Univeristy vs Apprenticeship- which is better?
A debate that is old as time. Although one may be more popular whats more suitable for you?
37.9% of UK school leavers in 2021 chose to pursue higher education- yet again another increase from the year before. With more career paths than ever before- do most really need a degree? The answer to that question is no- in fact only around 24/38% of job roles in the UK require a degree, so why do most still go to university? A study conducted by what uni detailed 13 reasons why students went to university, most being for social aspects such as meeting new people, going somewhere new and opportunities rather than for the degree itself! With 6-10% of first year university students dropping out why do they feel the need to go in the first place and more importantly why was it not for them? 47% of these dropouts felt the course wasn’t for them. This is a huge proportion and perhaps if more opportunities, such as apprenticeships, were more visible and promoted as much as a russel group university these figures would be a lot less. Furthermore, even after degree completion only 50% of graduates actually use their degree in relation to their career. So it begs me to ask the question again- why do most still go to university?
From speaking to friends and reading other articles I think the answer to the question is lack of viewability of apprenticeships and the stigma surrounding them. Previously apprenticeships would offer little-no pay and be in manual labor roles such as plumming, building, electricians etc. Apprentices would be viewed as less intelligent then those at university as typically it would be for those who didn’t get the grades/requirements to even go to university. Although I agree there are still parts of this stigma attached to apprenticeships today, especially with older views of parents/carers coming into play and being very influential when a school leaver is deciding their next steps, I think its important for them to be more normalised. As mentioned before, if sixth forms/colleges stopped applying so much pressure onto UCAS, university and degrees and made it more of a split between that and other options- like apprenticeships, I predict the rate of university students to decrease massively. Before I researched about my own apprenticeship i didn’t even know you could get one in the industry I wanted too which just goes to show the lack of viewability surrounding them currently. Below are a few fun facts about apprenticeships that i never knew before my own research:
Most employers look for EXPERIENCE when hiring, this you get from an apprenticeship
There’s different levels to some apprenticeships where you can gain smaller qualifications in
The average apprentice UK salary is £23,000
You can get apprenticeships in law, business, administration, finance, public services, engineering and even commercial (more about this detailed here ) roles
Summary: If you take anything away from this article please just know you have a CHOICE. It’s yours to make. Although university may be for some its most definitely not for all and just because it can seem as the only route i can assure you- its not! Unlike some partnership opportunities university will always be there, even if you’re 50 you can still go to university so don’t rush into it- everyone will learn, grow and work at their own pace.
For more information on my apprenticeship follow the button below to multiverse – my apprenticeship provider to browse any opportunities going currently!
