The introduction of degree-level apprenticeships means it’s now possible to gain an equivalent qualification while learning on the job.

Both pathways have their merits – but it can be difficult to choose between the academic and vocational routes.

As we’ve explored in other posts, the range of vocational qualifications on offer makes an apprenticeship pathway seem very unwieldy and complex. Contrast this with an academic degree, where the process of finding and applying for an engineering course has, historically, been a little bit simpler.

Fortunately, organisations like UCAS and the UK government’s official website, GOV.UK are making it easier to sift through and evaluate the different apprenticeships on offer.

But before you start your search for a degree-level apprenticeship, it’s worth considering two important factors.

Not every UK university offers degree-level apprenticeships

While most UK universities offer a range of BEng and MEng engineering degrees, the number of UK universities offering degree-level apprenticeships is more limited.

It’s also worth remembering that selected companies that offer degree-level apprenticeships will only partner with selected universities.

There isn’t a degree-level apprenticeship for every type of engineering.

We’re still at the point where the BEng and MEng degree pathway offers more choice in terms of the different fields of engineering you can study. While apprenticeships are catching up, you’re likely to find that your only way to qualify in certain specialist engineering fields is to study for a three or four-year university degree.

So in this article, we’re going to compare and contrast degrees with degree apprenticeships.

We’ll help you make sense of the different providers and pathways on offer. We’ll provide a high-level summary of some of the degree and degree apprenticeship options for some of the most common engineering specialisms.

Let’s begin with a quick recap of both engineering degrees and degree-level apprenticeships.

Degrees vs degree apprenticeships: the two pathways explained

Engineering degrees

The two most common types of engineering degrees are the Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) and Master of Engineering (MEng).

While there are some exceptions, a BEng is more likely to be three years in length; an MEng is more likely to be four years in length.

The MEng is longer because it’s an undergraduate degree with an integrated Master’s, meaning you graduate with a higher qualification. Some degrees will offer a placement year or year in industry, which can mean you’ll be studying for a longer period.

Top tip: While both engineering degrees are looked on favourably by prospective employers, the added advantage of an MEng degree is it sets you up to become a chartered engineer, which can boost your career progression prospects and your earning potential! 

What are the best UK universities for studying engineering?

The ‘top-ranked’ UK universities for engineering will vary depending on which league table you look at.

But as well as Oxford and Cambridge, some of the best UK universities for engineering include

• University College London (UCL)
• Imperial College London
• The University of Manchester
• The University of Sheffield
• The University of Bristol
• Loughborough University.

Of course, many other UK universities offer high-quality engineering courses. We’d always recommend deciding which engineering discipline you’d like to specialise in and finding your best-fit university from there.

Engineering degree apprenticeships

Would you prefer to earn a salary and gain valuable work experience while working towards a degree qualification? Then a degree apprentice is probably the better choice.

As we’ve explored in some of our other articles here at Born to Engineer, there are many pros of working towards a degree-level apprenticeship.

• You’ll ‘earn as you learn’, as your employer pays you a salary as you work towards your qualification.
• Unlike a traditional degree, there’s no cost to you, as your degree qualification is paid for.
• You’ll gain valuable work experience that serves as a solid foundation for a successful engineering career.

But don’t forget there are a few cons too.

• You’ll need to balance the demands of a full-time job with studying.
• Apprentices can’t qualify for a student loan.

Degree apprenticeships are very different from academic degrees in one other important aspect – you don’t apply through the university but via your prospective employer.

In the next section, we’ll do a side-by-side comparison of the two application processes.

Degrees vs degree apprenticeships: how do the application processes compare?

The application processes for degrees and apprenticeships are quite different.

Applying for an engineering degree means applying through UCAS, submitting a Personal Statement and timing your application to the key deadlines set by UCAS and your chosen UK universities.

By contrast, applying for an apprenticeship is like applying for a regular job: you submit your application as and when a company advertises a vacancy.

This gives you the flexibility to apply for both an engineering degree and an apprenticeship if you want to! If you’re currently considering your higher education options for 2024 or 2025, it’s worth keeping your options open.

