Mechanical Engineering with Manufacturing Apprentice Review

Item: Mechanical Engineering with Manufacturing Apprentice at Babcock International Group
Rating: 3.6
Author: Anonymous

at Babcock International Group

Degree Apprenticeship

Mechanical Engineering

Bristol

Review Submitted: April 2025

Overall Rating

3.6 /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 - Overview of Role

4/5 - Skills Development

3.6/5 - 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

Monday to Tuesday: College - Theory learning, general engineering practice along with maths and physics skills being developed too.
Wednesday-Friday: Work - placement work, opportunity to be put into a sector of the business and learn what the processes are and how they go about there work. given tasks to complete that have a tangible business output

To what extent do you enjoy your programme?

3/5

College: Enjoy on some occasions, times where there is less learning than desired or sometimes feels like a lack of organisation and structure, especially after only receiving our exam timetable 2/3 weeks before they start, meaning rushed study leave booked and not a lot of time for set revision time and employer notice. But for the most part enjoyable.
Work: Thoroughly enjoyed production. Now I'm in a new placement I am enjoying it too, less so but I believe that is down to a lack of experience, once I have fully learned the programs and tools I feel that I will enjoy it a whole lot more.

Skills Development

Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?

4/5

Work: Developed production, machining and hand fitting skills in the shop floor apprentice area for the first 4 months of work. I am now in my first office placement learning how an office environment works and how different areas of the business communicate with each other and how to work in a team to achieve a desired output.
College: developed on existing skills learned from A-Level

Structure and Support

How well organised/structured is your programme?

4/5

For the most part it feels organised. Initially we were expecting to be in production for the first year however, that changed and now we are in placements which felt very sudden and a big change of pace. However, I do feel like it will be beneficial in the long run. Overall, there seems to be a clear structure that our scheme sponsors have set out to us,

How much support do you receive from your employer?

5/5

Support in the workplace has been really good. From Scheme sponsors, line managers and general staff we have been supported really well. Whether that be study related or personal issues there has always been a person or business area that are willing to support

How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?

3/5

Our UWE representative has been excellent with support and aiding with issues or any doubts or areas that need attention. For college, support has been mixed. The head of engineering there has been excellent. For module leads it has been okay. Some staff don't seem as willing to help as much as others which I believe has caused some issues for myself and others with group projects and individual work. However, others have been really good and supportive when needed.

How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?

4/5

There has been some transferable skills that I have picked up while being in college that I believe have transferred well since moving into the offices whether that be engineering based knowledge that I didn't know before or general people skills and communication and team work styles that I didn't know before.

Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)

2/5

There are some small groups but I've not come across anything in particular that would be interesting to me. I tend to invite work & college friends to out of work activities such as 5 a side and other sports