Additional written evidence submitted by UCAS
UCAS response to the Education Select Committee inquiry on careers education, information, advice and guidance.
What does UCAS’ research and insight say about CEIAG and student decision making?
Support for those from under-represented groups.
What could the future look like for CEIAG?
UCAS provides the UK’s shared admission service, spanning further and higher education to help 700,000 students to progress in education and training each year. As a trusted, independent charity, supporting students from all backgrounds to discover their future is in UCAS’ DNA, and at the heart of our vision for 2020 – 2025. Our reach is significant: ucas.com receives 30 million unique visits a year, and our programme of UK-wide virtual and physical events is attended by 150,000 individuals each year.
UCAS is aiming to play a key role in influencing and, alongside partners, delivering the careers education, information, advice, and guidance (CEIAG) landscape of the future, building on our extensive presence today. We look forward to further engaging with the Education Select Committee in its review of the careers education system and would be happy to provide further detail on any of the areas outlined below.
Our response to this inquiry draws on UCAS’ research and insight into student decision-making, and will address in particular the provision of CEIAG to disadvantaged and under-represented groups; and on the individual journey through the current careers education landscape. Key points from our response to this inquiry include:
UCAS recently published a series of reports asking ‘Where Next?’, in which we examine how people make decisions about their future and the influence of these choices on what they do next – from GCSEs to employment.
Where Next? What influences the choices school leavers make? (March 2021) highlighted the importance of early engagement and careers advice. The research found:
ꟷ One in three students considered HE to be an option for them at primary school. However, more advantaged students were 1.4 times more likely to do so than their disadvantaged peers.
ꟷ Almost one in three said they received no information about apprenticeships from their school.
ꟷ Two in five students said more information and advice would have helped them make better choices.
ꟷ When choosing their subject area, over 50% said that high graduate employment rates had become more important to them since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
ꟷ One in five students said they could not study a HE subject that interested them because they didn’t have the right subjects for entry – with medicine most commonly cited, highlighting the need for early careers guidance on how choices made at school can impact options later on.
At all key decision points, subject enjoyment remains the most influential factor for students choosing qualifications at school and in higher education – 99% of students report making choices at school based on their enjoyment of a subject, and this is also the primary driver of degree choice. However, employability has become increasingly important post-COVID, with over 50% reporting that high graduate employment rates have become more important to them since the start of the pandemic.
This is further supported by the results of UCAS’ new applicant survey 2021. When asked what influenced their choice of subjects, the top reasons students selected were:
Another survey that asked students using the UCAS Hub, who have yet to make an application, to describe their future career plans found that 38% of respondents said they have a ‘clear plan’ for their future.[1]
Where Next? Improving the journey to becoming an apprentice (May 2021) focused specifically on apprenticeships, and found:
ꟷ Over half of students looking to apply in 2022 told UCAS they are interested in apprenticeships, but many find it hard to get the information they need about this pathway.
ꟷ Only 8% of people associated apprenticeships with leading to a good job. The word ‘prestigious’ was more associated with university degrees (76%) than apprenticeships (4%).
ꟷ Previous UCAS research found 89% of students said it would be useful to have a centralised platform that offers a help/advice service when it comes to finding and applying for apprenticeships.
Where next? Who doesn’t plan to start a full-time undergraduate degree in autumn (August 2021) found that of those not intending to start a full-time undergraduate degree in the autumn:
ꟷ Nearly three quarters (74%) had received information about undergraduate studies, while just over half (53%) received information about higher or degree level apprenticeships. Most wanted additional information about gap years (37%) and employment (35%).
ꟷ Just 11% say they had received enough CIAG and did not require any more, while 9% state they did not receive any at all.
ꟷ 58% of white respondents reported having received information about apprenticeships, compared to only 45% of those from an ethnic minority group.
UCAS is also committed to understanding how to best support individuals with individual needs. Starting the conversation: UCAS report on student mental health (June 2021) identified an over 450% increase in the disclosure of mental health conditions over the last decade. In addition, the report found:
ꟷ 3.7% of all UK applicants declared a mental health condition in their application to study in 2020 – up from 0.7% in 2011.
ꟷ Women are 2.2 times more likely to declare a mental health condition than men.
ꟷ One in five students research support specifically for an existing mental health condition before they apply, and more than one in four look at the provision of general mental health and wellbeing service.
Both our mental health report, and our report ‘Next Steps: What is the experience of LGBT+ students in education?’ highlight how students research information specifically about mental health support. Our research found that 31% of LGBT students say they specifically looked for information about LGBT+ services with 47% of these students telling us they were extremely interested in mental health support. Our research found 55% of transgender students in particular sought information about available support.
We know that by improving our understanding of student’s needs, we can do more to help ensure that we signpost to all students the information they need to ensure they are supported and feel confident with their choices.
UCAS is a trusted, free-to-access, personalised source of information and advice for millions of school pupils and mature students. Each year there are 30 million unique visits to ucas.com, with students exploring content on the full range of post-secondary options UK-wide, including technical education, apprenticeships, and flexible and lifelong learning. Our well-established relationships with more than 4,000 teachers and careers advisers across the UK mean we can play a critical role in helping schools and colleges navigate a very complex landscape, ensuring that individuals make the right decision for them. School leavers make up the most significant cohort of individuals applying through UCAS; however, in 2021 we supported 100,000 students aged over 25 take that next step in their educational journey. We are part of the government’s Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) advisory group and are prioritising expanding our reach and impact in this area.
UCAS has a strong and continually growing relationship with employers and has successfully adapted its expertise in course search development to create the ‘Careers Finder’ apprenticeships search tool – this received a record 2.13 million searches in 2021, up 32% from 2020. Our most recent innovation allows employers to create profiles on UCAS and showcase their offer to students. These include Jaguar Land Rover, Vodafone, Rolls Royce, Sky and Keir Group - some of the top apprentice employers in the country.
