Degree apprentices from 14 major businesses, including Jet2 and Visa, have joined new strategic skills partner Corndel’s inaugural chartered manager degree apprenticeship in BSc (Hons) applied business management.
Corndel developed the programme in partnership with businesses to align the degree with industry demand and innovation to address skills gaps for sought-after, highly skilled roles that UK businesses are struggling to recruit for.
It blends the essential digital, management and professional skills needed to thrive in a fast-moving workplace, and includes highly personalised coaching from academic and industry experts as a core part of each apprenticeship.
The degree apprenticeships will be delivered by Corndel’s new higher education initiative, Corndel College London (CCL).
CCL will also launch a BSc (Hons) digital and technology solutions degree apprenticeship in September, with a specific focus on data analysis for business professionals, followed by postgraduate degrees from 2024.
The degree apprenticeships have been designed to be highly personalised to meet businesses’ skills needs and are flexibly delivered to fit in with the demands of the workplace. Fully funded by the apprenticeship levy, they provide a debt-free path to a degree for apprentices and a cost-effective training solution for businesses.
Apprentices joining the first cohort of the business management degree apprenticeship include current employees looking to upskill and early talent who have just joined the businesses.
Katie Rankin, early careers and future talent specialist at Jet2, commented: “This degree apprenticeship will equip our colleagues with essential business and management skills, whilst also developing the digital know-how required in today’s fast-paced workplace.
“We are committed to supporting our emerging talent’s skills development and look forward to working in partnership with Corndel to deliver a highly relevant degree programme to our current and future managers.”
Visa has also placed a number of its early talent employees on the BSc (Hons) applied business management degree apprenticeship programme.
Daniel Farrar, early careers lead at Visa, said: “This new degree apprenticeship offers employers like us the opportunity to recruit early career professionals who will learn the critical business, management and technology skills needed to grow and thrive in today’s ever-evolving workplace.”
James Kelly, CEO and co-founder of Corndel, urged businesses to consider offering degree apprenticeships as competition for talent intensifies.
He said: “Competition among businesses for highly skilled early careers talent has never been more acute. With fewer young people entering the labour market equipped with the right skills, these new degree apprenticeships will help to address this issue.
“Partnering with firms to upskill their existing employees and to develop early career talent provides a cost-effective and efficient way to improve productivity and employee retention. We believe that vocational training, funded through the apprenticeship levy, is one of the most impactful and sustainable ways to bridge the UK’s skills gap.”
Kelly added: “We believe passionately that to flourish in today’s workplace, employees need a combination of business management skills and digital and technology skills. This is equally important for current employees and the future workforce, and our degree apprenticeships are especially designed to deliver on this to boost productivity, growth and innovation.”
