This summer, the research team at Edge hosted a two-week Destination STEM Learning placement. Our intern for 2025, Shahjahan, completed a report on degree apprenticeships in Greater London. Shahjahan studied Maths, Further Maths with the Further Statistics unit and Psychology at A level, and together with other students collaborated on a project with Hounslow Council to gather data on problems young people face in the borough. Here are his reflections on the placement and his report...
My name is Shahjahan Akbar and I am a Year 13 student studying Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Psychology. This summer I was fortunate to be given the opportunity to complete a research placement with the Edge Foundation facilitated by the Nuffield Foundation. Prior to the placement, I had never conducted a formal solo research project nor produced a research report and the prospect of doing so was initially quite daunting. However, I was determined to push myself out of my comfort zone and soon found myself immersed in the research.
I chose this subject because Degree Apprenticeships have become a more frequent topic in discussions around higher education recently and because of a series of sessions at my school where we completed mock Degree Apprenticeship style assessment centres. I wanted a better understanding of them and their place in the wider UK education and employment landscape The report defines the various goals the government had when proposing Degree Apprenticeships (upskilling the workforce, providing a debt free route into higher education, promoting social mobility and addressing skill gaps in the labour market) and an analysis of how well Degree Apprenticeship programmes have achieved those goals.
My days during the two weeks of the placement consisted of background reading and reviewing existing literature to familiarise myself with the technicalities of Degree Apprenticeship programmes and identify repeat concerns found in prior research nationally as well as analysing the NSS, GLA and DfE datasets, focused on data for Greater London, and check-in calls with my mentor for the placement Josh Patel. During my placement on Wednesdays I was able to go to the Edge Foundation’s office in London and, for me, this truly was the highlight of my placement. It was an enjoyable experience getting to know the Edge team, discussing their roles and seeing what day-to-day work looks like for policy researchers.
I particularly found my discussions with Olly Newton and Sorah Gluck (about the nature of the research conducted at Edge) and with Al Barker (about the role of communications, particularly social media, in getting research in front of people as well as whether the role of research communication should be to inform or to convince) provided valuable insight into the field of policy research. The latter half of my placement was spent writing up my research report. This was what I thought would be the most complicated part of the placement for me, as I had no previous experience producing a research report. However, it ended up being far easier and more fun than I initially thought, primarily due to the consistent support and guidance of my mentor Josh. I’m very grateful to Josh for his regular catch-ups, encouragement and feedback which proved indispensable in completing my report, for which I received a CREST Gold Award following my placement.
Throughout my placement, I learnt how to write a research report, analyse data and interpret policy. There were definitely moments when I felt unsure about connecting all the data and findings together, but with the support of Josh and the rest of the Edge Foundation team, I was able to gain clarity and strengthen my analysis.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Edge Foundation and the Nuffield Foundation for this amazing opportunity. It has not only built my skills but also inspired me to follow my curiosity and showed me how worthwhile embracing challenges outside of my comfort zone can be. You can download my report below.
Written by
Shahjahan Akbar