What Are The Available Options For Those Leaving School In The Modern Age?
Recently, there have been enormous changes to the higher education sector:
• University tuition fees have trebled to £9,000 pa;
• Overseas students face far tighter visa restrictions, making UK-based study more difficult;
• The UK Government has thrown open the doors to Univesities, making them less selective and arguably weakening the value of the degrees they award.
The global standing of a properly-accredited UK qualification reamins second-to-none; however the means of achieving this have changed considerably, and there is naturally a reappraisal of the system as students become picky consumers and universities can no longer call all the shots. University has become only one of the many options young people are now at liberty to appraise:
The choices facing them include:
• Learn your trade through an apprenticeship;
• Opt for a vocational qualification;
• Get into work, any work, as soon as possible;
• Go straight to university;
• ‘Find yourself’, with the aid of a gap year in some far-flung location
• Work and then go to university when you know what you need to study for your career.
Your average graduate earns £100k more than those who took no university education – but a person with the capability to go to university is also likely to be shrewd enough to realise the changing situation is upsetting conventional certitudes and be sure enough of themselves to avoid the university trap.
The last 15 years have elucidated one fact above all others: there are multiple different paths of study that lead to a fully-accredited qualification – university is not the only option. For many, one major problem with university is going there: ‘up sticks’ to a completely different place, leaving family and friends behind. It can be exciting when you’re young and free, but also daunting, and if you have a family being apart from them can be distressing.
If you’ve reached a juncture where you wish to increase your marketability through study but don’t want the hige expense of university nor the aggravation of moving home, you can take advantage of new opportunities in the field of distance learning afforded by the Internet.
Look at the online courses available these days; they are more flexible, affordable, and still provide an accredited qualification to help progress your career. And furthermore, exploiting distance learning methods shows ambition which is sure to be noted by the people who count. Without a five-figure debt clouding your future.