A-Level graduates who undertake an apprenticeship show higher levels of satisfaction compared to those who studied at university, claims NotGoingToUni.
The academia website, which encourages students to choose a career path that doesn’t involve university, surveyed nearly 2700 people aged between 21 and 30, investigating their feelings towards apprenticeships and university.
Out of all the people who had undertaken an apprenticeship, 68 per cent of respondents were ‘‘fully satisfied’’ with their chosen career.
University graduates aren’t as satisfied with their career path, with less than 30 per cent of graduates expressing their satisfaction.
Sharon Walople, CEO of NotGoingToUni explained the reason behind her company’s survey, after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released a piece of research that found that a quarter of graduates earned less than those who worked on a training scheme in 2014.
There are many reasons as to why university graduates are unsatisfied in their careers, including:
- Their course didn’t prepare them well enough for their career (53 per cent)
- A poor working relationship with their boss (41 per cent)
- Low salary expectations (17 per cent)
- Regretting choosing university (14 per cent)
‘‘Our study aimed to look less into the financial aspects and find out if there was a correlation between this statistic and the difference in satisfaction levels,’’ stated Walpole.
‘‘It certainly seems university doesn’t make for a happier individual, and perhaps points towards the fact many graduates leave higher education with unrealistic expectations of what their degree can offer them in terms of career opportunities.’’
In July the Skills Funding Agency released new figures which found that ‘‘89 per cent of apprentices are satisfied with their apprenticeship; 85 per cent of apprentices said their ability to do the job had improved, and 83 per cent of apprentices said their career prospects had improved.’’
