Highway Care is a leading supplier in the road safety industry and consistently innovates and develops new products that improve highway safety for road users and road workers. Sudarshan Thapa is a CAD (Computer Aided Design) Apprentice at the company and commented, “It is a really great company. As the engineering team is relatively small I have got to know everybody well and everyone is really friendly. I chose to study CAD because I like the way you see it all brought together on the screen and then later you can see it brought to life when it is made. There is a sense of satisfaction in that process.

“I chose to study as an apprentice because I thought I would gain more experience and it was good progression into work from the full-time Level 3 Diploma in Engineering. I am enjoying the practical elements of the course in the workshop and I feel that it combines well with the theoretical side of the course. I would like to progress to a Higher Apprenticeship in the future.”

Adrian Bullock, Director of Engineering at Highway Care added, “Recently, we have noticed a skills shortage and there is a general decline in the availability of good design engineers. We feel a good way of alleviating this is to work with local colleges to develop young designers which we believe is key to the company’s successes and long term growth strategy.

“Sudarshan has integrated well into life at Highway Care, his work is evolving and we are keen for him to develop and hone his skills further. I feel the apprenticeship scheme provides good practical experience for young students within a work environment and we look forward to welcoming other budding apprentice engineers in the future.”