A Level results day: Is university the right next step for me?

National World - LocalTV

Amid recent criticism for the sheer number choosing to go to uni, amongst former students, graduates are still keen to recommend the step to the next generation.

Transcript

00:00I suspect there'll be quite a lot of trepidation at the moment, real anxiety about whether

00:06they're going to be able to achieve the results that they're looking for in their A-levels

00:09or T-levels or whatever qualification that they've done, and anticipation about going

00:15off to university. So quite a lot of anxiety. But I suppose the key thing to remember is

00:21not to panic, is that when you do get your results, just take a moment, check that you've

00:27got, you're still going to be accepted by your first choice university, and if not,

00:31there's always clearing. And clearing is a perfectly respectable way in order to be able

00:36to secure a place at university for the future.

00:39Those awaiting results might not know whether or not they want to go to university yet,

00:44but it's worth bearing in mind 65% of graduates would do university all over again for personal

00:49friendships and 57% would do it for the work networks it's given them.

00:53But what these results suggest that actually, not only does it give you great preparation

00:57for your career, 82% of them were saying that, that this was really good preparation for

01:01the careers that they then pursued. About two thirds then saw it as giving them absolutely

01:07key in being able to secure an interview to get a job, and 80% really valued the practical

01:13expertise that they got from their university experience, so real hands-on experience of

01:19work. But more interesting than that, I think, is the fact that the university experience

01:26gives 82% of those people preparation for life, so it really gives them the opportunity

01:32to be able to build the resilience, the problem-solving, and the personal connections that really stay

01:41with them through the rest of their lives afterwards, which I think is just fascinating,

01:45because we can get really focused on that sort of, I'm going to do an education degree

01:49to become a teacher or whatever, but actually the experience that you get from university

01:53is much broader than that and can set you up for a range of different careers.

Category

Transcript

Recommended