Degrees that can be completed in the workplace as an apprenticeship instead of in a lecture hall are in the pipeline.

The Construction and Infrastructure Centre of Vocational Excellence has developed a degree apprenticeship in architectural technology, and has others planned in construction management and quantity surveying.

Executive director Katherine Hall said degree apprenticeships had proved to be popular in the UK, but in New Zealand there was only one - a Bachelor of Engineering Technology launched in 2020.

Hall said the degree apprenticeship in architectural technology was expected to take its first enrolments via Canterbury polytechnic Ara in 2026, but the centre had developed a model that could be adopted by other education providers too.

She said like a traditional apprenticeship, the qualification would allow people to earn while they learned.

"The idea will be that you will be employed but also studying, and you don't have to do it part-time because the content that you're actually going to be learning in your day-to-day employment helps to support the delivery of your degree.

"It's going to create pathways for people who may have also gone through trades apprenticeships as well, to then progress into a degree apprenticeship and actually get that access to that higher-level qualification, plus also the people who might have been doing a normal degree previously would then have the opportunity to work and earn while they're learning in the same way that trade-based apprenticeship operates."

Hall said apprentices would not have to put their career on hold while they studied their degree.

"There absolutely are people who have to forego earning a wage to help support themselves and and their families whilst they're learning... and it also slows their entry into the workforce by three or four years, depending on the qualification that you're doing.

"And then once you reach the workforce, you've then got to relearn what industry wants you to learn, whereas this fast tracks that right from the get-go."

Figures provided by the centre showed 71,590 people were enrolled in degree apprenticeships in the UK in 2022/23.

'Proven model'

Universities New Zealand chief executive Chris Whelan said it was very supportive of the initiative.

"It is a proven model internationally and Universities New Zealand has been arguing since 2016 that it should be supported here in New Zealand."

However, Whelan said it was expensive and universities needed government investment to develop and deliver apprenticeship programmes in each workplace.

"Lessons from countries like the United Kingdom show that it is enormously beneficial for learners and their employers and better supports those who learn best in real world situations. It leads to better outcomes for everyone."