Nuclear Engineering Degree Apprentice Review
at AWE
Degree Apprenticeship
Mechanical Engineering
Aldermaston
Review Submitted: March 2026
Overall Rating
4.3 /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!
3.5/5
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Overview of Role
5/5
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Skills Development
4.4/5
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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:
4/5
Day to day, I'm on site in a design engineering role. Within a multidiscipline team, we facilitate projects through detailed design.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
3/5
Bearing in mind my cohort is the last to be studying here, the university communications for term dates have been a struggle as I've been wanting to book trips abroad etc. Once on site, I have very little to do with the skills academy as it's my responsibility to register learning and provide reports to my manager on my work each month. I'm enjoying the work that I'm doing for the business and block release definitely suits me better than permanent study you'd experience at full time university.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
5/5
Plenty of learning at university and at work. I believe it's making me far more competitive than a typical graduate because of the exposure to the real working world that comes with an apprenticeship
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
3/5
Teething issues were present at the start and throughout placement with a lack of communication entering the company and while at university as we had an 8 month period of university purely off site. Comms are now much better with regular cohort meetings led by managers where information is shared.
How much support do you receive from your employer?
5/5
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
5/5
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
4/5
Provides theoretical information which facilitates our degree but engineering degrees are rather broad which is dissimilar to the working environment where you become specialised in what you do. I have had the opportunity to apply numerous principles learnt at university so overall it has been useful.
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
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend AWE to a friend?
Yes
Why?
Large amount of opportunity within the business and supports workers sufficiently
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to AWE?
It is what you make of it so little will be handed to you. You've got to be interested and ask questions for opportunities to open up.
