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The supermarket chain Morrisons has plans to fund up to 1,000 degrees for A-level students who are interested in taking up graduate retail jobs with their company. At a cost of up to £4,000 in tuition fees for each student, the initiative could cost the Bradford company in excess of £4 million.

The Morrisons students will be signed up over the next 18 months and will be required to study from home for 8 or more hours a week. In addition to study time, the students will also take part in intensive courses in their region and will embark on a six month training plan with Morrisons.

Up to 100 students could be enrolled on these Morrisons “Futures” programmes in the next month or two and the following 900 will be sourced before the end of 2012.

Although the degrees from the University of Bradford School of Business are tweaked in favour of building future mangers of Morrisons, the supermarket chain is keen to point out that the skills and qualifications gained during these foundation degrees in retail management will be transferable to almost any other company in the retail sector. However, if the students stay with Morrisons then it is possible that they could be store managers in less than seven years.

Norman Pickavance, director of human resources at Morrisons, highlighted just how career-advancing these degrees could be in the hunt for a graduate retail job. “This is an opportunity for young people who have the right drive and attitude to reach senior management levels in the company. It offers a genuine alternative to self-funded university qualifications,” said Mr Pickavance.

Retail is a sector that will always provide jobs for graduates even in spite of fluctuations in the economy. If you think that retail is the business area that you would most like to find a graduate career then take a look at all of the retail opportunities that we display on our jobsite. For example, if you are in the capital then see what is available today on our Graduate Retail Jobs in London page.