Analysis of 1,000+ Level 10 Graduate Apprenticeships in Scotland – updated after #ScotAppWeek24

Latest reflections

This report gives a statistical summary of Level 10 apprenticeship vacancies posted in Scotland during a 21-month period between 1^st June 2022 (when I first started recording them) and 1^st March 2024, which was the start of Scottish Apprenticeship Week. The data has subsequently been further updated on 7^th April 2024.

The data tables below offer an insight into the kinds of occupations that have been available and how they’ve been distributed regionally. Degree partners, minimum entry grades and starting salaries are also analysed and I’ve added a list of all the employers who have posted multiple vacancies during the period covered.

My reports also include a summary of the process I use and how it all started, which can be found in the ‘Footnote’ section at the bottom of the page.

Headline data

During the period from 1^st June 2022 to 7th April 2024 I’ve now recorded:

1,062 new apprenticeship vacancies in Scotland at SCQF Level 10/11 or equivalent that would be open to students leaving school/college after completing Scottish Highers or equivalent qualifications.

Analysis by occupation

The 1,062 vacancies are broken down into what I loosely define as ‘occupational areas’, which in some cases differ from official terminology. Since 1^st June 2022 the complete list of occupational areas is given below, and I think it provides a useful insight into what the prominent and emerging careers are in an evolving career landscape.

243 Accountants / Audit Professionals

137 Software Engineers/Developers

88 Design & Manufacturing Engineers

74 Civil Engineers

70 Tax Professionals

68 Quantity Surveyors

56 Business Managers/Consultants

37 IT Business Managers (ITMB)

35 Construction Site Managers

26 Digital Technology Professionals (general)

24 AI Data Science Specialists

24 Cyber Security Professionals

23 Retail Leaders

19 Construction Project Managers

17 Data Scientists

15 Banking & Financial Services Professionals

15 General Practice Surveyors

13 Electrical Power Engineers

9 Building Services Design Engineers

9 Building Surveyors

7 Instrumentation Measurement & Control Engineers

7 Project Managers (general)

6 Combat Systems Engineers

4 Architectural / Design & Construction Engineers

3 Broadcasting & Media Systems Engineers

3 Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) Engineers

3 Project Controls Professionals

3 Supply Chain Professionals

2 Bid & Proposal Writers/Co-ordinators

2 Business Development / Sales Professionals

2 Digital User Experience (UX) Designers

2 Early Learning & Childcare Professionals

2 Electronic Engineers

2 Food Manufacturing Managers

2 Food Technologists

2 Journalists

2 Nuclear Engineers

1 Business Analyst

1 Construction Estimator

1 Human Resources Manager

1 Laboratory Scientist (Chemistry)

1 Logistics Support Engineer

1 Technical Publications Designer

Analysis by town/city

In terms of location, the 1,062 apprenticeships advertised in Scotland during this period have been distributed as follows (with council area in brackets):

437 Glasgow (Glasgow City)
234 Edinburgh (City of Edinburgh)
90 Aberdeen (Aberdeen City)
30 Inverness (Highland)
24 Perth (Perth & Kinross)
19 Livingston (West Lothian)
12 Cumbernauld (North Lanarkshire)
12 Irvine (North Ayrshire)
11 Lerwick (Shetland Islands)
11 Motherwell (North Lanarkshire)
11 Nationwide
9 Dundee (Dundee City)
9 Paisley (Renfrewshire)
9 Tweedbank (Scottish Borders)
8 Dunfermline (Fife)
7 Bellshill (North Lanarkshire)
7 Cambuslang (South Lanarkshire)
7 Glenrothes (Fife)
6 Helensburgh (Argyll & Bute)
6 Newbridge (City of Edinburgh)
5 Bridge of Weir (Renfrewshire)
5 Leven (Fife)
5 Stirling (Stirling)
4 Coatbridge (North Lanarkshire)
4 Inverkeithing (Fife)
4 Kelso (Scottish Borders)
4 Turriff (Aberdeenshire)
3 Currie (City of Edinburgh)
3 Dalgety Bay (Fife)
3 Grangemouth (Falkirk)
3 Hamilton (South Lanarkshire)
3 Kirkwall (Orkney Islands)
3 Peterhead (Aberdeenshire)
3 Rosyth (Fife)
3 Uddingston (South Lanarkshire)
3 Westhill (Aberdeenshire)
2 Auchterarder (Perth & Kinross)
2 Bathgate (West Lothian)
2 Castle Douglas (Dumfries & Galloway)
2 Cumnock (East Ayrshire)
2 Dalkeith (Midlothian)
2 Falkirk (Falkirk)
2 Hunterston (North Ayrshire)
2 Linlithgow (West Lothian)
2 Montrose (Angus)
2 St Andrews (Fife)
1 Arbroath (Angus)
1 Ayr (South Ayrshire)
1 Beith (North Ayrshire)
1 Brechin (Angus)
1 Crieff (Perth & Kinross)
1 Dingwall (Highland)
1 Dounreay (Highland)
1 Dumbarton (West Dunbartonshire)
1 Earlston (Scottish Borders)
1 Elgin (Moray)
1 Fort William (Highland)
1 Golspie (Highland)
1 Hillington (Glasgow City)
1 Holytown (North Lanarkshire)
1 Inchinnan (Renfrewshire)
1 Kintore (Aberdeenshire)
1 Loanhead (Midlothian)
1 Lochgilphead (Argyll & Bute)
1 Milngavie (East Dunbartonshire)
1 Oban (Argyll & Bute)
1 Prestwick (South Ayrshire)
1 Thurso (Highland)
1 Torness Point (East Lothian)
1 Wick (Highland)
1 Remote-working

