Q) What does your job role involve at Warwick

A) My job involves managing the delivery of the branch of the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning (IATL)’s strategy focused on student research, as well as embedding our student research focus across the other strands of IATL’s work. I manage two large projects, Reinvention and the International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR) and both of the members of IATL staff, as well as the external institutional relationships, involved with them. I sit on the Executive Committee of the British Conference of Undergraduate Research (BCUR) and the Alliance for Global Undergraduate Research (AGUR) and have obtained funding for and managed resulting projects relating to student research including the Digital Undergraduate Research project with Erasmus+, Support the Supporter with WIHEA and the joint World Congress for Undergraduate Research and British Conference of Undergraduate Research (WorldCUR-BCUR) in 2023

Q) What made you choose your apprenticeship?

A) I saw the information sessions surrounding the Level 7 apprenticeship in senior leadership being advertised on Warwick Insite and after attending one, I felt that the opportunity to undertake postgraduate study, and apply it directly to my work, would be invaluable to me.I chose to go straight into work after completing my bachelor’s degree many years ago but always intended to do further study at some point.Career opportunities, travel and then family took priority and the idea of doing postgraduate study had to take a backseat.So, the opportunity to do this study alongside my job was one that I could not miss.

Q) What is the best thing about doing an apprenticeship?

A) Doing this apprenticeship has really challenged me to consider ideas and areas of study that I have never really thought about before.The way that I can apply the ideas I’m learning about directly to my role has been fascinating – and the best thing about the apprenticeship so far.

Q) What has your experience been of studying via an apprenticeship route?

A) The study has been challenging – both in terms of returning to study after so many years since my last formal learning experience – but also in the time commitment. When you start learning about something new, there is always more you can be reading and finding out about and so having boundaries and knowing when you have to stop and move on, has been the hardest part. However, I’ve found the online platform easy to use and the set-up of the modules to be easy to follow. Having the flexibility to come back to asynchronous sessions via the online platform around other commitments is really helpful.

Q) What impact to you think your learning has made to your team and/or more widely to Warwick?

A) I’ve been able to involve my immediate team in a number of the things I’ve been learning about so far.Recently, I led a meeting for the whole department on some elements of the strategy work I’d been doing and the theories I’d learned about, where we discussed how these ideas could apply to our departmental strategy and the way we communicate our work both to the university and the wider HE sector.I’m hoping these opportunities to impact my team and the department will continue as I move through the apprenticeship.

Q) What difference to you think apprenticeships will make to your career?

A) I’m hoping that I will be able to continue to top up the apprenticeship to an MBA – as I do think having a postgraduate degree will be hugely valuable as I continue to work in the HE sector. Regardless, I think the learning has allowed me to approach aspects of my role differently and has definitely developed me professionally.

Q) What advice would you give to others considering an apprenticeship or to a line manager considering this option for a new or existing staff members?

A) I think this apprenticeship has been a huge opportunity for personal and professional growth for me that I would not have had access to through any other route that I’m aware of. As a long-serving member of staff in the department, I think it provided a way for my line manager and HOD to give me a huge opportunity for professional development, and at the same time, to have the benefit of the learning I’m undertaking fed back into the department through the practical element of the apprenticeship course.