For many starting university courses this month, the pursuit of a degree will be tainted by the knowledge this will come with tens of thousands of debt and no promise of a job afterwards.

It is, therefore, no surprise that Sir James Dyson’s new Institute of Technology received hundreds of applications for the fewer than three dozen places on its new engineering degree course. The course is unusual not just because students receive a salary. The young people who have just started their studies are also officially employees at Dyson, working three days a week for one of the UK’s leading inventors with an expectation, Sir James stresses, that they contribute to the business.

The course, similar in many ways to the new higher apprenticeships the government would like to see develop across the country, is tailored specifically to meet the needs of the business and will ensure that young graduates coming into Dyson have the skills and characteristics needed.

That is what is key to any applied, hands-on course like that - whether higher apprenticeship or degree. What makes that possible, of course, is the significant funding put into it by the employer.

Not every degree apprenticeship, however, comes with the same investment and infrastructure that Dyson is providing. Let’s hope that won’t restrict their ability to succeed. Let’s hope that even on a more restricted budget, they are able to be as individualised and high quality as they need to be to equip apprentices with the highest level of skill.

@JBelgutay