Applying for an engineering degree

You’ll need to apply for an engineering degree through UCAS. You can apply for engineering degrees at up to five universities.  You can also use UCAS to research the various engineering degrees being offered by UK universities.

Of course, we’d also recommend looking at the websites and prospectuses of the relevant universities you’re interested in.

UCAS has announced changes to the current Personal Statement, indicating that the format may change to a series of questions that will applicants have to answer as part of their overall application.

However, even under the new application format, you’ll likely need to showcase what makes you a standout applicant to study engineering, and what’s motivated you to embark on this career.

The entry requirements for every engineering degree will vary from university to university, but they will usually ask for you to have good grades in relevant A-level subjects such as Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Computer Science and Chemistry.

Applying for a degree-level apprenticeship

Degree apprenticeships are different. Instead of applying to the university, you apply through a prospective employer.

This also means there is a lot more variation in factors such as the type of engineering you’ll be working towards and the entry requirements/application criteria for each apprenticeship.

With all this in mind, finding the right apprenticeship may, at first glance, seem like a much more daunting task. But don’t worry, we’re about to share some helpful hints and tips to help you.

Find companies advertising apprenticeships

The job market for apprenticeships is growing all the time, with new placements being advertised every week. As we mentioned earlier, this gives you a lot of flexibility as to when you choose to apply – you’re not bound by the application deadlines set by universities.

There are several sites where you can find current engineering apprenticeships.

UCAS

UCAS has launched a search function that lets you find and research relevant apprenticeship opportunities across the UK. From here, you can find apprenticeships at many prestigious firms and organisations, including BAE Systems, Nissan, Sellafield, Siemens and EON.

GOV.UK

The UK government’s official website also has a handy search portal where you can research and apply for apprenticeships. You can easily filter for ‘degree-level’ apprenticeships. It also helps you to find disability-confident apprenticeships.

Job sites

Standard job sites also advertise apprenticeships and you can search for relevant company placements in the usual way. Websites such as Indeed, TotalJobs and Reed frequently advertise degree apprenticeships (though some of their search functions are not as intuitive as websites like UCAS and GOV.UK).

There are also several dedicated apprenticeship-specific websites dedicated to helping you find and evaluate the right apprenticeships for you. Examples include Not Going to Uni and Rate My Apprenticeship.

Finding degree apprenticeships through a university

While you can’t apply directly for an apprenticeship through a university, their websites are useful if you want to get an idea of which apprenticeships are accredited by a given university.

It can also help you to get a better understanding of how you will successfully combine earning with learning.

Researching a university’s apprenticeship is also useful from a logistical standpoint – you’ll likely want to know which apprenticeships are offered by specific universities or colleges within local commuting distance of where you live.

Case Study: Anglia Ruskin University

Anglia Ruskin’s website offers a comprehensive guide to the companies they partner with to offer degree-level apprenticeships. You can use Anglia Ruskin’s website as a portal to explore vacancies

Note: If you choose to reach out to a university about one of the engineering apprenticeships they offer, you’ll need to have arranged for an employer to sponsor you first. If you’re applying to an apprenticeship you must go through a company as your first port of call.  

Universities’ apprenticeships are also a route worth considering if you’re already employed, and you’d like to ask your company to sponsor you as you upskill.

For example, you may be reading this as someone already in possession of an Intermediate or Higher level apprenticeship and you’re considering working towards your next qualification.

Engineering specialisms: how to find the right degree or apprenticeship

Let’s start with engineering degrees.

Finding the right engineering specialism for you is relatively straightforward. You can research the different degree specialisms either through UCAS’s course catalogue, or by visiting the websites of the universities you’re considering.

We won’t cover every single engineering specialism in this article. But in this final section, let’s look at some of the universities and apprentice providers offering degrees and degree-level apprenticeships in some of the key fields of engineering.

Civil engineering

Civil engineering degrees

Opinions differ slightly depending on which league table you use. However, broadly speaking, some of the best universities for studying a civil engineering BEng or MEng include

• Imperial College London
• University of Bath
• University of Bristol
• Strathclyde University.

