Engineering Degree Apprentice Review
at Airbus
Degree Apprenticeship
Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering
Filton
Review Submitted: April 2025
Overall Rating
2.9 /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!
3/5
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Overview of Role
4/5
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Skills Development
3/5
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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:
3/5
My role involves 3 days a week in the office and the remainder at uni. At work, I rotate through different placements of my choosing within the business. I work on tasks from writing/updating documents to analysing airline data
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
3/5
The active work I am involved in is almost always interesting and new, I always feel challenged and rarely have nothing to do and so that aspect is very enjoyable and fulfilling. The academic requirements (Degree and Level 4 Diploma) are a lot of additional work and very overwhelming, especially as they are mostly done outside of paid working hours.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
4/5
At work, I have developed skills in programming (mainly python) which I had no experience in, problem solving through root cause analysis and communication as I have worked on and presented design reviews with internal and external stakeholders.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
2/5
I find the structure to be inconsistent in across my program. I find there is very little balance between academics and work with academic deliverables having to take priority, which leads to either little time to actually get involved in work projects or having to do coursework outside of work hours. The Level 4 and degree have inconsistent notice of deadlines, we know the overall deadline for our level 4 but then our assessors start creeping it forward? Uni exam dates are always released too late, giving little to no time to give any amount of notice to our placements.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
3/5
in placements, I have never felt unsupported, everyone in my teams is always eager and willing to help and answer my questions. My early careers manager and early careers business manager are also always willing to support me whether that be with an issue with the collage/uni or an issue I'm having with a placement. However, it sometimes feels that the early careers team don't act upon some issues that are raised by the entire cohort, especially with regards to Weston College.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
1/5
In previous years while we have been exclusively with Weston College, our lecturers have often not understood the module enough to provide assistance beyond the lecture slides. When we have raised issues or concerns about the college, they often do nothing about these and we get excuses instead of actions. At UWE however, this isn't as bad as our lecturers are always willing and able to support in any way they can. Our Level 4 has been progressed with very little support from the assessors (Weston again) and I have long gaps between both reviews and feedback on work that I have uploaded.
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
4/5
The Level 4 is useful in making me aware of competencies that I need to develop and helps to guide me in that development. This does benefit the way I perform in my work. The degree is good at giving a fundamental understanding of aerospace engineering despite much of it being unrelated to my job role.
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
5/5
There are plenty of opportunities with semi-regular socials within my placement teams and regular early careers social run by the GenA team. There are also opportunities to get involved with STEM volunteering and I have personally been involved in providing tours of some of the test facilities.
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend Airbus to a friend?
Yes
Why?
I think working at Airbus has been great and I have leant a lot of valuable skills. Everyone is very friendly and supportive of each other and there is plenty of variety in the work that is done. The academic side of the apprenticeship can be quite a drag and you do sometimes feel like you're being ignored, especially by Weston but, overall the work is challenging, engaging and often quite fun and you are always supported in the work you're doing.
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to Airbus?
Don't worry if you know very little about Airbus and the work we do. I knew almost nothing about the company other than the obvious and I feel I still don't know much. Just be yourself and be honest through the application process. It can feel quite daunting as the apprenticeship is a lot more than just 'getting paid to do a degree' and although there are times when the work does pile up (coursework's are always due at the same time!!) there are always plenty of people around to help you out and support you in whatever way you need!
