How Jeremy created a new apprenticeship standard

Apprenticeships are playing an integral role in the UK's COVID economic recovery. So, we're incredibly proud of Engineering Consultant, Jeremy in Bristol, who has led the making of a new Apprenticeship standard.

While designed to meet the needs of Atkins, a member of the AtkinsRéalis Group, it's exciting news for our whole industry. And it has just gone live for employers across the UK. We interviewed Jeremy to find out more:

Congratulations to you and your team, Jeremy. What got you thinking about creating the Electro-Mechanical Engineering Apprenticeship?

Thank you. Atkins has always had great results bringing apprentices into the team. However, none of the available apprenticeship programmes was a perfect match for the capabilities we needed in some of our organization's highly technical areas. Together with Becky from Transportation, I led an initiative to set up a brand new standard.

What did we need that was different from other apprenticeships in the market?

The fundamental idea was to provide a broad base of engineering capability that could take you into many sectors and products. At Atkins, these might include aerospace, rail, automotive, defence, electronics, robotics, marine and renewable energy.

What kind of engineer could you become?

You could work in design, manufacture or research & development, in an office, on a client's site, or both – depending on where you fit in our organization. Today's engineers need to understand the whole life cycle of machines and systems, and how the electrical and mechanical aspects are integrated. This apprenticeship gives you exactly that.

How can candidates 'make a difference to the future' through this apprenticeship?

It's an exciting qualification for people who want to solve real-world problems using a combination of mechanical and electrical engineering expertise.

As one of our apprentices, you'll be free to take your career in the direction that interests you. You could be designing better wind turbines, making passenger planes safer, creating a robotic arm for surgery or developing a flying taxi!

How did you go about setting up the new standard?

We needed to work with a 'trailblazer group' of at least ten companies representing a cross-section of the industry.

We collaborated with the Environment Agency, CAT, Safran Landing Systems, the UK Atomic Energy Authority, and others. Together we built a new set of knowledge, skills and behaviours defining a competent Electro-Mechanical Engineer.

We also partnered with several top universities, building a learning course that the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and Royal Aeronautical Society agree meets Engineering Council competencies.

What happens next?

The standard is now fully approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships. It's a 'Level 6' programme, meaning it delivers a qualification equivalent to BEng, suitable for candidates who have finished their A-Levels. And it's ready for our next intake of apprentices this September 2021!

Find out more about doing an apprenticeship with us, and read some of our apprentice stories.

List #1

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