In this blog post, our Degree Apprenticeship Project Support Officer Angel Capili speaks to our Medical Physics Technology (Radiation Physics) apprentice Muhammad about his experiences so far on the course:
The Degree Apprenticeship Hub extends a warm acknowledgment to our apprentices who are actively driving change and making a significant impact within their respective workplaces. Join us as we delve into their experiences and uncover the transformative journey they have embarked upon.
Muhammad, an apprentice in Year 2 going into Year 3 of our Medical Physics Technology (Radiation Physics) programme, has been nominated and shortlisted for the award of Young Adult Learner of the Year at his hospital – University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Foundation Trust. He will find out later on in the year on the outcome. I had a great pleasure of interviewing Muhammad on this achievement.
“When I joined the team, I had no radiation knowledge at all. So I did my training all by hand. I wrote down everything and over the course of two years I had essentially a book full of notes.”
Muhammad had peers join the course and found that his notes were informative and useful. He then thought to himself of centralising all his notes onto a platform where it is readily available and accessible for his peers.
“I created a SharePoint website with all my notes on which I slowly transcribed over the course of many months onto this website, and now the website’s been published, all the trainees can look at my reports and be like oh, that’s how you do it. That’s how you test. This is some of the issues I faced, it challenges and addresses it all in one place”
He elaborates on the importance of collaboration and team work.
“A team is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain. So if you can, it doesn’t say somebody’s at high ability and someone’s a low ability, it shouldn’t be viewed as they’re better or they’re worse. It should be viewed as, how can I get that person to that level and even surpass?
And that’s something I’ve grown up with. Like we grew up in a big family and we didn’t want to see other people do bad. And we always try to integrate everybody. And that’s something I’d really try to bring to work”.
The dedication and commitment to his apprenticeship did not go unnoticed as he was able to be nominated for Young Adult Learner of the Year.
Muhammad shares his background as a Muslim, of British-Asian heritage where his family originates from Africa, ethnically from India.
“There is a broad range of people from a different range of backgrounds and are quite good at addressing those differences as well. During the month of Ramadan where Muslims fast, my team have been accommodating in a sense where they have offered for me to start later or finish earlier, they are very understanding which I am very grateful for”.
I then asked Muhammad what skills they have gained on this apprenticeship. “100% has to be organisational skills. I mean to any person who does a degree apprenticeship, they have to balance a full time job and a full time degree. If they’ve got family, if they’re married, if they’ve got any other personal situation, they have to also balance that. It’s an incredibly hard situation to be in, in terms of your timings, if you’re not disciplined with your time, you could easily lose track, if you’re organised with your time, you can. You can distribute that workload better throughout the week”.
He discussed his future plans post-completion of his degree apprenticeship, aiming to become a registered technologist upon successful completion. Additionally, he expressed aspirations of pursuing a master’s degree when he feels adequately prepared.
Muhammad concludes and shares his experience on the overall degree apprenticeship experience as getting to carry out your education at your own pace and work at the same time.
“When I when I was in college, University was the only option and not apprenticeships. I think it’s such a shame that people don’t have that exposure to the apprenticeship scheme because it’s the best of both worlds in the sense.”
Find out more about our higher and degree apprenticeships and explore the many higher and degree apprenticeship courses on offer with us.