Embarking on higher education

• Summary
• Introduction
• Survey respondents
• Reasons for decision to enter HE
• Reasons for choice of academic subjects
• The issue of finance
• Experiences with HE application and access to information
• Implications of findings
• Further information
• Footnote
• References

Summary

Professor Kate Purcell the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick, discusses the key findings of the first stage of the longitudinal research programme Futuretrack. The survey of applicants to full-time UK higher education courses in 2005 has provided insights into their career choices, aspirations and planning, as they embark on higher education prior to the introduction of variable fees for courses.

back to top

Introduction

In 2005, the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) launched an ambitious programme of research, Career-making, with the aim to better understand the processes leading to career learning and decision-making in students and graduates and the career guidance and development interventions aimed to support these. The programme has at its core a major longitudinal study of all applicants to full-time UK higher education courses who applied through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), with surveys being carried out at four points in their career:

• as they were about to embark on higher education;
• one year later;
• after three years of study;
• one year after graduation.

In advance of the 2006 major study, a smaller sample survey was launched in 2005. This study, entitled Futuretrack 2005, was designed to be a longitudinal pilot study for the 2006 programme, with the primary aim to inform the 2006 study (Futuretrack 2006) on the survey methodology. In addition, it is envisaged that Futuretrack 2005 would provide valuable insight into the career choices, aspirations and planning of the last cohort of students to embark on higher education prior to the introduction of variable fees for courses, potentially providing a useful comparison with the succeeding cohort. This article presents the key findings from Wave 1 of this 2005 pilot study.

back to top

Survey respondents

The first Futuretrack 2005 survey was undertaken in autumn 2005, with just under 3,500 responses received from participants who filled in an online questionnaire. Most of the sample consists of those about to embark on undergraduate degrees, but the full spectrum of entry points to higher education were covered in the survey, as shown in Table 1 (see footnote).

back to top

Reasons for decision to enter HE

The most frequently cited reasons for deciding to apply to enter higher education were that completion of the course was a part of long-term career plans, interest in the particular subject/course, better job prospects, and the opportunity to realise their own potential. See Figure 1: Reasons for decision to apply to enter HE.

There were differences in the reasons for applying by gender. A slightly higher proportion of female than male applicants stated that their decision to apply was part of their long-term career plans, but the directly employment-related option (‘To enable me to get better job’) was significantly more often given as their main reason by males.

Differences in responses by socio-economic background were also found. Those from routine and manual backgrounds were only half as likely to give ‘It is the normal thing to do for somebody like me’ as their main reason for applying. Non-traditional students also tended to refer to the need to demonstrate their abilities and potential. In addition, those from lower socio-economic categories were considerably more likely to be studying at further education colleges and were more likely to have applied as mature students.

Respondents accepted at institutions established as universities before 1992 were more likely to have considered that ‘it is the normal thing to do for somebody like me’, more likely to have been motivated by a desire to study a particular subject, to indicate parental and teachers’ encouragement as a reason, as well as friends who were doing the same and wanting to be a student: clearly, more likely to be ‘traditional’ recruits to higher education.

back to top

Reasons for choice of academic subjects

The majority of the 2005 Futuretrack respondents had chosen their academic course subject because they had already enjoyed studying it or because of interest, but 45% had chosen it because they needed to complete their course to enter a particular profession or occupation and over two-thirds believed that the course would lead to good employment opportunities in general.

There are, again, gender differences in responses given. While nearly a quarter of female respondents stated that they needed to have completed the course they had applied for to enter a particular profession or occupation, only 14% of male respondents gave this as their main reason. Males, however, were nearly twice as likely to give their main reason for choice of course as being that they thought it would lead to good employment opportunities in general - 13.2% citing this as a reason for choosing a course, whereas only 7% of females did so.

back to top

The issue of finance

The most important influences on respondents’ choices of course had been visits to institutions, the characteristics of particular courses and the reputation of the institution. Financial considerations were considerably less often cited - only 8% of respondents reported these were the main influences. Financial considerations, however, were more often an influence on course choice for those from relatively disadvantaged than advantaged applicants.

