4,460 people started apprenticeships in Oxfordshire in 2012 - 27% more than 2011 and twice the rate of those taking up apprenticeship placements nationally.

The largest rise was among 16 to 18 year olds. 2,400 you people started apprenticeships in 2012, in over 200 professions and industries, giving each of them work-based training and a programme of study for up to four years.

The rise in numbers is down to a host of factors: - the economic downturn and a fall in the number of jobs available, an increase in university tuition fees and a fall in university entrants, and a greater awareness of apprenticeships now being actively promoted through a range of national and local initiatives in Oxfordshire (see below for details).

Adrian Lockwood, Oxfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership Board Member responsible for Skills for Business, said, “It is very heartening to see the rise in uptake of apprenticeships in the county. More people are seeing apprenticeships as an alternative career path through which they can gain valuable on-the-job training that’s so important when getting started in work.

“Oxfordshire is fortunate in having a number of big companies with excellent apprenticeship programmes, including; Amey, BMW, British Gas, Crown Packaging and Unipart. They have led the way and are now showing SMEs that apprenticeships are not only a valuable source of new blood, but that they are also an investment in their future”.

Oxfordshire Apprenticeships is a business-facing organization that promotes and explains Apprenticeships to local businesses. It is currently running a series of meetings around the county to help companies to ‘make sense’ of Apprenticeships and to give them practical support finding, hiring and getting their apprentices started. To find out about the next ‘Making Sense’ of Apprenticeships’ event click here.

The Apprenticeship Launch Pad is a new initiative that aims to attract young people studying science subjects, to work locally in careers in companies in the science, engineering and advanced manufacturing sectors. Young people will go on tours of local companies to find out more them, meet and talk to employees and take part in practical hands-on challenges. It is a new project led the Oxfordshire County Council, supported by Science Oxford and based around based around the Science Vale area of Abingdon, Didcot and Culham.