Millions of people tuned in to Alan Sugar's TV series and its spin-offs, but employers in Oxfordshire are still struggling to find bright youngsters wanting to become The Apprentice.

Chris Clarke, managing director of Isis Training Services, said: "Last year, I couldn't fill four or five vacancies because I couldn't get the young people we need."

Isis is the operating company of Oxford & District Training Group based at Long Hanborough, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this month. A registered charity, it recruits apprentices and organises training for a consortium of two dozen Oxfordshire engineering companies, ranging in size from tiny workshops to multi-nationals and public sector organisations employing thousands.

Mr Clarke added: "Twenty years ago, there was a pool of skilled staff who had trained in the car industry, or at Harwell, which had a huge apprenticeship scheme.

"Everybody used to train their own staff, but now they are smaller they realise they still need to invest in training. Most of our apprentices are advanced ones, because of the high-tech nature of the industry in Oxfordshire now.

"A lot of manufacturing industry has gone, but what is left is the higher end, and we need bright youngsters."

Advanced apprenticeships, which last two years, have a minimum entry requirement of GCSEs in English, maths and science at Grade C, as well as practical ability. The problem for employers is that most youngsters with these qualifications now go to university.

Mr Clarke said: "People don't realise that after you have done your apprenticeship, many employers will sponsor you to do an HNC and/or a degree. The beauty of doing it that way is that there are no tuition fees, so you don't need a student loan.

"They get a salary from day one, because they're employed. Once you are doing an apprenticeship, it's like the beginning of your career, because there are tremendous progression routes. Most of the people we deal with have operations abroad, so there are travel opportunities as well."

Famous former apprentices include mobile phone magnate John Caudwell and the Labour peer Lord Drayson, who started at the Rover car factory aged 16, and was funded through university to PhD level, as well as many engineering bosses.

Mr Clarke himself is proud of his origins: "I started at Pressed Steel Fisher in Cowley as an apprentice toolmaker, and developed my career at Oxford Scientific Films and Oxford Lasers. I gained my production engineering skills and then went into management."

He concedes that his organisation is sometimes competing with schools keen to boost their sixth forms.

"It is in the schools' interest to keep that young person, but there are alternatives.

Work-based learning, rather than academia, is better for some young people."

Increasing numbers of recruits come after A-levels.

Darren Smithson, a machinist at Norbar Torque Tools in Banbury, said: "My mates from school chose the A-level route and have now switched to apprenticeships but they're two to three years behind me.

"Schools tend to want you to take the academic route, but I really feel I've done the right thing. I've really enjoyed it and I've been paid from the start."

Kate Winstanley, of the UK Atomic Energy Authority at Culham, one of only a handful of female apprentices currently in training, had more support from her school.

She said: "I left school with A-levels in physics and geography, plus three AS levels. I really wasn't keen on the purely academic side. I wanted to be more hands-on. When I told my physics teacher I didn't fancy university, he suggested an apprenticeship."

Many employers see young women as a potential solution to the skills shortage.

Steve Howells, of Siemens Magnet Technology, said: "To any young woman considering a career in engineering, I would say take inspiration from the example of our apprentice Toni Kent, who was Apprentice of the Year in her college in 2006."

Mr Clarke, who is organising a dinner next month at Eynsham Hall to celebrate his organisation's 25th birthday, said: "Employers realise that it's in their interest to promote engineering training as a career option.

"We now do a lot of work in schools, for example the Isis Challenge, where you have to transport a bucket of water over an obstacle course."

He added: "The whole issue of training is more complicated now. As well as recruiting apprentices, we check up on how they're doing and we do all the grant applications on behalf of companies. The funding is quite complex now."

One bone of contention has been the drop in funding for recruits over 19. It is sometimes possible to start later in life.

Colin Hendy, of can packer Crown Technologies in Wantage, is taking an adult apprenticeship after running a café in his previous life.

Mr Clarke said: "It can be a problem for a smaller organisation, but I always tell employers that recruitment costs about 20 per cent of salary, which is £2,500-£3,000. If you compare like for like, apprenticeship funding is not a great cost.

"I think companies realise that their future depends on training young people in the skills they need. If they don't do it, no-one else is going to."

o Contact: 01993 882008 www.isistraining.co.uk