The 2015 A-level results indicate that more students have taken up Maths, English, Biology with a sharp increase in those that have taken Computing. UCAS University admissions says that there are 409’000 places this year with 13,415 more female entrants than in 2014 widening the gender gap.
Transferwise, the international peer to peer money transfer service, did a study where they analysed a number of students and parents from across the UK, US, Germany and France. 89% of French student and 69% of German students felt that studying abroad would give them better career prospects. However fewer students in the UK are willing to study abroad, despite many parents actually encouraging the move. 51% of these students that said they do not wish to study abroad said because their main concern would be running out of money, whilst 32 per cent said they would be concerned by a language barrier. A large proportion of the students also indicated how that they would rather head to the US than Germany, despite Germany having some of the most prestigious institutions in Western Europe.
According to the QS Intelligence Unit’s report “How do Students use Ranking?” one of the question that the students were asked was “What are the benefits of attending an internationally recognised university?” 69% of UK students recognise that the benefit of attending an internationally recognised university will be for better employment prospects and selected this as their first choice. This is well within reach in the UK itself, with almost 20 UK universities featuring in the top 100 in the QS World University Rankings. The survey also asked the same questions to students in France 61% of them selected Employment Prospects as their first choice in the importance of an internationally recognised university and 53% selected connections worldwide as their second choice of importance.
Despite the high debts that this year’s graduates have accrued, this has not been a deterrent for students wanting to enter university. The BBC’s Branwen Jeffreys: “For the first time there is no limit on university recruitment”. It is clear that students are more driven to future improved employment prospects than ever before, with many students overseas travelling abroad to do so, and other staying in their home town despite the possibility of falling into future debt. This is a positive message for universities, a message that indicates that universities should continue to improve connections with employers and continue to invest in careers advisors to help students have a clearer path of their life after university. See below a video of a previous interviewing session with young students and their opinion on Employability and the importance of it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCqucyjYcyc
