Ian Chapman

The degree apprenticeship was introduced in 2015 and touted as one of the biggest developments in the higher education sector in several decades (Rowe et al., 2016). A key aspect of the rationale for its introduction is the critical need for the UK to produce more commercially aware graduates. This approach is dependent on collaboration between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and key stakeholders such as employees, employers and professional bodies. HEIs need to be effective in how they identify potential partners and opportunities; in addition to identifying new partners, the HEI will seek to establish the partnership with the partner organisation, this involves identifying the relevant skills gap (s) and developing the appropriate academic content, material, schedule and platform of learning to meet stakeholder needs.
These challenges have presented HEIs with a number of questions to be considered. In particular, is it the role of the academic staff to identify commercial opportunities and then to build and maintain those relationships? If it is the role of academic staff, then how are they being managed and developed in order to carry out these seemingly less academic but more commercial activities? Through a series of semi-structured interviews with an academic responsible for leading a newly developed Chartered Management Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA) at a UK university, the project has sought to investigate some of the opportunities and challenges experienced during programme development and delivery. Respondent feedback suggested that the degree apprenticeship represents a meaningful and dynamic delivery model but that any benefits must be balanced against some of the issues and anxieties potentially experienced by staff when transitioning into their new roles.