New BAE Systems apprenticeship seeks to attract ‘finest and most diverse talent’

A new postgraduate engineering apprenticeship programme has just been launched by BAE Systems and Cranfield University to provide learners with a valuable masters-level qualification.

The first batch of 76 engineers began the academic element of their level 7 apprenticeship programme at the start of the month, undertaking modules including design-driven innovation, operations management and cost engineering.

Graduate engineers will continue with their day-to-day roles within BAE Systems while they complete the modules.

BAE Systems hopes the programme will attract talent from a wide cross section of society, which would add to its recent successes in this vein. The defence company recruited just under 600 apprentices across its wider apprenticeships schemes last year, with record numbers of both female apprentices and apprentices with disabilities, making up 27 and 15 per cent of recruits respectively.

In a further win for the firm’s diversity efforts, 18 per cent of recruits came from the most socially deprived areas of the UK.

BAE Systems’ apprenticeships cover the maritime, air and land sectors, as well as electronic systems.

One student currently on the level 7 postgraduate apprenticeship said it allowed them to complete another qualification without taking time out of work to study.

They added that it offered the best of both worlds, with the virtual learning programmes and lectures allowing flexible study, while enabling them to apply their knowledge directly to their day-to-day role within the business.