“I underestimated my ability to learn,” – Salford student graduates debt-free thanks to degree apprenticeship

While completing the Applied Biomedical Science Degree Apprenticeship, Lloyd worked four days per week as an Associate Practitioner in the Immunology Lab at Manchester Royal Infirmary.

Choosing a degree apprenticeship meant that Lloyd was able to learn valuable information on the job that he was able to carry over to his degree. He is now registered as a biomedical scientist, and is keen to develop his career.

Furthermore, part of the apprenticeship meant that he was already employed and his education was completely funded by his employer, leaving him completely free of debt as a postgraduate.

Going into university, Lloyd had a very clear end goal going into the degree and knew exactly what he wanted to get out of it. Despite only being in university one day per week, he wanted to soak up as much of the opportunities that being a full-time student has to offer.

During his time at university, Lloyd joined the Biomedicine Society, with which he wrote a couple of articles for the BioScientist publication.

Stumbling on healthcare science by pure fluke, Lloyd worked as a phlebotomist before university and had worked in the NHS since the age of 19.

He decided to study Biomedical Science as he liked the idea of studying something that was brand-new to him – while it was challenging at times, but this fed the urge to gain more knowledge and learn more because it is so complex.

After dropping out of a music degree at 19 and starting work for the NHS, Lloyd was nervous that he would not have enough knowledge to complete his first year of the degree, therefore he prepared for his first year by studying a variety of biological topics beforehand.

Starting university later than most in his 30’s, Lloyd’s hard work and resilience within his degree apprenticeship has enabled him to further his career while studying, and leave university debt-free.

Lloyd said: “I have learned so much from my time at the University of Salford, I definitely underestimated my ability to learn.

“My biggest piece of advice for students would be to throw yourself out there – get involved in as much as you can but also learn how to organise your time effectively to focus on your university work.”