HETA colleagues cap apprenticeships with degree success

TWO women who joined Humberside Engineering Training Association (HETA) together in 2009 have emerged as living proof that apprenticeships can lead to a university degree.

Eve Ridley and Becky Smith supported each other through seven years of study and followed their apprenticeships by graduating in business management at the University of Hull.

Iain Elliott, chief executive of HETA, said: “This is a fantastic achievement by Eve and Becky and everyone at HETA congratulates them on their hard work and their reward which is completely deserved.

“It is also something which shows that young people can take a different route to academic success as they are considering their futures, and that apprenticeships have a very important part to play.

“We work very hard to make young people, their parents and employers aware that traditional sixth forms and colleges are not the only path to a university degree course. Eve and Becky are not the first trainees to gain a degree after starting their working careers with HETA, and they will certainly not be the last.”

Eve, who lives at Bottesford near Scunthorpe, works across HETA’s sites at Foxhills and Stallingborough as a training and development advisor, liaising with employers to try and secure sponsorship for the apprentices.

She said: “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to go straight into work rather than go off to university. The administration apprenticeship at HETA gave me the chance to do both because after completing NVQ levels 2 and 3 I was asked if I wanted to do a degree.”

Becky, who lives in Grimsby, works at Stallingborough in an administrative role, liaising with employers and apprentices and with adult learners. After completing her NVQs she joined Eve studying part-time at the University of Hull for the business management degree

She said: “It was hard work for both of us, working full-time at HETA and then going to Hull for evening lectures and some Saturdays as well as completing assignments around all of that. But we helped each other through everything and we had fantastic support from HETA.”

Eve added: “We are friends outside work so we travelled to Hull together and supported each other, texting each other at midnight as we helped each other out!”

Inset picture: Eve (left) and Becky after the graduation ceremony in Hull.