Growing your own: how MUTI & University of Bristol built a confident events professional from the ground up

When Vicky joined the University of Bristol Venues & Events Team as Event Services Manager, an apprentice was already in place — something she admits she approached with a degree of caution. A year and a half on, she’d recommend it without hesitation. This is how Lauren’s Events Assistant Apprenticeship has worked in practice: for the learner and the line manager.

How the learning worked:

Lauren joined the University of Bristol Venues & Events Team as an Events Assistant Apprentice, working across the full lifecycle of event delivery — handling client enquiries, coordinating venues and catering, managing health and safety considerations, and ensuring each event runs smoothly from first contact to the day itself. In short, she was doing a real job from day one.

Lauren spent four days a week on the job and one day studying with her MUTI tutor, Clare. What made it click was the way the learning mapped directly onto where she was in her role. In the early months, study topics ran in parallel with what she was picking up at work. As she found her feet, sessions went deeper, unpacking areas like health and safety in far more detail than her day-to-day would normally demand.

Face-to-face sessions with Clare, visits to other venues, and time alongside a fellow MUTI apprentice gave Lauren a wider sense of the industry beyond her own team. Online sessions then brought everything back to her own context, giving her space to reflect and consolidate.

Clare’s really good at getting you to unravel everything and look a lot deeper into things.”

Flexibility where it mattered

Events work is rarely predictable, and the apprenticeship had to flex around that. During particularly busy periods, study hours were scaled back. Towards the end — when portfolio submissions were mounting — Vicky made time in Lauren’s working day for apprenticeship work, allowing a couple of hours at the end of each shift to focus on what needed to be submitted. The formal structure of one study day a week held firm as the baseline, with the team building sensibly around it.

What it’s actually like to manage an apprentice

Vicky had never managed an apprentice before Lauren. Her honest reflection: she was a little uncertain what to expect. What she found was someone already well embedded in the team and hitting the ground running.

“I was quite impressed at how much she was already doing when I first joined. It hasn’t felt that much different to a traditional hire — just a case of balancing the study time.”

The tripartite meetings — a 45-minute check-in every three months with Lauren, MUTI, and Vicky — proved genuinely useful. Clare, our Events Assistant Tutor, would share the topics she planned to cover in the coming months, which let Vicky think ahead about opportunities to give Lauren hands-on experience that would complement her study. Communication was regular without being overwhelming.

Would she recommend it?

Unequivocally, yes — though Vicky acknowledges she wouldn’t have predicted that before going through it. The depth of learning Lauren has received has shown up directly in how she works: thorough, careful, assured with clients. The qualification Lauren gains alongside her practical experience is something Vicky values on her behalf too.

“I would 100% recommend it. The learning has been really extensive, really detailed — and that comes across in her work.”

The apprenticeship culminated with Lauren being employed by her team at University of Bristol, showing that the knowledge and skills she learned had fully prepared her to take her first steps into employment in the events industry.

Events Assistant Apprenticeship

An Events Assistant apprentice gives you reliable, on-the-ground support for your events. They will learn the full arc of event planning and delivery, becoming a capable, confident part of your events team.

Find out more