Northern Ireland employers enhancing skills and good jobs through Higher Level Apprenticeships, says minister

Northern Ireland Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald has praised the hundreds of employers contributing to the development of higher level skills across the local economy.

The Minister was commenting following NISRA's publication of a one-off data analysis ‘Employer participation in Higher Level Apprenticeships (HLA) across Northern Ireland 2025'.

HLAs provide an opportunity for individuals to undertake high quality work-based training while gaining a recognised higher education qualification.

The research shows that:

• 1,030 businesses here were employing higher level apprentices in 2025.
• Employer participation shows a balanced spread by business size: 30% micro, 36% small and 34% with 50+ employees.
• South West College, which covers Tyrone and Fermanagh, partnered with the largest number of employers, working with 285 unique businesses, and accounting for 28% of all unique employers. 
• Belfast recorded the highest concentration of businesses employing Higher Level Apprentices with 17 per thousand businesses; closely followed by Mid Ulster, where 16 per thousand businesses employed an HLA and Newry, Mourne and Down recorded 15 businesses per thousand businesses.
• There were 2,760 HLA students in 2023/24 – the most recent available data.

The Minister said: “This report highlights the strong contribution Higher Level Apprenticeships are making to delivering my Economic Vision.

“It shows how we are creating good jobs in key growth sectors, while supporting greater regional balance, with opportunities spread across communities right across the north.

“By working with employers and our Further Education colleges and Universities, Higher Level Apprentices are helping build the skilled workforce we need to increase productivity and support the transition to a more sustainable, low‑carbon economy.”

The statistics indicate a wide geographical spread of Higher Level Apprenticeship provision across a range of ‘Good Job' sectors including computer programming, specialised construction, legal and accounting.

South West College, Southern Regional College and Ulster University accounted for more than 50% of the Higher Level Apprenticeship employers indicating that Higher Level Apprenticeship  employment is not confined to a single region.

Notes to editors:

1. The NISRA publication ‘Employer participation in Higher Level Apprenticeships across Northern Ireland 2025' is available at Higher Level Apprenticeships | Department for the Economy
2. The data relates to the Department for the Economy (DfE) funded Higher Level Apprenticeships (HLA) and the employers who support their delivery. HLA employer records for 2025 were linked to an enterprise level extract of the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR), based on a snapshot taken in March 2025.
3. Findings are considered alongside HLA students in 2023/24, the most recent year for which participant data are available. In that year, there were 2,760 HLA students.
4. Higher level Apprenticeships (HLAs) provide an opportunity for individuals to undertake high quality work-based training while gaining a recognised higher education qualification at Levels 4 to 7 (Higher National Certificate (HNC) to Master's level)