YOUNG people approaching the end of apprenticeship schemes at Northumbria Water have gained university degrees.

A total of six people have been awarded degrees from the University of Sunderland having worked on projects for the water board, ranging from international festivals and new communications platforms.

The group embarked on their degree apprenticeships in information services, run in collaboration between Northumbrian Water and the university, in 2016 and have spent the past three years working on a range of projects as they combined earning and learning.

Work carried out by the team has ranged from helping to organise Northumbrian Water’s annual Innovation Festivals which attracts people from across the world and helping deliver information security services.

The six successful students were Amber Swift, Emily Tomlinson, Erin Bryden, Josh Laddie, Mark Ireland and Olivia Dale. Tracey Greener, Northumbrian Water’s workforce development manager, said: “A lot of people don’t realise that apprenticeships are available at a number of different levels, including those for people who want to work towards a degree.

“It’s been fantastic to see our degree apprentices really thrive within the business, working alongside colleagues at all levels of the company, including directors, to do some really important and often groundbreaking and innovative work. Not only have they had three years working with our people, they’ve earned good passes in their degrees and have this great mix of experience and qualifications to take forward for the rest of their careers.”