Young people think that knowing the right people and being
confident are more important for getting on in life than going to
university, according to new Ipsos MORI
polling published by the Sutton Trust on A-level results day
(today).
Out of more than 2,000 11 – 16-year olds surveyed this year,
almost nine out of 10 (85%) said it’s important to be confident
to do well and get on in life. Three quarters felt that having
connections was crucial, with 75% saying that ‘knowing the right
people’ is important for success in life.
However, just under two-thirds (65%) said they think it’s
important to go to university. This has fallen from a high of 86%
in 2013, with the proportion who feel that going to university
is not important rising from 11% in 2013 to
20% in 2019.
The polling highlights how perceptions of the importance of
university differ by social and ethnic background. University was
deemed less important for young people from the least affluent
families (61% compared with 67% in ‘high affluence’ households),
and white pupils (62% compared with 75% of young people from a
BME background).
The decline in young people’s perception of the importance of
university may in part be down to a growing awareness of
apprenticeships and other high-quality training routes. Almost
two-thirds (64%) of young people said they’d be interested in
doing an apprenticeship rather than going to university, if one
was available for a job they wanted to do.
Despite this, three-quarters (77%) of young people think they’re
likely to go on to higher education after school. This is a
similar rate to the past few years, but slightly below the high
of 81% in 2013. University aspirations also differ by social
background. In 2019, 67% of pupils from the least affluent
families thought they were likely to go into higher education,
compared to 83% in ‘high affluence’ households.
Of the young people who said it was unlikely they would go into
higher education, the most common set of reasons – given by 62%
of those across England and Wales who are unlikely to attend –
was they don’t like the idea or don’t enjoy learning or studying.
43% cited a financial reason, while 41% said that they weren’t
clever enough or wouldn’t get good enough exam results to get
in.
Today’s polling also finds a small decline in doubts about the
cost of going to university. Two-fifths (40%) of young people who
are likely to go to university or who aren’t sure either way yet,
are worried about the cost of higher education, down from 46% in
2018. However, money worries continue to be pronounced for young
people from the least affluent families (50% compared with 32% in
‘high affluence’ households) and for girls over boys (44% vs
36%).
Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton
Trust, said today:
“It’s no surprise that young people have doubts about the
importance of higher education. Young people face a dilemma. If
they go on to university, they incur debts of over £50,000 and
will be paying back their loans well into middle age. And in many
cases they will end up with degrees that don’t get them into
graduate jobs.
“Young people need better advice and guidance on where different
degrees and apprenticeships could lead them, so they can make the
right decision regarding their future.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
- The
Sutton Trust is a foundation set up in 1997, dedicated to
improving social mobility through education. It has published
over 200 research studies and funded and evaluated programmes
that have helped hundreds of thousands of young people of all
ages, from early years through to access to the professions.
- The
full polling will be available here at 0001 on
Thursday.
- Ipsos
MORI interviewed 2,809 school children aged 11-16 in secondary
schools (excluding special schools, fee-paying schools and sixth
form college) in England and Wales. Pupils were selected from a
random sample of schools, and self-completion questionnaires were
completed online between February and May 2019. Data are weighted
by school year, gender and region to match the profile of school
children across England and Wales.
- Pupils were grouped into high, medium or low family affluence
scores based on their answers to six questions in the survey
relating to the number of times they had been on holiday with
their family in the last year, whether they have their own
bedroom, the number of computers owned by their family, the
number of cars, vans or trucks owned by their family, whether
they have a dishwasher at home, and the number of bathrooms in
their home. This categorisation is taken from the World Health
Organisation’s Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study.
- Disadvantaged pupils are those who are eligible for Free
School Meals.
