300 new apprentices to drive EV push at Jaguar Land Rover

Jaguar Land Rover has expanded its apprenticeship scheme to offer a record level of degree apprenticeships, allowing industry newcomers to study at university debt-free while learning the trade.

In total, JLR will hire 300 apprentices in 2023, 150 of whom will be on degree apprenticeships, a 70% increase on last year’s level.

The company says it's offering an above-average wage of around £24,500 to help apprentices to move nearby. According to company review platform Glassdoor, the average apprentice salary in the UK is £20,037.

Speaking on the programme, JLR power electronics degree apprentice Frazer Balzan said: “The degree apprenticeship was financially a much better option for me than university. There was a lot of pressure on me through debt mounting in study fees. My parents were asking me what I would be doing after I finished, and I was worried I wasn’t getting a lot of relevant work experience. It was an anxious time.

“Now every hour is used towards a future that I can see. It has relieved anxieties about the future. The next natural step for me would be to find a role in JLR in power electronic design. I’m pursuing that.”

Data analytics degree apprentice Erin Purewal added: “The work of data roles is so important to the business, and it's amazing to be a part of this change as businesses adapt to becoming more data-driven.”

The expansion of the degree-apprenticeship programme comes amid a push at JLR to train its workforce for EVs.

In September 2022, it announced its Future Skills initiative to train 29,000 global staff in skills critical to electrification, including engineering and servicing. Of those 29,000, roughly 10,000 are based in the UK.

Extra emphasis has been placed on data training: JLR opened its doors to laid-off Meta and Twitter employees in November and has offered more than 400 of its UK staff a specialist course in computer programming and analysis.

JLR early years career programme head Anne Marie Campion said the firm's apprentices "will learn with the UK’s top training providers and support our Reimagine strategy, working on our future vehicles that are fundamental to our global success”.

JLR will be competing with rival luxury marques Bentley and Rolls-Royce for some of the brightest prospects across the country: the former yesterday opened applications for its 2023 apprentice intake, with 37 places, while the latter’s window is open until 19 March 2023.