Top tip: It’s worth looking at each of the degree specialisations offered by these different institutions. For example, Strathclyde University offers a civil and environmental engineering degree course (BEng and MEng). Likewise, Bath’s faculty also offers courses in structure and architectural engineering, a useful specialism within civil engineering.

Civil engineering apprenticeships

Unlike degrees, civil engineering apprenticeships will be more tied to the requirements of the company that will be taking you on as an apprentice.

For example, a company may ask require apprentices to work in a particular specialism from day one, such as water or infrastructure.

Mechanical engineering

Mechanical engineering degrees

Many of the same universities that we covered in the last section also offer great mechanical engineering options as well.

As with civil engineering, you can also choose mechanical engineering degrees that offer other specialisms and joint honours qualifications.

Again, Imperial College London and Bath rank the most highly for mechanical engineering. Notably, if you’re interested in learning more about robotics, then Bath also offers mechanical engineering with robotics engineering.

Likewise, universities such as Exeter and Teeside offer mechanical engineering degrees with sandwich placement years and study abroad options.

Mechanical engineering apprenticeships

A quick glance at the mechanical engineering apprenticeships currently on offer highlights that there are a number of apprenticeships giving you the opportunity to specialise quickly.

For example, companies like Jaguar Landrover and Siemens offer you the chance to specialise in electronic engineering from the word go, with apprenticeships in Signalling Contol Systems or Rail Systems Engineering.

The mechanical engineering apprenticeship market is currently dominated by a number of large companies, such as Siemens, Atkins Ltd and Jacobs UK Ltd.

Electrical and electronic engineering

Electrical engineering degrees

Some of the top-ranked universities for electrical and electronic engineering include

• Cardiff University
• Manchester Metropolitan University
• The University of Sheffield.
• Southampton University

Nottingham, Leeds, UCL and Edinburgh are also well known for their high quality electrical engineering offerings.

Joint honours degrees and specialism within this field include aerospace electronic engineering (Southampton) and computer systems engineering (Sheffield).

Electrical engineering apprenticeships

At time of writing this article, many electrical engineering apprenticeships overlap with mechanical engineering apprenticeships. Once again, you should look out for apprenticeships at large firms such as Rolls Royce, Jaguar Land Rover, Atkins Ltd and Siemens.

Chemical engineering

Chemical engineering degrees

The universities offering chemical engineering degrees vary in the diversity of degrees that they offer. Universities such as Cambridge and Imperial College London sit at the top of the rankings, offering competitive BEng and MEng in chemical engineering; however they only have one or two courses on offer.

By contrast universities such as Leeds and Nottingham offer a broader range of chemical engineering courses, with more opportunities to specialise in degrees such as chemical and materials engineering, and chemical and nuclear engineering.

Chemical engineering apprenticeships

Purely specialised chemical engineering apprenticeships are fewer in number than across some of the other engineering fields. However you can find chemical engineering or laboratory apprentice roles with a number of respected companies, including Babcock International and the pharmaceutical company Astrazeneca.

Degree vs degree level apprenticeships: what’s right for me?

We’d obviously never tell you to choose one path over another. Hopefully, we’ve helped you learn a little bit more about the pros and cons of both routes.

The attraction of a BEng and MEng lies in the diversity of the courses. As we’ve seen, almost every university has between 5-12 different engineering degrees you can take within each of the four main specialisms – civil, electrical, mechanical and chemical. That’s a lot of choice at your fingertips.

It’s true there are fewer degree engineering apprenticeships being advertised and the apprenticeship job market fluctuates a lot more. But there are apprenticeship opportunities being created by leading UK companies all the time.

And don’t forget there’s the university route to a degree apprenticeship. While it’s true you can’t apply for a degree apprenticeship through a university, you can still find a degree apprenticeship and ask a current or future employer to sponsor you.

While the apprenticeship route into work may feel a bit more unstructured, don’t underestimate its ability to give you much-needed flexibility as you take these tentative first steps into your engineering career.