Jaguar Land Rover will offer 300 apprenticeships this year to help aspiring students gain a degree in a world class automotive business and develop the next generation of modern luxury vehicles, without accruing large debts.
The group’s 2023 apprenticeship scheme will be offered in the areas of electrification, self-driving, artificial intelligence, data analytics, software engineering and machine learning, the luxury car maker said.
Half of these or 150 will be degree apprenticeships, a 70% increase over the previous year, to be offered to those who can’t afford a university education. The purpose is to deepen Jaguar Land Rover’s talent pool with digital, autonomous and electrified skills, the group said.
This is an opportunity for apprentices to get started in the industry and get paid by their employer while they also study, the company said. The JLR starting salary of about £24,500 is well above market rate meaning young people can afford to move closer to JLR for a degree apprenticeship, it added.
Two JLR degree apprentices Frazer Balzan and Erin Purewal represented JLR at an event at the Houses of Parliament on Monday, February 6th. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) hosted the event to talk to parliamentarians about degree apprenticeships.
“The degree apprenticeship was financially a much better option for me than university,” said Balzan. “There was a lot of pressure on me through debt mounting in study fees. It has relieved anxieties about the future. The next natural step for me would be to find a role in JLR in power electronic design.”
“The work of data roles is so important to the business, and it is amazing to be a part of this change as businesses adapt to becoming more data driven,” said Purewal.
Last year JLR launched its Future Skills Programme, a global upskilling that will see 29,000 people trained in electrification and digital skills in the next three years. These skills are essential to developing, building and delivering JLR’s next generation of cars that epitomise modern luxury experience for our clients, the company said.
“Our apprenticeship programmes including our Degree Apprenticeships are highly sought after,” said JLR Head of Early Years Careers Programme, Anne Marie Campion. The apprentices will learn with the UK’s top training providers and support the company’s reimagine strategy, she added.