After last week’s Budget speech, many assumed the most difficult decisions had been made to fight back against the economic downturn. Apparently not, as it’s since been announced that tuition fees will be increased throughout the UK from next year.
While on paper it’s a small increase, in line with inflation, it still equates to an extra £285 a year and a 3.1% rise. That’s more than £1,000 for a UK student on a four-year course, and may cause an increasing number of students to question whether university is the right option for them.
What does the data say?
- 77% of UK students develop personal finance issues while at university, while 41% consider dropping out as a result, according to data from Lowell.
- Studying at university is still ‘the norm’ for those investing in higher education, with government data showing there were 2.9 million university students in the UK in 2022/23, compared to 752,150 apprentices.
- Google Trends data shows searches for apprenticeships have far outweighed those for university courses since the Apprenticeship Levy was introduced in early 2017 - an average of 43% higher searches in total.
While many hear the term apprenticeships and immediately think of industries like construction, manufacturing and agriculture, the opportunities are much broader. A scan of the government’s apprenticeship website highlights opportunities in the likes of IT, telecoms and cyber security, healthcare, hospitality and financial services.
Membership body the Recruitment & Employment Confederation have long been lobbying for the Apprenticeship Levy to be reformed, which would help to increase uptake of this way into work too. In fact, its survey of senior business leaders last year found half of businesses would benefit from reform to make the levy more flexible and accessible to temporary workers.
The tuition fees rise has been a hot topic amongst the Antidote team since it was announced and it got me thinking about how each of us found our way into the comms industry. 66% of the team entered work after completing an undergraduate degree, while 17% studied up to postgraduate level and 17% started in the industry after finishing their A Levels.
Interestingly though, 83% of the team did a final stage of education that was directly related to the comms industry. That is based solely on one company of course, so it’s difficult to argue one way or the other about the most valuable route into work, but it’s interesting to see that course relevance and developing transferable skills seems most important.
At Antidote, we’re keen to support the next generation of comms professionals, leading me to recently deliver a guest lecture to 2nd year comms & PR students at University of Gloucestershire on the power of strategic campaign plans and the ethics involved in generative AI. We’re also open to hearing from anyone looking to begin their career in the industry, whichever education route you’ve chosen. Get in touch!
Come back for next week’s Your Weekly Antidote, another dose of data-driven news analysis on one of the biggest stories of the week from your favourite comms tech agency.
