Are apprenticeships really better than a degree?

In 1999, when the then PM Tony Blair announced he wanted 50 per cent of the country to go to university, it was a very different world. There were no smartphones, no social media, a booming global economy (the UK economy grew 0-9 per cent in the third quarter of 1999); the jobs section of newspapers was a well-used source of information both for prospective candidates and people hiring and there was a genuine sense that university was the most successful and tested path to an interesting career with prospects.

Twenty-five years later and the world is a different place, and Keir Starmer’s recognition of this felt apt when he set a new target of two-thirds going to university or further education or “joining a gold standard apprenticeship.”

This prominence given to skills and training linked jobs was an enormous and welcome boon to a sector that has been traditionally been treated as the bridesmaid to university’s bride. It is also a reflection of a rapidly changing professional world.

I encounter thousands of young people who feel let down by the (very expensive) promise of a university degree that has not only failed to deliver a promising career, but even a foot in the door, parents anger that their child’s degree was a costly mistake and employers from a multitude of industries who plainly state many university courses are not teaching the skills to make young people work-ready.

Otis, 22, studied Computer Science at Loughborough University and attained a first-class degree, and his experience will resonate with tens of thousands: “I was so happy when I got a first and thought, this is it, I’m going to be knocked down with offers! Since leaving uni over a year ago, I’ve applied for maybe 500 jobs, including internships, and even some unpaid ones because I’m so desperate I’d do it.

“I’ve heard back from probably 10, got two interviews but they said I didn’t have enough experience. But it’s mostly a dead, depressing silence and day after day trawling LinkedIn. I’ve just started at Costa. So, I spent 50 grand to do a job I could have got for free.”

With the ferocious global market making the competition for every job a race to the top, AI quickly eliminating entry-level jobs young people would have traditionally done, and outdated career advice in schools and universities, it’s unsurprising that there is enormous interest in alternatives that are seen as a more reliable stepping stone into the world of work than more academic degrees.

Last week, it was revealed that £800m extra investment is planned for 16-19-year-old learners to help 20,000 more people in education or technical/apprenticeship routes. Part of the plan is setting up Technical Excellence Colleges (with 14 new ones announced) in high-growth or priority sectors like advanced manufacturing, clean energy, digital and changes include shorter apprenticeships (ie courses that are less than 12 months if someone can fully reach competency in less time) to be eligible for funding.

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There is good news because the demand is sky-high, particularly in IT, engineering, healthcare and construction. In one year, UCAS’s apprenticeship platform had 1.35 million searches, leading to around 225,000 applications. In Tony Blair’s era, apprenticeships had the whiff of “blue collar” and were the route taken by kids perceived as not bright enough to go to university – but no more. Gen Z increasingly views apprenticeships as the smarter, quicker, cost-saving route to a lucrative career.

The manager of a top UK plumbing firm, who has worked in the industry since he entered it as a youngster in the 1980s, told me: “We now have kids applying in their literal thousands who wouldn’t have glanced at us 10 years ago and definitely not 20. Private school kids, girls, kids with degrees that haven’t delivered.

“Every one of my mates is having a word in my ear, asking if I can set their kid up with an apprenticeship. As a working-class lad myself, my heart breaks a bit, because apprenticeships were their thing, you know? You left school at 16 because it wasn’t your thing and got an apprenticeship.

“Now, they are being nudged out because everyone wants one. I try to prioritise kids from backgrounds like mine; that’s getting harder and harder. I’m hoping with Keir Starmer’s funding we can hire more young people for apprenticeships in the next 10 years.

The second apprenticeship model is the apprenticeship-degree, where the candidate does a combination of learning (and eventually acquiring a Bachelor's degree) and working on the job, often with a 50/50 split and with the highly attractive incentive that it is funded by the employer.

These have become so in-demand by both employers – who view them as delivering more “work-ready” young candidates both professionally and psychologically – and from young people who want to do them. Fatima, 20, attended a GDST school that is known for their high-quality career advice and professional shaping of the young women it educates. She is doing a law apprenticeship-style degree and describes both the application and interview process as “more competitive and harder than the Oxbridge one”, which she also did.

