Commenting on the Government’s support of the Richard Review, Gaenor Bagley, PwC head of people, said:
“We fully support the Richard Review recommendation that apprenticeships should be credible and are pleased that the Government has endorsed the review today. For apprenticeship to be considered a viable alternative to a university degree and become the ‘new norm’ for school leavers, employers need to ensure they are offering quality training and work experience to attract the very best talent into real business roles.
“We were the first professional services firm to launch Higher Apprenticeship last year and since then, applications to our school leaver entry programmes have increased 43%. Apprenticeships serve a vital business need at PwC, so this year we’re making all our school leaver roles Higher Apprentices. This year we are expanding our Higher Apprentice recruitment in management consulting and will recruit into the firm’s Business Recovery Services team for the first time. In total we will recruit 109 Higher Apprentices to our Tax, Assurance and Consulting practices across the UK.”
Richard Irwin, head of recruitment, added:
"More and more employers are now offering Apprenticeship and Higher Apprenticeship routes into professions previously dominated by graduates. Whether these routes constitute a viable alternative to University is yesterday's question; they can and, at PwC, they do. The pressing challenge is for us to find the right way for employers, educators and parents to work together sustainably to ensure that young people are informed about, and confident in, their choices."
