Lewis, one of our fourth year Software Degree Apprentices, has been completing his apprenticeship at MBDA and has made incredible progress.
MBDA are within the defence sector and have been working with UCW as one of our Career Excellence Hub partners – giving our apprentices rounded experiences of working within industry.
Lewis and MBDA recently won our ‘Digital Partnership Award’ at the Weston College Business Awards – showcasing the positive working relationship between our degree apprentices and MBDA.
During his time at MBDA, Lewis has been given opportunities to improve his presentation skills, communication skills, project management skills and time management skills, which he says have all hugely developed since completely his GCSE’s and A Levels.
Gary Bradshaw from MBDA says that Lewis has been an integral part of the team during his apprenticeship, and he has been a great role model to other apprentices. Gary also describes Lewis as a trailblazer and adds that “the effort put in by Lewis has been phenomenal.”
Gary also says, “7%-8% of our business are either apprentices or graduates. We use that as a resource and a talent pipeline which we see as being key for the business.”
“We have had very positive feedback from Lewis’ placement managers and his technical coordinators. He is a shining light for our organisation.”
The highlight of Lewis’s time at MBDA as a degree apprentice has been working in the induction team, which helps experienced hires to get a taste of different areas of the business. This not only helps the new hire to experience the vast areas of MBDA, but also allows Lewis to gain new experiences whilst going to manufacturing sites and talking to business professionals across the sector, something he wouldn’t have thought he would have the opportunity to do.
Lewis says, “The levels of confidence I have built in my day-to-day job as an apprentice I wouldn’t have been able to find elsewhere. I am very thankful to both UCW and MBDA for supporting me consistently through my journey as a degree apprentice.”
This degree apprenticeship forms part of the Digital Careers Excellence Hub.
By being part of a Career Excellence Hub, all of our courses are designed to make you “job ready” when you graduate. We work with a diverse range of local and national employers to ensure our courses are upgraded with career-boosting benefits, and curriculum content is relevant to today’s industry.
University Centre Weston places a strong emphasis on future careers and the strong prospects we can provide to students. Creating a strong network while at university can be very beneficial to gaining employment, so we seek to give students the best opportunity they can to make connections within industry.
At UCW we work with hundreds of employers, to deliver degree apprenticeship opportunities. Find out more about these opportunities here.
