Abstract:
Differing models of academia and the construction industry collaboration have evolved in the UK and
internationally to develop a healthy skills supply chain. However, the increasingly popular Degree
Apprenticeships in the UK has caused there to be much greater prominence of the issues around industryacademia
interaction. Degree apprenticeships were part of an initiative introduced by the UK government
in 2015 aimed at boosting employer investment in education and training. In April 2017, employers whose
pay bill exceeded £3m had a 0.5% levy deducted, which was ring-fenced to support new apprentices.
This paper explores the tripartite structural issues that this new approach will need to address for the
initiative to deliver the outcomes required by the Universities, employers and apprentices. The paper, inter
alia, reports on an employer survey aimed at gathering opinion data. The data were collected from a survey
designed to investigate employer’s expectations of degree apprenticeships, their advantages and
disadvantages and to ascertain the impact that the new approach might impact graduate recruitment in
future. The survey findings and subsequent interpretation of results will be used to inform the strategic
direction of the university’s engagement with industry and with the degree apprenticeship initiative.
Possible implications to future delivery of surveying education in the UK are also discussed including
references to lifelong learning.
