Digital industries

The North East digital industry is worth over £2 billion and employs close to 35,000 people in over 3,500 creative and digital businesses. The North East is recognised as a vibrant, fast-growing tech hub and our digital connectivity and infrastructure make us a leading UK smart city region.

Our digital apprenticeships

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Employers we work with

We work with a range of employers from local authorities and universities to large-scale manufacturers, transport providers, healthcare trusts, and national organisations. Our apprentices have gained hands-on experience with employers such as:

Education Partnership North East are one of the largest apprenticeship training providers in region with over 150 years experience of working with employers. Training apprentices can provide you with a skilled workforce for the future and can be much more cost-effective than hiring experienced staff - with 97% of apprentices trained by the College remain in work once they have completed their apprenticeships.

Our digital apprenticeships have an impressive 100% pass rate delivered in partnership with 25 employers in the regions covering advanced technical and analytical skills.

If you're interested in hiring an apprentice, contact us here.

Curriculum and skills - Data Analyst Level 4

Learners develop advanced technical and analytical skills, including: introduction to Microsoft Power BI, advanced analytics in Excel, data management, security and ethics.

Curriculum and skills - ICT Level 3

Learners gain core IT and technical support skills, including: ICT Support and service desk, operations, troubleshooting, testing and maintenance, infrastructure, cloud and virtualisation.

Curriculum and skills - Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation Level 4

Learners will gain an understanding of how to enhance productivity, streamline processes, and support continuous improvement through the safe and responsible use of automation, integration, and AI tools.

Our apprenticeship experience

Why did you choose the apprenticeship route?

"The apprenticeship programme is the best way to plan for the future and provides base line learning for the development of our future supervisors and team leaders, we have had proven success as many of our qualified apprentices have moved into supervisor or engineer roles."

Employer – EGGER UK Ltd

How have you found your experience with the college?

"Ultimately it’s my responsibility to find the right training providers for our apprentices and I consider the relationship with Northumberland College and EPNE to be a good one. I’ve found that communication is easy and good quality information is supplied quickly when I need it."

Employer – EGGER UK Ltd

Why did you choose an apprenticeship?

"I started at EGGER UK 6 years ago on a payroll apprenticeship and I ended up winning an award for National Apprentice of the year... It was such a success that when I started my role as a Data Analyst I thought that a Level 4 Apprenticeship was the perfect training route. This Apprenticeship course is manageable alongside my work commitments, it’s related to my job role so I can learn the practical skills I need."

Apprentice – Jack Whitehall, Data Analyst

Jack Whitehall Apprentice 2025 (1)
Interested in hiring an apprentice?
 
Hiring an apprentice can feel overwhelming if you’ve never done it before. Have a chat with our experienced team who can explain every step in the process and connect you with motivated, local talent.
 

Our approach

Working together with employers.

We are a not-for-profit organisation. We have a relationship based approach to working with employers – whether you’re a small employer looking to recruit your first apprentice or a large employer looking to develop your entire workforce.

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