Which industries offer Higher Apprenticeships?

Billy Sexton
Last updated 13 May 2020

Apprenticeships are stereotypically viewed as an alternative to university for students who prefer practical-based work and learning, such as construction or engineering. This couldn’t be further from the truth!

The fact of the matter is that apprenticeships, including Higher Apprenticeships, are available in pretty much every industry you can imagine. The UK Government has put apprenticeships at the forefront of their strategy to improve skills across the country, and since 2017, the Apprenticeship Levy has made it easier for large employers to hire apprenticeship. The government wants to see an additional three million apprentices by 2020, and these are going to be across all industries.

What do the statistics say?

The government is able to record all Higher Apprenticeship starts and can break this down by industry and sector.

In the 2018/19 academic year, the following number of Higher Apprenticeships were started in each industry.

Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care - 45
Arts, Media and Publishing - 18
Business, Administration and Law - 24,997
Construction, Planning and the Built Environment - 1,257
Education and Training - 561
Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies - 1,902
Health, Public Services and Care - 16,276
Information and Communication Technology - 4,507
Retail and Commercial Enterprise - 2,986
Science and Mathematics - 30

As you can see, there are Higher Apprenticeships available in a broad range of industries. However, around 80% of all Higher Apprenticeship starts in 2018/19 were in two industries: Business, Administration and Law and Health, Public Services and Social Care.

Of the 25,000 Higher Apprenticeships that started in Business, Administration and Law, these are broken down into the following fields of work:

Accounting and Finance - 4,625
Administration - 4,425
Business Management - 15,320
Law and Legal Services - 61

Similarly, with Health, Public Services and Care, these 16,276 starts are broken down by:

Health and Social Care - 15,044
Medicine and Dentistry - 116
Nursing and Subjects and Vocations Allied to Medicine - 82
Public Services - 1,034

How can I find the right Higher Apprenticeship for me?

Every Higher Apprenticeship follows an Apprenticeship Standard. Apprenticeship Standards show, in detail, what an apprentice will be doing in their day-to-day job role. Each Standard lists the skills required of apprentices and every standard is written by a group of employers that are specialists in their sector.

You can browse all the Apprenticeship Standards on AllAboutSchoolLeavers and you can filter by industry and level, which makes it easy for you to find Higher Apprenticeships in an industry of your choice. Remember though, just because an Apprenticeship Standard exists, doesn’t mean that there are employers currently recruiting apprentices in related roles.

Apply for a Higher Apprenticeship

Once you’ve worked out which industry you want to work in and which Apprenticeship Standards are best suited to you, you can apply for Higher Apprenticeships here.