Overall Rating
1.9 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
1.5/5
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Overview of Role
2/5
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Skills Development
1.4/5
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Structure and Support
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
2/5
Research, report writing, data analysis, site assessment. Creating powerpoints, formatting word documents. Taking minutes.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
1/5
Pretty much every day is hell. I feel purposeless and directionless. The very rare day that I feel like I've actually done something useful is more than offset by the long periods of loneliness, stress and despair. Every day I spend on this course makes me feel more stupid and less valuable. If there is one thing this course has taught me, it's that I have absolutely no future in this sector and likely no future full stop.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
2/5
Yes, technically. Use of digital software, Policy research, using excel, project management.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
1/5
Abysmally. The entire course is crammed into two 11-week semesters per year, resulting in periods of unfathomable stress in advance of deadlines, separated by extended periods of no contact and no direction. The fifth year of taught content is wholly a box-ticking exercise with no new skills or knowledge imparted, and the teaching team seem ambivalent towards teaching the content. We have been misled at every turn as to the requirements and even the length of the course - we were told it would be five years but is in fact closer to seven. Nobody at the university seems to have a clue what we are meant to be doing, nor indeed any interest in finding out. A couple of individually exemplary lecturers are sadly unable to salvage the bin fire that is the rest of the course.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
1/5
Almost none. I'm completely dependant on the goodwill of individual project managers and team members for support as there is no structural support or training provided by my employer. If my colleagues were not so helpful and supportive I would have no chance at all. The directors seem to have no understanding at all of what their obligations are as an employer of apprentices and have no interest whatsoever in providing support to help their apprentices complete their course and attain the requisite skills and experience.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
2/5
Very Little. The course is so poorly structured and run that it causes periods of insurmountable stress followed by months of nothing at all which heavily disrupts my ability to complete work. There is no sense that the university understand that their apprentices have full time jobs to do as well as their course, and the coursework is sometime actively detrimental to being able to perform at work. The university team seem to not know what's going on and sometime are actively untruthful. I have been misled from the get go, even down to how long this course would be. Individual lecturers have been exemplary, providing detail feedback and a breadth of support when asked, but unfortunately the course and university more broadly are far far far below this level. What's more, the university seems to have no interest in providing a better experience and one gets the impression that they take delight in making the apprenticeship as miserable and chaotic as possible.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
2/5
I'd say that very little of the taught content, interesting though much if it is, is directly relevant to my role. Some undoubtably is, but there is little to no attempt to make these connections in the lectures. The course seems to not recognise that it is meant to be teaching apprentices and not full-time students.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
1/5
There used to be, but they have pretty much completely dried up. There is very little sense of community in the team and everyone seems to want to spend as little time as possible in the workplace, which is honestly understandable.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend Arup to a friend?
No
Why?
It is not a positive or supportive place to work. Internal processes are bureaucratic and opaque, project work is allocated based on who the directors like the most, there is no attempt made to provide structured support or training to apprentices, and the salary does not make it worth putting up with. Were I not bound to the company through my apprenticeship contract, I would be long gone from this place.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Arup?
Do not. It is not worth your mental health to work here. In fact, don't do an apprenticeship full stop. Switch off your computer and go and do something more productive and fulfilling with your life, because you deserve better than this.
