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Another first for BAE Systems and B&FC degree apprentices

Published on 24/04/2023 by SGLAS

General news

Ten years ago, two BSc Project Management students from Blackpool and The Fylde College became the first from college-based Higher Education to present at the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR).

This year on April 5 at the University of Warwick, four Project Management students from Blackpool and The Fylde College who work at BAE Systems became the first ever Degree Apprentices to present at the BCUR.

The British Conference of Undergraduate Research is the country’s leading research event for undergraduates and being selected to present a paper at the conference is not only prestigious but demonstrates real innovation in the area researched.

B&FC students presenting at the Conference were quick to point out what an amazing opportunity this was to share their findings with other attendees and an unparalleled chance to network with other undergraduates from universities and colleges across the UK.

Presenting work on a broad range of topics within the project management sphere, the students’ work focused on areas as diverse as Project Metrics, Teaming Agreements and the challenges of International Project Management.

Andrew Smith, Programme Leader for the Project Management Degree Apprenticeship at B&FC, said:

“Securing four presentation slots at an event which received hundreds of prospective applications is particularly rewarding for the students involved especially when you consider that invitations are based on peer reviews of their proposed papers. It also goes to prove that far from being the poor relation to a full-time degree, degree apprenticeships are now competing with the very best that more traditional programmes offer and, in some cases, actually providing a richer and more rewarding alternative to those programmes.”

One of the apprentices who took part in the Conference is quick to point out the benefits of doing a degree apprenticeship:

“I really do have the best of both worlds; the opportunity to study for a full-time honours degree combined with paid work experience at one of the UK’s leading employers.  I can take what I’ve learnt in the classroom and apply it to the workplace. Equally, I can use my everyday work experience to critically appraise what I’m learning in a theoretical context back at College. At the end of my course I won’t be saddled with the burden of student debt either as my fees are being covered by my employer.”

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