APEP Degree Apprentice Review

Assisting more experienced team members on in-house manufacturing process issues

Critical thinking and timekeeping at work, essay writing and analysis skills at university

Enjoy working with home team, however workload slow throughout entire team over last few months, university side has been poorly planned, with many mistakes and problems with both teaching and exams

Work side has limited structure, with no training plan in place to familiarise new starters with JLRs systems. I am the first apprentice in my team for many years, so has been a learning experience for both me and my manager. University side is disorganised and feels rushed. Teaching and exam sessions are well timetabled, but the content of these has been below par.

Plenty of support in place if needs be, regular 1 to 1 meetings held with cohort leads to gather feedback and give pastoral support if needed

Level of support depends on the module leader. Most offer great support on both a cohort wide and individual level, whereas some are reluctant to answer questions and overcomplicate module content.

Very limited application of 5/6 of the modules so far, yet I can see their use to either people in other departments, or in the future. However I see almost no scenario where some module content can be applied in any engineering context. Key modules such as CAD are not taught until later years, which is poor planning and organisation in my opinion

Plenty to get involved with, and the best part of the apprentice so far in my opinion. JLR backed events through the "Early Careers Club" offer group activities with other apprentices and grads as cheap costs. Non JLR supported activities too such as 7 a side football etc are ran by apprentices and always looking for new participants

Yes

High level qualification and 4 years work experience at a well known company while being paid a top salary for your age to do it all

They are looking for personalities and not grades, so focus on what you can bring to the apprenticeship, not how qualified and clever you are. What you say in interview can also be used to determine your department, eg if you say you "enjoy problem solving" they will try to put you in a team where your work will involve that.