Apprenticeships
Gower College Swansea is one of Wales’ leading apprenticeship providers, offering a wide range of award-winning apprenticeship programmes in both Wales and England.
Apprenticeships provide an opportunity to gain hands-on, real-world experience whilst developing specific skills relevant to your chosen profession. As an apprentice you will earn whilst you learn, gaining the knowledge, skills and experience that employers value.
Apprenticeships can be accessed by people of any age as long as you are employed for a minimum of 16 hours per week. You can start an apprenticeship at a level that suits you, starting at foundation level with the opportunity to progress to senior management level.
Apprenticeship routes
We offer more than 82 different apprenticeship routes, ranging from Level 2 to degree level apprenticeships. Routes available include Leadership and Management, Digital, Carpentry, Health and Social Care, Electrical and much more!
Apprenticeship Awards
This year’s Apprenticeship Awards took place on Monday 5 February 2024.
Success stories
In the last seven years, 2,996 learners have successfully completed their apprenticeship at Gower College Swansea.
Hear what our apprentices have to say!
Click the button in the top right of the video to view more.
Apprentice benefits
Prospective apprentices will benefit in a number of ways by studying an apprenticeship with the College, including:
- Gain hands-on, real-world experience
- Earn a salary whilst undertaking your training and studies
- Be supported by tutors/assessors who have exceptional industry-gained experience
- Gain an industry-recognised qualification
- Access to our library services, as well as Smart Assessor
- Access to the Gower College Swansea Sport Centre, as well as discounted membership
- Discounted prices at our Broadway Hair, Beauty and Holistic Centre
- Eligibility to apply for an Apprenticeship Extra NUS student discount card
- Access to Moodle and Canvas learning resources
Employer benefits
By working with Gower College Swansea, employers will benefit from:
- Increased employee productivity
- Improved staff morale and performance
- Greater in-house company skill set
- Access to funding routes and grants
- Reduced training and recruitment costs
- The ability to fill skill gaps through recruiting new talent or upskilling existing staff
Sub-contractors
We engage with sub-contractors to better meet customer needs and to do the following:
- Work with providers who effectively reach priority learners in the community and who can demonstrate positive outcomes
- Provide access to, or engagement with, a new range of customers
- Support another provider to develop capacity/quality
- Provide additional delivery
- Work with providers that offer sector specific priorities supporting local, regional and national skills agendas.
- All sub-contractors will be subject to the College’s due diligence process.
The College retains a management fee which covers a proportion of the direct costs associated with operating and quality assuring sub-contract provision.
If the sub-contractor is a subsidiary of Gower College Swansea, service charges will be applied through the College standard annual budgeting process. This reflects the subsidiary as being an internal business unit of the College and as such, services such as governance, quality and compliance are charged centrally.
For the 2023/24 academic year, Gower College Swansea will not be sub-contracting to any other providers (England only).
The 2023/24 WBL Sub-Contracting Fees and Charges Policy was approved by the Finance Committee on 12 October 2023 and then ratified at the Governing Body Corporation Board meeting on 16 November 2023.
Award winning
Gower College Swansea is a finalist in the Widening Participation category of the 2023/24 Association of Colleges ‘Beacon Awards’. This is a result of the College’s highly successful ‘Apprenticeships for All’ initiative and its impact in significantly increasing the recruitment numbers and achievement rates of apprentices with a disability, additional learning need, physical or mental health condition.
In 2022/23, Gower College Swansea won a Beacon Award for Internationalisation as a result of the broad range of initiatives to develop our learners, employers, staff and communities.
The College previously won two UK Annual Apprenticeship Conference (AAC) Awards 2022:
- SEND Champion of the Year (Provider) 2022
- Health and Care Apprenticeship Provider of the Year 2022
In 2022, Rachel Jones, Gower College Swansea’s Director of Work Based Learning, won an Institute of Directors (‘IoD’) Wales Award in the Skills category.
The College won the 2021 UK Times Educational Supplement (TES) FE Award for Apprenticeship Programme of the Year.
We were also crowned winners in two categories in the UK Annual AAC Awards in 2021.
- Engineering and Manufacturing Apprenticeship Provider of the Year 2021
- Digital Apprenticeship Provider of the Year 2021
Prior to this, we previously won two categories in the UK AAC Awards in 2019.
- Health and Science Apprenticeship Provider of the Year 2019
- Outstanding Contribution to the Development of Apprenticeships, Steve Williams 2019
Common FAQ’s
Apprenticeships allow learners to gain access to real-world training whilst gaining a recognised qualification. You will earn whilst you learn, and develop the skills and knowledge that employers are looking for.
Not at all, apprenticeships can be used by experienced professionals to upskill and advance your career. However, to be eligible for apprenticeship funding, you must be employed for more than 16 hours per week and be based in Wales.
Apprenticeship durations will vary dependent on the level being undertaken, but most apprenticeships take between 12-24 months to complete.
Apprenticeships can begin at any point in the year, however some subjects may begin in September in line with the academic year.
Apply for an Apprenticeship
Applications for apprenticeships are now open. If you have any questions about apprenticeships, please contact training@gcs.ac.uk or 01792 284400