We support over 3,000 fully work-based degree apprentices, working with 700 local and national employers

We support over 3,000 fully work-based degree apprentices, working with 700 local and national employers

Our degree apprenticeships see students enter the workforce whilst learning at the University and are designed alongside employers to ensure they directly address key regional skills gaps.

A Sheffield Hallam degree apprentice at work

We currently support over 3,000 fully work-based degree apprentices and in 2024 we celebrated our 700th employer partnership.

Sheffield Hallam hosts the widest portfolio of degree apprenticeship courses in the country, and a large cohort of apprentices, which in February 2023 reached a milestone by welcoming our 2,500th apprentice a reflection of the University’s commitment to supporting the regional economy and addressing skills shortages.

Our apprentices are playing an important role in the regional economy, bringing new skills and industry knowledge to the local workforce - 25% of our apprentices are from the Sheffield City Region with 43% from Yorkshire and Humber as a whole.

Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP, Secretary of State for Education: “It takes great universities like Sheffield Hallam, our trailblazing South Yorkshire Institute of Technology, and working with businesses across the UK to recognise and train up the talent of the future."

We value degree apprenticeships as an important vehicle for increasing social mobility, providing people of all ages – including many young people who might not otherwise have gone to university – with the access and opportunity to thrive and develop their confidence whilst contributing to their community, the economy and society.

At Hallam, 45% of our degree apprentices are from POLAR quintiles one and two (the geographical areas with the lowest number of young people participating in higher education).

The success of our provision has been recognised with a host of award wins, including 2020 Times and Sunday Times - University of the Year for Teaching Quality; 2022 South Yorkshire Apprenticeship Awards - Training Provider of the Year; and 2022 Educate North Awards - University of the Year.

National Centre of Excellence

Hallam’s National Centre of Excellence for Degree Apprenticeships (NCEDA) is home to some of the UK’s leading experts in the provision of HDAs. We are frequently called upon to inform national policy and regional economic planning in relation to highly skilled workforce strategies.

"As a passionate champion of degree apprenticeships in Parliament, I am delighted to support the extraordinary work of Sheffield Hallam’s National Centre of Excellence for Degree Apprenticeships.

"Degree apprenticeships transform lives, offering anyone - whatever their background, whatever their age - the chance to climb the ladder of opportunity, with skills, jobs and prosperity at the top."

Rt Hon. Robert Halfon MP, Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education.