More pupils 'rule out university'

Figures suggest the number of people applying for schemes such as apprenticeships and vocational courses doubled in the space of a year
10 August 2013

Rising numbers of school leavers are pursuing alternative options to university, new figures suggest.

The number of people applying for schemes such as apprenticeships and vocational courses through one website has more than doubled in the space of a year.

The increase comes amid the trebling of university tuition fees to a maximum of £9,000 per year and calls by business leaders for young people to be encouraged to take more apprenticeships and business-related courses.

Figures published by notgoingtouni.co.uk show around 115,000 applications to school-leaver schemes have been made through the site in the last 12 months, up from 56,000 between August 2011 and July 2012. This includes apprenticeships, college courses, vocational training programmes and job vacancies.

The number of advertised roles on the website have increased by 30% in the last year, it added, and in total there are more than 5,000 options for youngsters who decide they do not want to go into higher education.

The top five most applied for sectors through notgoingtouni.co.uk are accountancy, engineering, information technology, hospitality and childcare.

Around 300,000 teenagers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland are due to receive their A-level results next week, and will be making decisions about whether to take up university places, find a job, or go into another type of training.

Sarah Clover, operations director at notgoingtouni.co.uk, said: "Every year, young people up and down the UK are faced with the nerve-wracking experience of collecting their exam results, which they often think determine what they can and can't do with their future. However, there's no such word as 'can't' in this day and age, with so many vocational training schemes and apprenticeships available to young people."

She added: "University isn't an option for everybody, whether that's down to finances, results or simply because the young person doesn't want to go. We want people to know that, whilst a good option for some, university isn't the be all and end all."

A report published by the CBI last month warned that the "default" traditional university route taken by most teenagers is not enough to provide all the degree-level skills required by major industries. The UK's young people must be encouraged to take more apprenticeships, "sandwich" degree courses that include a year in industry, shorter and part-time degrees to tackle the chronic shortage of suitably qualified workers, the business group said.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in