IPReg welcomes the exploration and potential development of apprenticeships within the patent attorney and trade mark attorney professions. Such activity should contribute to
- Increasing the diversity, inclusivity and reach of routes into the profession.
- Breaking down barriers to entry to the professions.
- Increasing the ongoing responsiveness of the professions’ education and qualification routes to changing consumer, workforce and professional practice needs.
Exploring how apprenticeships could form a part of professional education and qualifications can valuably contribute to IPReg’s education review. This is due to get underway in 2025.
Principles for IPReg’s engagement in potential apprenticeship developments are set out below.
- There is a value in exploring a range of potential apprenticeship models, informed by stakeholder engagement and the distinctive features and needs of each profession.
- Apprenticeships have the potential to form a valuable way of addressing equality, diversity and inclusion issues and breaking down barriers to entry to the professions, while upholding high education and professional standards.
- There is opportunity to draw on learning and best practice in how apprenticeships form entry routes into other regulated professions.
- Potential apprenticeship developments need to align appropriately with IPReg requirements for individual registration as a patent attorney or trade mark attorney, including to support individuals’ opportunities for professional progression and to meet workforce and consumer needs.