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The demand for a greater emphasis on professional skills is also juicing interest in further education colleges, many of which offer higher education courses rather than the traditional university route. This renewed attention is something David Hughes from the Association of Colleges hopes will result in the “investment in colleges to back up the prime minister’s warm words”.

So, where does all this leave young people, the ones who are having to navigate this rapidly changing world, and what can be done to better equip them to have the kind of opportunities their parents benefited from?

The most important factor is investment in modern, workable professional and career advice they start receiving in Year 9 or 10, and not just as they’re about to leave school. This needs to clearly map out their options based on what’s best suited to them – whether it’s an apprenticeship, a degree, an apprenticeship-degree, skills learning or an entry point to an industry they are interested in.

Most young people I speak to make a panicked and ill-informed decision at age 18 that has very real long-term consequences. Many university degrees are fantastic and still lead to brilliant and interesting careers, but an investment of that size when you are very young needs to be taken on with real thought and an understanding of what you want it to deliver.

Those who do a degree with an end-goal in mind are almost always the ones who have a successful outcome. Like Clarissa, 22, who did a PGCE at Durham and succeeded because it was learning in a field where there is real demand. “I got a job straight out of uni. Teaching gets a lot of criticism, but I’m loving it, and haven’t had any of the pain of a lot of my friends [experienced], who did really good degrees but without a goal in mind and are just kind of lost and floundering now in the endless job-hunting.”

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Industries who are critical of the quality of candidates need to be proactive about changing this, because those companies who do invest in apprenticeship-degrees find them delivering high-quality candidates who can hit the ground running and offer long-term value.

But despite the growing demand for more apprenticeships and more early routes to work, particularly school-to-work pipelines, these are thin on the ground, and there needs to be much more collaboration between schools, colleges and industries for Keir Starmer’s plan to work.

For example, there is no point in providing more apprenticeships if people can’t find them – a common complaint among parents today. Industries and companies aren’t great at showing they are looking for young, ambitious people. There is a disconnect between them and the young people scouring for opportunities, which means many of the apprenticeships are once again going to middle-class children with sharp-elbowed parents who have the time (and contacts) to snaffle the best opportunities.

Companies need to meet youngsters where they are. Sarah, 23, tells me: “I did a degree in Sociology and had no idea what to do, and I saw a TikTok of this woman who was talking about her job in construction. I didn’t even really know about the industry, let alone consider it as an option.

“I applied for an internship at a construction firm, got it, and now I’m learning so much, doing things I never thought I could. I’m going to Argentina in January for a skills course. Everyone laughed at me when they found out the industry I’m working in because I’m quite girly, but it’s nothing like what you imagine, and it’s brilliant.”

Currently, much of the careers advice being marketed to young people is through apps and sites offering big talk and less promising results. A streamlined service that they can start using in high school, and which maps intelligent career advice, signposting to suitable higher learning courses and destinations and partners with companies and industries that are actually hiring, doesn’t seem outside the bounds of possibility, but for all Starmer’s big words, it doesn’t sufficiently exist in the current market.

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While it’s certainly true there is too much focus on sexy, big-name companies – Google etc – candidates need to be encouraged by lesser-known organisations who are offering real opportunities. Millions of young people feel completely lost in a system that’s somewhat stuck between the old and the new, where they genuinely don’t feel like the choices they are making now will pay off into a better future later in the way they once did.

Tom, 17, is studying for his A-levels and explains the dilemma facing young people: We are told something different every day. University is best, it’s not best, it’s a waste of money. Study something tech-y – oh no don’t do that – there’s AI now, so that was a waste of money. Learn something practical; no don’t do that, you won’t get paid enough; you need to pay into a lifetime Isa; you’ll live at home until you’re 40.”

So, for all the good intentions to overhaul the apprentice system, there is real work to do in government because right now, it’s a system that’s not working.

As Tom says: “Right now, we joke we’re going to close our eyes and stick a pin in [a board to find] what to do after school, because it’ll probably work out as well.”