Asda, Morrisons and Tesco offer employees an alternative route to a degree: Earn-as-you-learn proves popular as cost of higher education rises
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to reveal how UK supermarket giants Asda, Morrisons and Tesco have teamed up with universities to launch degree courses for their non-graduate employees.
Design/methodology/approach
This study explains what gave rise to the degree programs, the form they take and the results they are expected to achieve.
Findings
The origins and progress of Asda’s link with Middlesex University in honors degrees in either distribution or retail operations, the Morrisons degree in management and business with the University of Bradford and Tesco’s partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University on a retail-foundation degree are charted.
Practical implications
The advantages to participants of getting a university qualification at the same time as on-the-job experience have been highlighted.
Social implications
In this study, some of the growing number of alternatives to the traditional three-year full-time degree program, which is becoming more attractive as university tuition fees dissuade some young people from taking a degree straight after leaving school has been dealt with.
Originality/value
Demonstrates the demand for and success of quality work-based learning leading to higher-education qualifications for retail employees.
Keywords
Citation
(2014), "Asda, Morrisons and Tesco offer employees an alternative route to a degree: Earn-as-you-learn proves popular as cost of higher education rises", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 21-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/HRMID-05-2014-0060
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited