Why do so many young people now choose an apprenticeship over a university?

For over 30 years, young people and their parents have had it drummed into them that going to university is the only viable route to a successful, well-paid career.

The message was essentially the same before tuition fees were introduced in England in 1998 and despite the fees escalating to ￡9,000 per year since then, it has changed very little. Now British universities are calling for fees to be substantially increased again.

Rather than go along with accepted wisdom, young people themselves have been questioning whether leaving university with ￡50,000 of student debt, when the maintenance costs are added, is worth it, especially without a graduate-level job guaranteed at the end of the course.

The alternative of doing an apprenticeship is becoming far more attractive. Young people know that they can start one at 16 after GCSEs or later after completing their A Levels.

They can earn while they learn on an apprenticeship with no debt to worry about because the government and the employer pay for the cost of the training and the wages.

From day one, an apprentice is in a paid job with a contract of employment which offers a real sense of security while progressing through the programme. Not all young people will successfully complete their programme for various, often personal, reasons, but 9 out of 10, who do finish, will stay on working with their current employer and move up to higher levels within the organisation. 

Most employers will increase the apprentice’s pay after 12 months of starting the apprenticeship and they will keep raising it because keeping skilled members of their workforce is vital to their competitiveness.

Barely 40% of graduates land full-time employment on completing their degree. In contrast, a level 4 apprentice can be on average earning more than a graduate from a modern university within four years of starting work with no debt to pay back.

A huge choice of apprenticeships

As well as pay and job security, another major advantage is the sheer choice of apprenticeships available. There are at least 650 of them ranging from traditional manufacturing skills to ones in the service sectors including the professions. Yes, it is possible to become a fully qualified accountant or lawyer via an apprenticeship and soon it will be possible to qualify as a doctor via one too.

At Remit, we partner with employers to offer apprenticeship opportunities in the following:

• Automotive
• Digital & IT
• Hospitality
• Food
• Business and Management
• Customer Service.

A further big plus is that apprenticeships are available to start at different levels and it is possible to progress upwards. They range from level 2 (equivalent to GCSE) to levels 6 and 7 (bachelor’s and master’s degrees). In recent years, universities have started to offer degree apprenticeships where the student spends the equivalent of learning 4 days a week at work and 1 day on campus, maintaining the advantage of no tuition fees being involved.

A high-quality alternative

In the same way that schools are inspected, Ofsted checks on the quality of training and assessment within an apprenticeship programme and the inspection grades are publicly available online for anyone to see before they make their choice.

Apprenticeships are highly popular with large employers who do not want their brand to be damaged by poor quality training. 

Before the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly 100,000 16 to 19-year-olds were starting an apprenticeship each year. For many of them, an apprenticeship was not a second choice – it was their only preference. 

Despite often not being told at school about the alternatives to university, pupils find out about apprenticeships from their peers, older siblings, online, or from the occasional adult. Both employers and young people are missing out because information about the advantages of apprenticeships is not being properly shared.

However, students with good GCSE and A Level grades are choosing apprenticeships instead of traditional degrees because they know that they can learn more on the job and their long-term prospects are equally bright. With lockdowns hopefully gone for the foreseeable future, we can expect many more young people to seek out apprenticeship opportunities which will set them on the path to a meaningful careers. Employers will welcome them with open arms.