University's first apprentices lead the way
Loughborough University's first apprentices are being judged such a success their manager is in demand to tell other departments just what a good idea Apprenticeships are.
For Julian Sulley, the Engineering Faculty's Technical Resource Manager, it is fitting that a Higher Education institution should be educating its future workforce as well as its students. And the Apprenticeship model is proving to be the perfect vehicle for attracting and developing a talented wave of new employees.
Julian convinced the university to try the Apprenticeship route and worked with the National Apprenticeship Service, choosing Loughborough College as the training provider. The College ran the vacancy through the online Apprenticeship Vacancies system.
The successful applicants, Richard Greenhough and and Drew Mason, are working in rotation through the Faculty's departments, which include the world-renowned Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. They are learning how to support the teaching of undergraduates and the research of postgraduates.
"It has been brilliant," said Drew, who was 18 when he joined the University. "I'd left school and gone to college to learn plumbing, but couldn't then find an opening in that trade. I looked on the Online Vacancy Matching Service and saw the Loughborough University opportunity. I went from looking at the website to being employed within a month.
"It's an interesting place to work, the college course is brilliant and I'm thoroughly enjoying my job. I would recommend Apprenticeships 100 per cent. It's much better than just going to college, because I'm learning and earning."
Loughborough University is looking at taking on apprentices in other departments. "Hopefully, apprentices will begin to appear across the University," said Julian.
Harry Wheatcroft, Work-Based Learning Co-ordinator at Loughborough College, praised the quantity and calibre of the applicants who applied for the positions through the online Apprenticeship vacancy service: "It was a great opportunity with such a prestigious employer, so we got a great field of applicants from a very wide area. The Apprenticeships are a fantastic opportunity for the two young men, for us as a college, and for the University."
Image above: Drew Mason