National Apprenticeship Week: Hands-on learning in an AI world
A host of public and private sector leaders met apprentices and heard their inspirational stories at Leeds City College Printworks Campus on Monday 10 February to mark the start of National Apprenticeship Week (NAW).
Introducing the event, hosted by Luminate Education Group, Darren Hardman, CEO, Microsoft UK, said: “Microsoft has a long history of supporting National Apprenticeship Week, not just for our own needs, but for those of our partners.
“During the last 15 years we’ve supported more than 40,000 apprenticeships finding work. We’re very proud of that.”
Addressing the many public and private sector apprentices in the audience, he spoke about AI being “an enabler” for everyone, not just for people in digital roles.
AI is a “transformative technology”, he said, that “has the power to create new industries and transform economies; the power to improve productivity across the commercial and public sectors.
“It’s a real lever for driving not just local economic growth in places like Leeds, but also the national economy.”
Special guest Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer and MP for Leeds West and Pudsey, agreed, saying: “There are huge opportunities to grow our economy through the use of technology and AI.
“Two missions of this Government are to grow the economy and expand opportunities for young people. And apprenticeships play a huge role in both of those missions.”
Microsoft research has found that AI and cloud technologies have the potential to increase UK GDP by more than £550 billion by 2035 – and deliver £17bn savings to the public sector over the same period.
Applied learning
Hannah Mehr, 21, who has been an apprentice with engineering consultancy Arup for five years, told the audience that her apprenticeship had given her the opportunity to get out of the classroom and be “hands on”, putting her digital and data analytics skills into practice straight away.
She said she’d recently been training directors about Generative AI (GenAI) and had now trained around 500 Arup colleagues so far.
Microsoft apprentice Ria Chutti took three A-levels but rather than going to university, opted for the apprenticeship route, saying she was attracted by the fact she wouldn’t have to take out a student loan or pay any costs at all.
Like Hannah, Ria said she enjoyed being able to learn new skills she wouldn’t have learned at university and applying them almost immediately. That’s “a real joy”, she said.
And Oliver Gallagher, an apprentice with water company United Utilities, agreed that hands-on learning had been a “massive benefit”. He was keen to spread the word that apprenticeships were more than for just the traditional trades.
“This has set me up for life,” he said. “It’s given me a sense of purpose.”
Praising the “articulate and confident” apprentices, Hardman observed: “There are future CEOs and Chancellors on the stage with us, that’s clear to see!”
Plugging the skills gap
A recurrent theme of the event was the pressing need for digital skills, particularly in AI. All apprenticeships are now AI-powered apprenticeships, the panel discussions concluded.
Hardman pointed out that this is why Microsoft has now taught digital skills to 1.5 million people through its free ‘Get On’ programme, and has committed to giving AI skills to a further one million people, collaborating with partners such as Catch 22, Generation, and UA92, to deliver pre-apprenticeship digital skills programmes and bootcamps to underserved and under-represented young people.
Infrastructure and partnership
As well as providing people with the digital skills they need to thrive in the UK’s AI economy, Microsoft is also building the infrastructure required to facilitate this AI revolution.
It is investing £2.5 billion to expand AI datacentre infrastructure at sites in London, Newport and the North of England.
And in October 2024, Microsoft and Crown Commercial Service, on behalf of UK Government, entered into a five-year agreement, providing access to enhanced value across Microsoft’s portfolio of AI-powered products and services.
The agreement, which came into effect on 1 November, enables eligible public sector organisations to further their digital transformation and innovation ambitions through access to cost savings on a range of Microsoft products, such as Microsoft 365, the Azure cloud platform, Business Applications, and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Microsoft research suggests that by automating routine processes with AI, frontline public sector workers – doctors, nurses, police officers, teachers – could save as much as 23 million hours a week.