News & Blog

The future-skills training team is already building a strong talent pool for September 2021 following another successful virtual open event. Over 40 people attended the latest Oxfordshire Advanced Skills (OAS) virtual open evening to explore the opportunities and options the award-winning apprenticeship programme will offer in 2021. The open event aimed to give attendees a…

After learning about the OAS programme through a work experience placement at UKAEA, Harrison knew immediately that our apprenticeship route would help him to get the career acceleration he was looking for. He was one of the youngest apprentices in OAS’s cohort of 2019, but immediately stood out on account of his infectious ambition, passion…

Tara has always been interested in engineering, working on motorbikes with her engineering family before she began her apprenticeship at OAS. As she returns to her employer after completing the first year’s off-the-job programme, she explains why she loves the balance of theoretical and practical training that an apprenticeship offers and why she thinks apprenticeships…

It’s no secret that there are multiple and complex ED&I challenges throughout the UK manufacturing sector, with underrepresentation in particular of ethnic minorities, females, neurodiversity, physical and / or mental disabilities and socioeconomically challenged backgrounds within the engineering workforce. In combination with the ongoing STEM skills challenges and compounded by the continuing pandemic, there has…

Josh discovered his passion for engineering after working with complex machinery in a job that he took straight from school. As well as helping him to increase his skills and his value as an employee, an apprenticeship gave Josh the opportunity to explore the different sectors within engineering, further fueling his passion and inspiring him…

The training centre is open and it’s business as usual – with a few changes to protect learner progress, boost our resilience, and keep everyone safe on site As the new academic year begins, the OAS team is delighted to be welcoming new and existing learners into the training centre to gain the skills, knowledge…

Meet the Team: Emily Swatton, Apprentice Co-ordinator What is your role at OAS? I’m the Apprentice Co-ordinator, which means I’m involved in lots of different aspects of the apprenticeship journey. I look after the apprentices here at OAS in terms of their welfare and helping with any day-to-day challenges. I’m also in regular contact with…

After deciding on a career change, Harry used his apprenticeship to make his first steps into the engineering sector. He loves the variety of experience and skills his apprenticeship has provided. This has also helped him to understand the different areas within the sector, putting him in a strong position to shape the next phase…

10 October 2020 is World Mental Health Day, a programme that was initiated by the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) in 1992. This year’s theme is ‘Mental Health for All: Greater Investment – Greater Access”, with the goal of increasing investment in mental health on a global scale. At OAS, we’re taking the opportunity…

What is Black History Month? Black History Month began as ‘Negro History Week’ in 1926 in America. It took place in the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (the US president whose Emancipation Proclamation helped to achieve the abolition of slavery) and Frederick Douglass (an escaped slave who became…