The Coventry-based Manufacturing Technology Centre has been named in the prestigious 2020 Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers list. The MTC has been listed at number 53 in a national ranking of leading employers of apprentices.
The list, compiled by the Department of Education-sponsored Education and Skills Funding Agency, aims to recognise and celebrate the top employers who are leading the drive for apprentices and getting more people into skilled jobs.
More than 100,000 businesses and organisations in the UK are now apprenticeship employers and the awards showcase the nation’s top 100 employers that have done the most to provide successful apprenticeships over the last year.
Managing director of MTC Training, David Hughes MBE, said he was delighted that the MTC’s commitment to supporting the next generation of talent in Great British manufacturing had been recognised on the national stage.
“Taking on apprentices is a key element of our development strategy to future-proof our workforce and bring in fresh new talent. Our apprentices also bring new ideas, helping existing colleagues innovate and upskill as they support our learners’ journeys. For our apprentices, the opportunity to earn while they learn, and gain valuable workplace experience alongside an industry-recognised qualification is a fantastic kick-start to their early careers and accelerates their future progression,” he said.
As well as developing its own apprentices at all levels of the business, the MTC encourages its industrial members, technical partners and supply chain to do the same through the MTC’s apprenticeship programme.
David Hughes said, “We are strong advocates for apprenticeships, and so we’re thrilled that so many of our industrial partners are also in the Top 100. We hope that this award helps us inspire even more people to embrace the fantastic opportunities that apprenticeships offer to both employers and learners.”
The rankings have been developed by the National Apprenticeship Service in partnership with High Fliers Research who independently assessed and compiled the national leader board. The awards were open to employers with more than 250 employees and a minimum of 25 apprentices, and received hundreds of entries, whittled down to the final Top 100.
The awards considered each employers’ overall commitment to apprentices, their creation of new apprenticeships, the diversity of their apprentices, and the progression of their apprentices onto further apprenticeships and employment. Points were weighted depending on the total size of the employer to give a final score, and those employers with the 100 highest scores were included in the rankings.
Commenting on the Top 100, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “Now more than ever we should celebrate businesses who are driving our efforts to build a stronger, fairer, and more competitive economy. High-quality apprenticeships give people from all backgrounds and ages a real choice in life, providing them with the skills employers value, which our economy needs, and which lead to better paid jobs. These modern employers are at the heart of levelling up our workforce, and with the extra support we are providing will help the country build back better from Coronavirus.”