The University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre is celebrating 10 years of delivering apprenticeships which have helped to ‘transform lives’, forge strong partnerships and create an engineering workforce fit for the future. Since the first cohort of apprentices started in 2013, the AMRC Training Centre has had a lot to celebrate – it has delivered more than 1,700 apprenticeships from advanced level through to degree, worked with 400 different businesses of all sizes and provided continuous professional development to upskill and reskill existing workforces.

Nikki Jones, AMRC Training Centre director, said: “At the AMRC Training Centre, we are transforming lives through apprenticeships. We have been offering apprenticeships for 10 years now and they matter just as much now as when we started. They are so important for the education mix and providing the workforce for the future. Any industry needs to have skilled people going into their businesses, apprenticeships give them access to that pipeline of talent. We must continue to invest in apprenticeships nationally and continue to support all employers – large or small – to take on apprentices. They bring in new skills and fresh ideas. Innovation and a skilled workforce are different sides of the same coin; they are both essential to economic growth and you cannot have one without the other.”

Throughout this journey, partnerships with companies such as Close Brothers have played a key role to help make apprenticeships possible. Adrian Sainsbury, chief executive of Close Brothers Group plc, said: “Our partnership with the University of Sheffield AMRC Training Centre opens up great opportunities for young people and helps create a much-needed pipeline of future engineering talent. Apprenticeships are an excellent way for UK SMEs to fill skills gaps, develop their future workforce and improve long-term growth prospects. We know from experience that SMEs often need assistance to take on apprentices.

“Over the past eight years we have supported the training of 70 apprentices at the AMRC Training Centre through the Close Brothers SME Apprentice Programme that aims to help with the specific issues SMEs are facing which includes the cost of investing in an apprentice. We also want to help businesses establish a diverse and dynamic workforce of young fresh talent with new ideas and an eagerness to learn the skills and knowledge required to build a rewarding long-term career.”