve, they build, they fix, and they go home knowing they made something better than it was when they found it. So next time someone asks what your kid does and you say, “She’s a CNC machinist,” or “He’s an electrician,” say it with pride. Because without them, nothing works. Literally. Let’s stop asking, “Why don’t you go to college?” and start saying, “Thank you for choosing to build the future.”