We joined two of our Apprenticeship Ambassadors, Sophie Jamieson and Sophie Bebb and attended a great talk as part of National Apprenticeship Week, about the planned increase of Apprentices employed within the University of Oxford. The University is currently the largest employer in Oxfordshire with nearly 12,000 staff spread over 78 departments and has traditionally employed very few Apprentices. They have recently been working to increase the number of Apprentices they employ and currently there are 64 employed across Oxford departments and colleges, working in areas from engineering to digital media. The University aims to increase this to 150 by the end of March 2017 in a project funded by Oxfordshire Apprenticeships.

The presentation featured the new Vice Chancellor, Professor Louise Richardson, who is the first ever female Vice-Chancellor at Oxford University. She was very enthusiastic about increasing the number of Apprenticeships available at the University and communicated how valuable they are to both the employer and the employee.

After showing her support, Sophie Jamieson took the stage. Sophie shared her experience working as a University of Oxford Apprentice Laboratory Technician and also described how beneficial the skills she has learnt during her Apprenticeship have been. She also communicated how Apprenticeships take a very hands on approach to learning which, for some people, can be very beneficial.   

For current Apprenticeship vacancies at the University of Oxford please visit:

https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/jobs/apprentice

Story by Sasha Jeffery, Matthew Arnold School