About two out of three survey respondents expected to have significant debts after finishing their studies. More than 80% of respondents expected to do paid work during the vacations and more than half of respondents during the term time, with those from less advantaged backgrounds being more likely to anticipate working during term time. This is a cause for concern, given that it has been established by previous research that work during term-time is likely to result in lower undergraduate achievement and, subsequently, greater difficulty in accessing employment that makes use of their higher education [1] [2]. As we proceed to track students through their higher education, we will be concerned to monitor the relationship between work during term (particularly, the number of hours worked during term), the type of work undertaken, academic performance, participation in other student activities and stress levels reported.

2005 UCAS applicants from Scotland were considerably less likely than those from other UK regions to anticipate having significant debts and, surprisingly, significantly more likely to anticipate undertaking work during term time. Whether this reflects greater availability of paid work for Scottish students, a more comprehensive culture of working during study or socio-economic differences in the regional populations is something that the project team will be keen to explore in future sweeps of the survey, particularly in relation to the types of paid work and hours worked.

Those who had stated that they expect to undertake paid work during term time were asked for their reasons. The majority (88%) reported that they planned to work to help pay their essential living and study costs, over two-thirds ( 65%) answered that earnings would be required to help pay for leisure activities and holidays and 61% saw undertaking paid work as necessary to avoid debts. However, 39% planned to undertake paid work to gain general employment experiences and 18% to gain work experience in an area relevant to their course, although only 1.5% expected to undertake paid work to satisfy a requirement of their course - something of an underestimate, given current trends in course development and initiatives being developed by higher education institutions and employer partners at higher education institutions, industry, professional and policy levels.

back to top

Experiences with HE application and access to information

Family was cited as supportive in the choice of course by the majority, but a substantial minority had not found teachers and lecturers helpful, and only a third agreed that they had had excellent careers advice (see Reported experiences of the HE application process). Furthermore, those from less advantaged backgrounds where higher education is not a normal next step were more likely than others to have reported lack of advice or guidance.

back to top

Implications of findings

The primary lessons learned from this survey have been methodological and strategic and have helped to ensure that the census of 2006 UCAS applicants can achieve its objectives. However, in addition, this survey has highlighted the following key issues that will inform the design and conduct of the research and feed into debates about policy and practice in higher education and careers guidance:

• There is clearly a need for more generally-available high-quality careers advice and information for potential higher education applicants.
• The diversity of the higher education experience which students from different backgrounds and with different orientations experience, needs to be taken account of in the planning and provision of learning and of careers information provision and guidance.
• The diversity of higher education experience, in terms of the length of courses and ranges of opportunities to which different qualifications provide access, presents increasing challenges for careers advisers.

back to top

Further information

A website dedicated to the study www.futuretrack.ac.uk is currently being planned. Watch out for news of its launch on the HECSU website.

back to top

Footnote

The survey respondents differ from the UCAS applicant population due to both sampling and response bias. The sampled population was, on average, younger than the full population of applicants and more likely to have ‘standard’ entry qualifications. Female applicants were more likely to have responded and those from minority ethnic groups and those embarking on higher education as mature students slightly less likely to have responded. In addition, survey respondents were more likely to have high entry qualifications and a higher proportion had accepted places in pre-1992 universities and less likely to have applied through ‘Clearing’. For this analysis, the data have been weighted to take account of gender and age biases. Nevertheless, these and other biases should be borne in mind in interpreting the findings from this survey of UCAS 2005 applicants - which is essentially a survey of those who succeeded in obtaining a higher education place through the mainstream application procedure, unlike the 2006 census, where the procedures used and the timing of the survey, informed by this pilot, was designed to include the full spectrum of applicants.

References

1. Purcell, K., Elias, P., Davies, R. and Wilton, N. (2005) Class Of '99. Graduate careers four years after graduation. Sheffield: Department for Education and Skills.

2. Callender, C. and Wilkinson D. (2003), 2002/3 Student Income and Expenditure Survey. Department for Education and Skills, Research Report 487.

Copyright © 2002-2012 HECSU | Content last updated: Spring 2007