Investigating the delivery features of apprenticeship courses for apprentices' satisfaction and engagement in Kingston University

Using semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, this study examines the influence of the characteristics of higher education apprenticeship programs on the engagement and satisfaction of apprentices. It found that apprentices are most satisfied with the provision of information technology facilities in the university but quite dissatisfied with the most important satisfaction indicator such as the limited time allocated by their employers to study. The interviews support this where many claim that they were allocated little or no time to study independent study. These have negative impact on their health and wellbeing as found. Kendall‘s tau-b test results support this showing that ‟sense of wellbeing” correlate with five characteristics of higher education apprenticeship, but none has strong correlations. The characteristics include ‟the university (KU) and apprentices‘ employer working together to support them in the programme” and ‟apprentices‘ employers working closely with their university (KU)”. Programmes-caused stress positively correlate with ‟the responsibilities of the parties in my programme are unclear and fragmented” and ‟apprentices‘ employer prioritising own business over apprentice‘s academic programme”. While additional studies on the influence the features of higher education apprenticeships on the health and wellbeing of apprentices is recommended, the requirement for smarter ways of addressing the limited independent study hours allocated to apprentices to improve engagement and satisfaction is needed.