How degree apprenticeships at Manchester Met champion creative excellence

This year, Manchester Metropolitan University is celebrating its 200th anniversary. As part of our celebrations, we’re showcasing our successes and the great work we’re doing to build a better future for all.   
 
We sat down with Liz Gorb, Director of Apprenticeships at Manchester Met, the UK’s top university provider of degree apprenticeships (RateMyApprenticeship Awards 2019-23), to discuss how apprenticeships play their part in championing creative excellence.   

What impact do creative and digital apprenticeships have on the industry? 

The creative industries are worth more than £150 billion to the UK economy and more than £4 billion to Greater Manchester. We work closely with some of the leading businesses in the creative and digital sectors to ensure that our apprenticeship offerings meet the increasing demand for talent in this exciting industry.  

At Manchester Met we champion creative excellence across the board, with employer partners ranging from large multi-national companies such as the BBC and BT Group to local SMEs like Couch Health and Democracy PR. We offer five creative and digital technology courses, with apprentices not only working directly in that sector but also influencing creative and digital thinking across various other industries. Currently, we have over 928 apprentices on our creative and digital technology courses, working with over 200 employers. We strongly believe that degree apprenticeships deliver real value to employers and that our apprentices are capable of positively influencing businesses and creating long-term impact. 

Marketing automation platform, RedEye, identified the potential of apprenticeships at an early stage, recruiting their first apprentices onto the Digital and Technology Solutions Degree Apprenticeship in September 2016. In 2024, they have seven apprentices across our Digital and Technology Solutions and Digital User Experience programmes, making up 7% of their workforce.  

I spoke with their Chief Executive Officer, Scott Young, who explained that: 

“We were experiencing the same digital skills shortage faced by employers across the country and were initially plugging those gaps by outsourcing work overseas. However, this wasn’t a long-term solution, and we began to look at other options. Degree apprenticeships ticked a lot of boxes for us. They enabled us to keep work in-house, to grow our own talent, and to diversify our workforce.   

We are really impressed with how Manchester Met works in partnership to design the programmes and take an active interest in what employers need. The reason we’ve continued to work with Manchester Met over the last five years is that we’ve found the programmes are really progressive, they don’t stay still. They continue to evolve and continue to match up to what the business needs.”   

There is also notable creative impact being made by apprentices using their own initiative to suggest or implement projects that would benefit the business whilst meeting the needs of their own assignments. Creative Digital Design degree apprentice Alicia-Mae McCarron, at COUCH Health, was asked to lead on the creation of a brand guidelines document, using the knowledge gained from one of her course modules. Given the green light by the Senior Designer, the guidelines were rolled out across the company.   

COUCH Health Founder and CEO, Ash Rishi, said:   

“Alicia has written new brand guidelines that have changed the whole direction of our COUCH Health brand, and I can’t stress how impressive that is for a first-year digital design student with no digital design background.”  

How do degree apprenticeships at Manchester Met champion creative excellence?  

Through collaboration with leading employers across various creative sectors, we ensure that our programmes are aligned with current industry needs. Modules are tailored to focus on creative thinking, problem-solving, and the development of original ideas. This ensures that apprentices are well-prepared to succeed in the rapidly evolving digital and creative industries. 

One standout example is the Digital User Experience (UX) Degree Apprenticeship, whose creation was led by Manchester Met colleagues and our employer partners. This programme blends academic learning with practical, work-based experience, ensuring apprentices acquire relevant skills directly applicable in the digital and creative sectors. This apprenticeship is the first of its kind in the UK to receive Tech Industry Gold accreditation, a recognition of our dedication to supporting the growing demand for skilled workers in the region.