In September, Multiverse was granted new Degree Awarding Powers, giving us the ability to issue Multiverse Degrees - and greatly expand our offering as a truly outstanding alternative to university.
As the first apprenticeship provider to be awarded these powers we are in a prime position to break down barriers to an excellent career, and rethink what outstanding education looks like in today’s world.
The Multiverse experience already rivals that of a university - with our active Community and careers outcomes. Now, degree apprentices can achieve exactly the same qualifications with meaningful work experience and without debt.
One of our degree apprentices is Ben Alcoe, who first joined Multiverse when he finished Sixth Form as a Level 3 apprentice at a prop-tech company. He progressed onto our Data Fellowship, a Level 4 apprenticeship (the equivalent of A-Levels).
Ben said: “I didn’t have a long-term plan, but I knew having skills would be valuable no matter what. I found myself using Excel at work - which I hadn’t done since year 9 in school - so I was drawn to a data apprenticeship. I knew data skills would be relevant to whatever role I wanted to go into in the future.”
After completing the Data Fellowship, Ben started the Advanced Data Fellowship - our degree-level programme.
The Advanced Data Fellowship empowers apprentices to develop their skills in data analysis and data science, through applied learning in real-world scenarios. At the end of the programme, apprentices are awarded a Multiverse Degree in data science.
“The programme is so interesting,” said Ben, “from project management to cybersecurity to cloud computing. It’s clear how business is evolving from non-digital to digital-first.
“If you’d told me a few years ago when I started my first apprenticeship that I’d be studying Machine Learning, or learning how to build a database - I wouldn’t believe you. I didn’t do anything like this at school or know anything about it. I feel very fortunate.”
The Multiverse Degree experience rethinks the traditional university experience in every way. For example, Multiverse apprentices get access to Perlego’s library of more than 1 million professional and academic titles. These cover more than 1,000 topics. So, whether it’s an essential guide to Python or a CEO’s memoir, the vast library offers something for a range of interests.
Ben said: “The coaches all have experience in the concepts you learn about, and they’ve worked in relevant fields which makes it more interesting. My coach is really helpful as a person to discuss how things are going, both in my job and in my course.
“The resources we have are great. Perlego has all the books I need, even things outside of my course that I’m interested in.”
Ben describes his apprenticeship as “the best of both worlds”: taking the chance to study and combining it with the experience of the working world.
And continued application ensures the knowledge Ben is gaining sticks for longer. He said: “Until you’re in a company with different people, applying your knowledge, explaining it to others - you don’t really understand. You have to do that to fully grasp it. Being able to do those things while you learn means you end up with both knowledge and experience which is double as valuable. Plus - no debt!”