Analysis by council area

This list breaks down the same data by council area:

438 Glasgow City
243 City of Edinburgh
90 Aberdeen City
36 Highland
35 North Lanarkshire
32 Fife
27 Perth & Kinross
23 West Lothian
15 North Ayrshire
15 Renfrewshire
14 Scottish Borders
13 South Lanarkshire
11 Aberdeenshire
11 Shetland Islands
11 Nationwide
9 Dundee City
8 Argyll & Bute
5 Falkirk
5 Stirling
4 Angus
3 Midlothian
3 Orkney Islands
2 Dumfries & Galloway
2 East Ayrshire
2 South Ayrshire
1 East Dunbartonshire
1 East Lothian
1 Moray
1 West Dunbartonshire
1 Remote-working
0 Clackmannanshire
0 East Renfrewshire
0 Inverclyde
0 Outer Hebrides

Analysis by university partners

This is a list of universities or other education/training providers who have partnered with employers in the delivery of the apprenticeships listed above, where this was known:

176 Strathclyde
174 Glasgow Caledonian
117 Heriot-Watt
92 Edinburgh Napier
55 Robert Gordon
47 BPP
25 Glasgow
11 Dundee
11 West of Scotland
8 Highlands & Islands
5 Stirling
2 Babington
2 National College for Nuclear (Somerset)
2 Sheffield Hallam
2 Teesside
1 Coventry
1 Cumbria
1 Manchester Metropolitan
1 University College of Estate Management
1 West of England (Bristol)

Analysis by minimum entry requirements

This is a simplified list of stated minimum entry requirements (where known), expressed as either Scottish Higher grades or UCAS points, and the number of apprenticeship vacancies requiring them:

387 BBBB
88 104 points
76 BBCC
68 120 points
58 BBBC
38 ABBB
38 112 points
25 AAAB
20 96 points
16 CCCC
13 BBDD
12 BBBBC
11 AABB
3 AAAB/ABBBB
3 BBBBB
3 BBB
3 BBC
3 CCC
1 CC
1 128 points

Analysis by minimum starting salaries

In this table I’ve listed the aggregated minimum starting salaries for all vacancies for which this information was available. (£29,000+ denotes a minimum starting salary of between £29,000 and £29,999, and so on.)

1 £29,000+
3 £27,000+
2 £26,000+
22 £25,000+
33 £24,000+
47 £23,000+
111 £22,000+
175 £21,000+
104 £20,000+
75 £19,000+
92 £18,000+
27 £17,000+
18 £16,000+
20 £15,000+
27 £14,000+
13 £13,000+
5 £12,000+
2 £11,000+
7 £10,000+
4 £9,000+
3 £8,000+

Employers posting multiple vacancies during the period

All of these employers have had nine or more vacancies posted during the period covered by this report:

Accenture
Arcadis
Atkins Realis
BAE Systems
Balfour Beatty
BAM
Barclays
BBC
CGI
Deloitte
EY
Gallagher
Graham Group
Graham & Sibbald
Grant Thornton
JP Morgan
KPMG
Leonardo
McDonalds
McLaughlin & Harvey
Mazars
Morgan Stanley
Morrisons
Public Health Scotland
RSM
Saffery
Scottish Power
SSE
Thales Group

Footnote: how the data has been collected

I originally started recording post-18 apprenticeship vacancies in England early in 2020 and that summer I began publishing weekly statistical updates. Then on 1^st June 2022 I also started recording vacancies in the three other devolved nations with a view to reporting on these once I’d collated enough useful data.

For Scotland I keep a record of all new Graduate Apprenticeship vacancies at SCQF Level 10 (and where appropriate Level 11) that I spot during my regular searches. I also record other UK-wide apprenticeships of an equivalent level that have vacancies in Scotland. In doing so, I’ve built up an evolving occupational and regional analysis.

I largely use information from the Skills Development Scotland (apprenticeships.scot) website, whilst also keeping a close lookout for other relevant vacancies through my normal UK-wide channels. I only include vacancies that are open to school/college-leavers with Scottish Higher or equivalent qualifications and that lead to a degree-level qualification.

The big advantage of the apprenticeships.scot website is that the actual number of positions is always provided with every vacancy, which isn’t necessarily the case with UK-wide employers who don’t post on the Scottish site. Hence my data will never be fully reliable because it’s sometimes necessary to make conservative estimates of vacancy numbers for a few of these UK-wide employers. On the other hand, I think the benefit of including them is that it gives a more realistic impression of the overall landscape.

Going forward

I’ll continue to update the data in this report on an ongoing basis and all being well I also hope to publish a two-year update in June.

The featured image at the top of the page is a photo from my own collection and was taken a few years ago in Edinburgh. I just liked the signposting.

https://alanbullockcareers.com