Widening Access to Higher Education through Degree-level Apprenticeships in Software Engineering

Equality of access to higher education is a priority for governments the world over. For example, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal relating to Quality Education includes a target to “ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university” by 2030 (United Nations, 2022). For those from areas of relative socioeconomic deprivation, the cost of studying for a degree qualification represents a barrier to participation. As such, apprenticeships and similar forms of work-based learning are cited as a means of overcoming this barrier, offering students an opportunity to earn a wage while pursuing their degree. The work described here explores how - and to what extent - a work-based degree in Software Engineering has facilitated wider participation in higher education, through a series of in-depth interviews with apprentices from relatively deprived backgrounds. Analysis suggests that economic considerations are chief among the concerns of apprentices from areas of deprivation; however, the relevant factors are evidently intersectional in nature, and often intertwined with a wider range of personal circumstances, including the effects of previous choices about education and work. As such, we believe this work has implications for how we understand the potential for work-based degrees in Software Engineering and Computing Science to widen access to higher education, and for universities to contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainability Goal of affordable and quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education.