Research team: Katherine Emms & Andrea Laczik
Degree Apprenticeships (DAs) are a relatively new collaboration between universities and businesses which may promote social mobility particularly through offering a debt-free way of gaining a degree. This research seeks to understand whether DAs are in practice offering opportunities to widen participation in higher education and whether young people aged 18-24 from disadvantaged backgrounds have adequate opportunities to access and complete them. This project focuses on 1) the DA recruitment practices of employers 2) the careers advice and guidance offered to school/college leavers and how this supports their transition to DAs and 3) to understand the experiences of the journey of young people to DAs. Covid-19 has had a large impact on the offering and sustainability of DAs - the research will incorporate the impact of Covid-19 on recruitment practices and access to DAs for young people from disadvantaged and under-represented groups.