STUDENTS could work shift patterns and tender for contracts as part of their courses in a bid to make a town’s apprentices more attractive to employers.

Peter Wilson, managing director at Middlesbrough College, said local manufacturers were aware of a future skills gap which it aimed to plug with candidates ready to enter the labour market.

He claimed the repackaging of training schemes over the years had made some employers wary of taking on apprentices as they worry about perceived exploitation which could damage firms’ reputations.

To give students a headstart in the jobs race, those studying manufacturing could work 24 hour shift patterns at the college's new £20m STEM Centre of Excellence (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).

Students striving to secure a role in the digital industry will experience the highs and lows of tendering for commercial contracts and working to a client brief.

“We have to have confidence in apprenticeships for a period of time, that’s what employers want more than anything else. Let’s make apprenticeships more than what they used to be and have value,” said Mr Wilson, who was invited to take part in Middlesbrough Council’s Economic Regeneration Scrutiny Panel’s discussion into bolstering youth employment.

Speaking at the meeting held in Middlesbrough Town Hall, councillor Ronald Arundale said: “At the moment I do not think schools are turning out a lot of people fit for work, I think it’s something we need to get more involved in.

“During the last year of kids being in school we have to steer them in the direction of being employable rather than just educated.”

Richenda Broad, assistant director of Children’s Trust and Performance at Middlesbrough Council, said the auhtority was launching a new approach which, as well as supporting Neets (not in education, employment or training) also involved raising the aspirations and confidence of all its school leavers.

However, councillor Bernie Taylor said the council itself needed to introduce an active policy of having apprentices, after it was revealed that it had only 44 across a workforce of around 2,000 staff.

He said: “We are the corporate parents of children in care in Middlesbrough, 40 per cent of them are not in employment and we want that reduced to 10 per cent. We should be setting an example and we are not."