Quality | 2010.08.13
School leavers choosing graduate employers over university
Recruiters report intense competition for trainee places as would-be students are deterred by cost
Growing numbers of school leavers are applying directly to companies once thought of as graduate employers as fears of student debt and the job market deter some teenagers from university.
The assumption that a degree is needed for the best jobs appears to be fading, with some blue-chip firms reporting keen interest in schemes aimed at school leavers.
As 170,000 teenagers face being squeezed out of university places when A-level results are published next week, PricewaterhouseCoopers says applications for its school-leavers\' entry scheme have doubled to 800 over the past two years, Network Rail has had 4,000 entries for more than 200 apprenticeship places this year, and city fund managers Fidelity has hired school leavers for the first time this year.
City and Guilds, which runs vocational qualifications, says interest this summer is up 20% on last year. Meanwhile, a survey published today underlined the financial gloom facing graduates by predicting that students starting this September will leave with an average debt of nearly £25,000.
A degree remains the prime aspiration for thousands of teenagers; figures from Ucas show universities have received more than 660,000 applications for places starting this autumn, a record high.
But employers and skills providers have noted what one recruiter called a "huge trend upward" in smart school leavers going straight into the workplace.
Network Rail said it had seen an increase in candidates who were academically capable of going to university opting for apprenticeships instead. "The quality of applicants is increasing year on year," a spokeswoman said.
While graduates can expect to earn a higher starting salary, apprentices are paid while they train, and are likely to earn between £17,000 and £21,000 when they take on a full-time role with the firm.
A spokeswoman for PricewaterhouseCoopers said rising applications for its A-level entrance scheme were driven in part by anxiety about student debt and the intensity of competition for graduate jobs.
While the 70-80 places on offer to school leavers form a small part of its recruitment compared with its 1,100-strong annual graduate intake, they have prompted a surge of interest in recent years.
"The people who are attracted to it … know exactly what kind of career they want, they want to get right into training, they are very single-minded about what they want," the spokeswoman said. "Some people have had a university experience and thought better of it – thought, \'university is not for me\' – and people are worried about the job market."
A spokeswoman for Marks & Spencer said that while the firm had not seen a significant increase in applications this year for its management trainee scheme, which is open to entrants with two A-levels, competition remained intense; there are up to 3,000 applicants for just 30 places.
Agencies promoting skills training and vocational qualifications have also noted rising interest. Sylvia Perrins, chief executive of the National Skills Academy for Financial Services, said: "We\'ve seen a growing interest over the last year, very much linked to the economic climate, or people worried about getting more and more heavily into debt."
As well as Fidelity, the Wall Street firm Bank of New York Mellon and mutual society Wesleyan Assurance, which provides financial services to professionals, are among those companies that have begun taking on apprentices, Perrins said.
The Tory manifesto included plans to fund 400,000 extra training places, including 200,000 apprenticeships to be paid for by redirecting planned Labour spending. In government, the coalition has announced 50,000 extra apprenticeship places.
The universities minister, David Willetts, said last weekend that sixth-formers who failed to get a place on a degree course should consider an apprenticeship. "I think we should get away from the mindset that there is only one option, which is at the age of 18 going away from home to university for three years," he said.
Graduates can still expect to earn at least £100,000 more across their working lives than non-graduates, but they face years of steep debts and intense competition for jobs once they leave university.
A survey published today found that students starting this autumn can expect to owe £24,700 when they finish. The Push Student Debt Survey based its projection on a poll of 2,000 students who were asked how much they owed the bank and their parents, and what they had taken out in student loans.
Places at a premium
When A-level results are published on Thursday it will kickstart the fiercest scramble ever seen for places in clearing . Many leading universities, including Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh and Warwick, are already full.
A number of universities yesterday confirmed they expected to have some places available through clearing. Goldsmiths, part of the university of London, said it expected to have 100 places available – half as many as last year. Bath expects to have 50 places.
The University of Bradford will have 255 places in courses ranging from economics to engineering. The University of Kent said it would have around 250 places in sciences and languages. Salford will have approximately 880 places. The University of the West of England, in Bristol, will offer 200 places, down from 600 last year, chiefly in IT, biosciences and nursing. Johnny McDevitt and Rekha Jogia
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010[...]rs-apply-to-graduate-employers
