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Degree Apprenticeships degree VS university degree

Imagine you're doing a master's degree apprenticeship. You complete it and receive your master's degree.

Is this master's degree completely and absolutely equal in qualification level to a master's degree from studying X years at university?

Does doing a degree apprenticeship limit your promotions/hireability (in that field) compared to someone with a uni degree in any way?
Original post by ayaanh08
Imagine you're doing a master's degree apprenticeship. You complete it and receive your master's degree.
Is this master's degree completely and absolutely equal in qualification level to a master's degree from studying X years at university?
Does doing a degree apprenticeship limit your promotions/hireability (in that field) compared to someone with a uni degree in any way?

In qualification, it’s equal (putting aside grades here). In reality, the answer is more complex.

Let’s say for example person A completed a level 7 solicitor apprenticeship at a top city law firm and studied at ULaw to gain an LLB and an LLM qualification at the end of it (or something similar in name), whilst person B completed a standard undergraduate law degree (LLB) at a decent RG university (e.g. Manchester) and went on to do an LLM there as well. In the academic world, their qualifications would not be regarded as equal. This is simply due to the fact that in academia, it’s more about the research output and quality of the institution than the degree itself. It is for this reason that someone with a degree in a quote on quote “mickey mouse subject” (which don’t exist by the way) from the likes of Oxford or Cambridge may be better received in academia than someone who studied a more traditional subject at a mid-tier university with a low research quality and/or output.

In the working world however, it’s slightly different. You have to acknowledge that degree apprenticeships are fairly new in competitive fields like law, accounting, finance etc. and because of this, it’s less clear cut when considering how their viewed in comparison to the traditional academic route. Ultimately going down the traditional route will never disadvantage you, because this is still the route for the majority, but having qualifications gained through an apprenticeship may give one an edge. This is all down to the gained experience alongside the degree, however, it’s also worth noting that university students have a lot of time on their hands - more than enough time to gain experience in different ways. So in this sense, gaining your qualifications through a degree apprenticeship might not give you as much invaluable experience as you may think it will when your up against LinkedIn warriors who have been chasing opportunities alongside studying economics at LSE. The one thing a degree apprenticeship almost certainly will give you though is job security, and with that comes and increased likelihood of promotion. If you’ve been working in a team for several years at a junior level and after 3 or 4 years are you considered to be the level of a graduate, once your apprenticeship is complete, it would seem more likely that the former apprentice (provided their work is to an excellent standard) gets the promotion over the newly recruited graduate (who works at a similar level), due to their level of experience. But this isn’t always the case, hence me stating originally that the answer to this question is complex.

Reply 2

Original post by ayaanh08
Imagine you're doing a master's degree apprenticeship. You complete it and receive your master's degree.
Is this master's degree completely and absolutely equal in qualification level to a master's degree from studying X years at university?
Does doing a degree apprenticeship limit your promotions/hireability (in that field) compared to someone with a uni degree in any way?

I think they are comparable

Reply 3

Original post by bibachu
In qualification, it’s equal (putting aside grades here). In reality, the answer is more complex.
Let’s say for example person A completed a level 7 solicitor apprenticeship at a top city law firm and studied at ULaw to gain an LLB and an LLM qualification at the end of it (or something similar in name), whilst person B completed a standard undergraduate law degree (LLB) at a decent RG university (e.g. Manchester) and went on to do an LLM there as well. In the academic world, their qualifications would not be regarded as equal. This is simply due to the fact that in academia, it’s more about the research output and quality of the institution than the degree itself. It is for this reason that someone with a degree in a quote on quote “mickey mouse subject” (which don’t exist by the way) from the likes of Oxford or Cambridge may be better received in academia than someone who studied a more traditional subject at a mid-tier university with a low research quality and/or output.
In the working world however, it’s slightly different. You have to acknowledge that degree apprenticeships are fairly new in competitive fields like law, accounting, finance etc. and because of this, it’s less clear cut when considering how their viewed in comparison to the traditional academic route. Ultimately going down the traditional route will never disadvantage you, because this is still the route for the majority, but having qualifications gained through an apprenticeship may give one an edge. This is all down to the gained experience alongside the degree, however, it’s also worth noting that university students have a lot of time on their hands - more than enough time to gain experience in different ways. So in this sense, gaining your qualifications through a degree apprenticeship might not give you as much invaluable experience as you may think it will when your up against LinkedIn warriors who have been chasing opportunities alongside studying economics at LSE. The one thing a degree apprenticeship almost certainly will give you though is job security, and with that comes and increased likelihood of promotion. If you’ve been working in a team for several years at a junior level and after 3 or 4 years are you considered to be the level of a graduate, once your apprenticeship is complete, it would seem more likely that the former apprentice (provided their work is to an excellent standard) gets the promotion over the newly recruited graduate (who works at a similar level), due to their level of experience. But this isn’t always the case, hence me stating originally that the answer to this question is complex.
Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer this, it definitely helped to understand that it the answer isn't really black or white

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