Guide

Guide for employers to Graduate Apprenticeships

Updated on 31 August 2023

Find out what the benefits of a Graduate Apprenticeship are to you, what support an apprentice will need, and how to apply to take one on

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Benefits of a Graduate Apprenticeship to employers

  • Help facilitate the education of existing employees enhancing their personal development, productivity, and expertise while improving retention.
  • Future proof your talent pipelines; IT and engineering professionals are in high demand and apprentices are loyal employees.
  • As this course is fully funded, your only cost will be your employee’s salary.
  • As employees put their learning into action and complete work-based projects, some of your business challenges can be resolved.
  • Your employee will only be out of the office for one day a week during term time.
  • Investment in staff improves ability, engagement and productivity.
  • Other people in your business will have the opportunity to develop their mentoring skills with the support of the university.
  • This degree puts great emphasis on applied knowledge and work-based learning, immediately putting theory learned at university into practice.

Payment for apprentices

This person will be a full time employee and we recommend you pay the living wage as a minimum. These students are not eligible for additional support from SAAS.

Eligibility for the scheme

People currently employed, or not yet employed are both eligible, also there is no age restriction. Apprentices must be resident in Scotland at the beginning of their apprenticeship and their usual place of work must also be within Scotland. They should not have an existing qualification at the same level in the same subject. 

Each course has its own academic entry requirements and other apprenticeships, HNC, HND and professional certifications and qualifications will also be considered when assessing this. The University of Dundee will work closely with you throughout the admissions process and is able to provide guidance on a case by case basis.

Support required for the Graduate Apprenticeship

The apprentice will spend 80% of their time, 4 days per week, in the workplace. They should have a mentor who will be supported by University of Dundee. This person will become an associate member of staff at the University which provides access to learning resources and the library. They may require some input from the company finding relevant projects to support their studies. We will tailor the course as much as possible to the work-based learning requirements.

Recruitment

If you don’t already have someone in mind but are interested in this, we can advise on finding suitable students. There is a high level of interest in these programmes and we have partners in place who can assist.

Applying to take on a graduate apprentice

Please contact our Engagement Manager to discuss your needs as a business and the possibility of partnering on apprenticeships.

We will ask you to review our terms of engagement, which outline the level of support we think it will take to successfully put an employee through a Graduate Apprenticeship. 

We will then invite you to nominate candidates. If you are hiring new staff we can provide support during that time. After we have received the nomination, our admission team will contact those candidates directly to take them through the university admissions process.

Enquiries

Graduate Apprenticeships

+44 (0)1382 384787

ga@dundee.ac.uk