Apprentices Are Stepping Up To The HE Challenge

The first Advanced Apprentices to complete a new taster module, Step-in to HE, have now progressed to higher education, praising the module that gave them the confidence and skills to succeed.

Apprentices from a wide variety of industries are now being offered the academic grounding they may never have had before, through the university level module developed by Aimhigher using Greater Manchester Strategic Alliance funding. Of the 36 apprentices who made up the first cohort of Step-In to HE learners, 20 had no immediate family members who had been to university.

Suzanne Leech, Aimhigher Greater Manchester’s Step-In to HE Project Leader, said: “We know that only around 3% of Apprentices progressed to higher education in the previous year before the the Step-In Module became available, but 38% of learners stated the intention to progress immediately after taking the course and another 41% stated the intention to progress within the next 1-2 years - this is a huge increase in the rate of progression.”

More than one third of Step-In to HE learners were supported by their employer. One of those learners was Work Experience Coordinator, Miroslav Habijanec, 25. Having left school at 16, he completed an Advanced Apprenticeship in Business Administration and has worked for Education Business Solutions for 7 years.

He said his employers were to thank for the continued support they have given his professional development: “Without the support of my manager, Karen, I wouldn’t have got this far. She is always pushing me towards opportunities that I wouldn’t have the confidence to approach on my own.”

Miroslav, who has completed Step-In to HE and is now embarking on a part-time Foundation Degree in Management at the University of Bolton, said: “It’s only when you get onto the actual HE course that you realise how challenging it is but the Step-In to HE module has given me all the skills to succeed. If I hadn’t had that grounding I would have questioned my reasons for doing this.

“Now I am planning to go even further and will eventually top up my Foundation Degree into a full Honours Degree, either at Manchester Metropolitan University or perhaps The Open University. Its early days but there are so many options open to me now.”