As a Manchester Metropolitan employee, highlighting the positive side of the university experience is part and parcel of Hannah Dumolo’s role.

However, Hannah’s own student journey was far from positive.

Originally attending university in her late teens, Hannah struggled with the course content and mental health issues. Lacking in confidence to complete the course successfully, Hannah left university without a good grasp of what to expect in the workplace, or how to carve out a career based on her study options.  

After working in project administration and management in London, Manchester and Sydney, Australia, Hannah joined IT & Digital at Manchester Met in 2017. Specialising in change management and staff engagement, Hannah ended up leading a growing team through a period of transformational change at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic – delivering on projects such as the roll-out of Microsoft Teams and the introduction OneDrive and SharePoint.

On paper, all was well. However, behind the scenes Hannah was still lacking in confidence, struggling with her mental health and was all too aware of not reaching the end of her undergraduate degree - especially now she was working in Higher Education.

Degree apprenticeship opportunity 

Returning from maternity leave after the birth of her son, Freddie, Hannah decided to make a positive change.

With a renewed motivation to make the most of her time at work, Hannah applied for a degree apprenticeship offered by Manchester Metropolitan and was accepted on to the 2.5 year Chartered Manager Fast-Track Degree Apprenticeship, which began in September 2022.

Now, at the age of 35, Hannah is a studying again for a degree, alongside her role as Change Manager in the IT & Digital team.

“I had no idea what to expect,” said Hannah. “I have always felt insecure about my background and felt very strongly that I had unfinished business with education.

“Applying for the apprenticeship was smooth, stress-free and relatively quick. It was also a huge relief that I am surrounded by like-minded people in a similar situation, who are using the degree apprenticeship to support their work and further their careers.

“I’m a practical person, so being able to implement skills and knowledge from the course and apply these directly to my role with tangible results, is incredibly helpful. It gives me a new focus and perspective – and my team and the wider Directorate are benefiting too.”

Hannah now spends 20% of her time studying on her degree apprenticeship alongside peers who travel from across the country and range in age from 18 – 50.

Acknowledging that her age, work and life experience is a key driver to her enjoyment of the course, for Hannah, being a mature student is more fulfilling than her original undergraduate experience. Understanding the student perspective and a different side to University life has also been eye-opening.

Hannah admits juggling work, studying and family life isn’t always easy. However, with excellent results on coursework so far and strong support from the University, Hannah feels the extra effort is worth it.

“I have always felt a bit of a hang-up about dropping out the first-time around,” said Hannah. “It was amazing to call my mum and dad even at the age of 35 and say I got 82% on my first assignment!

“At first, being back in a classroom environment was triggering, but I would recommend degree apprenticeships to anyone – no matter your age, background or stage in your career. I am proud of where I come from, but I am even more proud of where I am now and where I am going in the future.”