RMIT University · Melbourne

RMIT Degree Apprenticeship Program

A new education model designed around paid experience, lower student debt and engineering capability shaped with industry from the outset.

When: 2024–Current
Who: RMIT University and industry partners
Project status: Program launched
Michael's role: Model design and partnership leadership

The purpose

Why the work mattered

Engineering employers need work-ready capability, while students need clearer pathways from study into meaningful practice. The Degree Apprenticeship Program was designed to bring those needs together through an Earn and Learn model in mechanical engineering.

What changed

Results built to last

5: Major Australian companies engaged in the model
Earn & Learn: Paid experience integrated with engineering study
Mechanical: First engineering discipline launched
Launched: Flagship program moved from concept into delivery

The challenge

Define the real constraint

A useful apprenticeship degree could not be built as a conventional course with an employer logo attached. Academic requirements, workplace learning, company expectations and student economics had to operate as one coherent model.

The work

Turn intent into delivery

Michael helped define the exchange of value, develop industry relationships and carry the model across organisational boundaries. The work required practical ownership from early engagement through negotiation, program design and implementation.

From idea to impact

Make the change endure

The launch established a new pathway for students to earn while learning and gave employers a more direct role in developing future engineering capability. It also demonstrated a repeatable model for deeper university-industry cooperation.

Perspective

Why this project matters

Engineering should be open to everyone with the ability and the will to do it. An Earn and Learn pathway removes the barriers that quietly exclude people: it pays students while they study, lowers the debt that deters those from lower socio-economic backgrounds and creates a visible, supported route for women and under-represented groups into engineering and STEM careers. Widening who becomes an engineer is not a side benefit of the model; it is the reason to build it.