UAL’s Graduate Technician Apprenticeship: Turn your art degree into a studio career

To be able to learn on the job and gain a qualification at the end. This for me is a win, win outcome.

Technician Apprentice, London College of Fashion

Are you an early-career creative looking to build your skills while continuing to develop your own practice?

Our Graduate Technician Apprentice role is designed to support you at this important stage in your career. You’ll gain hands-on experience in our studios and workshops, working alongside experienced technicians and supporting students as they explore their creative disciplines.

Alongside this, you’ll complete a Higher Education Assistant Technician apprenticeship, giving you both practical experience and a recognised qualification.

This is a unique opportunity to be part of a vibrant creative community while investing in a future that combines creativity and vocational skill.

What You’ll Be Doing

Supporting creative learning
You’ll work closely with students in studios and workshops, helping to create an inclusive and inspiring learning environment, providing technical support to students as they develop confidence in their creative practice.

Build technical expertise
You’ll develop hands-on skills with specialist equipment, materials and processes, learning directly from experienced technicians throughout the apprenticeship. You’ll also contribute to maintaining safe and effective working environments.

You will gain a qualification to demonstrate that you have the knowledge, skills and behaviours to be competent in providing skilled technical support in teaching, learning and research environments.

Your Apprenticeship

As part of this role, you’ll complete a Higher Education Assistant Technician apprenticeship.
You’ll spend 20% of your time in structured learning, with the remaining 80% gaining practical experience on the job. The apprenticeship will help you build technical knowledge, professional confidence and an understanding of how creative learning environments operate.

The specific knowledge, skills and behaviours that you will develop competency in are outlined on the Apprenticeship Standard.

The apprenticeship training and assessment will be managed by CSR Training. You can find out more about the training and qualification on the CSR website.

About You

This role is open to graduates with a BA in Art, Design or a Performance-related discipline. We’re particularly interested in people who have taken some time to develop their creative practice beyond graduation and are now looking for the next step.

You’ll thrive in this role if you are:

• Curious and open to learning new skills
• A strong communicator who enjoys working with others
• Organised and able to manage your time effectively
• Supportive, approachable and interested in helping others grow

You’ll also need basic confidence using digital tools such as Office or Mac-based communication platforms.
To be eligible, you must meet apprenticeship funding criteria, including having the right to work in the UK and having been ordinarily resident in the UK for the last three years.

Information Session

Want to find out more before applying?

Join our information session to hear directly from the team and learn more about what the role involves. You’ll meet the team, get an overview of the apprenticeship, insight into day-to-day work, and the opportunity to ask questions.

Monday 11th May, 12:00 Noon | Sign Up Here

Investigate the job role that you will be doing and ask yourself is the role for me and does the apprenticeship and job work well together? If so, why not give it a go! I would recommend it.

Technician Apprentice, London College of Fashion

Your Application

You will be asked to provide a Supporting Statement – a short explanation of why you would be good at a job and why you should be chosen for the role.

In your supporting statement, focus on why you want to take the Technician Apprenticeship and support students in a higher education environment. We’re interested in your motivation to help others learn, your curiosity about technical practice, and your commitment to developing new skills alongside your work. Rather than describing your degree in detail, reflect on what you gained from it that prepares you for this role and shows us you can do everything on the “Person Specification” section of the Job Description —such as collaboration, problem-solving, or working with equipment or materials. Tell us what excites you about this opportunity, what you hope to learn, and how you see yourself contributing to a creative, supportive learning environment.

Other tips for applying for roles at UAL can be found here.

We’re interested in your ideas, potential and enthusiasm—not perfection.

The deadline for submitting your application through our online portal can is 12:00 noon, Monday 18th May.

Start your application