UCAS already plays a central role as the most cited source for information for the 700,000 individuals researching their post-secondary options. Personalisation underpins our approach to information and advice, with students registering via the UCAS Hub early in their research and embarking upon their own individual journey based on their preferences and circumstances. This journey includes the option to attend UCAS events and explore tools to help them build their own personal profiles and explore the full range of post-secondary options.
The UCAS Hub is growing in popularity, from over 417k sign-ups in 2020, rising to more than 1.1m in 2021 – more than doubling its user base. The recent launch of the Career Quiz – a key gateway for Hub registrations – has been used more than 500,000 times since its launch in September 2021. The quiz, developed in partnership with EMSI, matches students to their best-suited career options and shows them the skills required, typical daily tasks, and salaries.
Our objective is to build UCAS into a leading discovery brand, in line with our charitable mission, positioning ourselves as ‘route neutral’ to ensure parity across all pathways, including academic and technical routes. Regarding technical education for example, we are working with universities, colleges and students to support the first cohort of T level students complete their qualifications at the end of this academic year. Universities and colleges commonly display entry requirements as either specific qualifications and grades, or through UCAS Tariff points, or a combination of the two.
UCAS Tariff points | T Level overall grade | A Level |
168 | Distinction* (A* on the core and distinction in the occupational specialism) | AAA* |
144 | Distinction | AAA |
120 | Merit | BBB |
96 | Pass (C or above on the core) | CCC |
72 | Pass (D or E on the core) | DDD |
As of the 26 January equal consideration deadline, 475 T level students (out of 1300 nationally) have applied through UCAS, and we expect that number to increase throughout the remainder of the cycle as students continue to submit applications.
Further activities include:
ꟷ As part of our CIAG partnerships strategy, we continue to work collaboratively with external partners to connect students with relevant experts. For example, our Discovery Week was delivered in partnership with the government’s Youth Mental Health Ambassador, Dr Alex George.
ꟷ Employer profiles, which highlight a range of organisations and their employment opportunities across the UK.
ꟷ Peer-to-peer engagement, in partnership with Unibuddy, prospective applicants with current HE students to help them better understand course and campus options.
ꟷ Live Q&As enable students to have direct engagement with education providers and employers, and help them to better understand what it’s really like and which route is right for them.
ꟷ Discover Your Future Events programme, both physical and virtual, connects students, teachers and advisers with HE and FE providers, employers and support, and outreach services. This includes the Apprenticeship Zone, where students can interact with top employers and discover the range of career options they could pursue.
ꟷ A growing library of subject, career and city guides, supported by labour market data, in recognition that student motivation to study is highly individual – whether that be salary, employability, or a healthy work/life balance.
ꟷ Adviser content, aligned to the Gatsby benchmarks, through our website, outlines information on the CIAG schools should be providing, shares suggestions of good practice, and offers tailored guidance for parents and carers.
UCAS recently commissioned YouthSight to undertake a survey of 6,000+ students and 400 advisers in addition to four focus groups to understand more about existing careers tools and to inform good practice. It found:
ꟷ UCAS is the number one platform for students and advisers: 92% of students and 94% of advisers are aware of and are using the UCAS Hub.
ꟷ UCAS Hub is trusted by advisers, who also appreciate the fact that UCAS Hub is free to use, providing a more accessible service than some competitors.
ꟷ Whilst the Hub is most known for supporting students to build a strong application for university or an employer, it is also used to help explore career avenues, and is considered to offer a diverse set of features.
UCAS is committed to working with policy makers, stakeholders, and customers across the UK to improve the CEIAG landscape, which we believe must evolve to deliver better student outcomes – particularly to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
We have recently undertaken a sector-wide consultation with more than 70 organisations to identify how UCAS can best support widening access and participation, shifting our role from commentator to collaborator, and focusing on what works to enable positive student outcomes. Our well-established relationships with more than 4,000 teachers and careers advisers across the UK means we can play a critical role in helping schools and colleges navigate a very complex landscape.
Backed by significant investment, our aim is to bring schools, colleges, and universities closer together, helping them find and share what works best, and engaging the hardest-to-reach young people at an earlier stage in their education journey. We intend to do this through innovation and partnerships, adding value to the extensive work already occurring in this area. Key projects include:
UCAS supports a diverse range of disadvantaged and underrepresented groups of students to make their choices and apply to higher education, including disabled students and those with learning differences and mental health conditions, care experienced and estranged students, students with caring and parenting responsibilities, those from a UK Armed Forces background, home educated students, and refugees and asylum seekers. Alongside student-facing content, we also provide toolkits and training modules for teachers and advisers, and good practice briefings for HE providers – all of which is developed in close collaboration with expert organisations.
When it comes to writing personal statements, we know that those from disadvantaged backgrounds may not receive the same extra support that their more advantaged peers often receive which creates an unfair disparity. Therefore, with the endorsement of the HE and FE minister, Michelle Donelan MP, reform of the personal statement is underway. Our priority will be to increase the support we provide to people while they are writing it, and, critically, replacing the current simplistic free text box with a more tailored and meaningful structure, helping students of all backgrounds input the right and relevant information.
We have a positive record of working closely with partners in the sector such as the Careers & Enterprise Company and Gatsby Foundation where we have long championed the eight Gatsby Charitable Foundation’s benchmarks as a blueprint of what good careers guidance looks like. As with others in the sector we eagerly await the expected publication of the review of careers guidance by Professor Sir John Holman in the summer where we hope to use our platform to continue sharing our expertise and promote the benefits of comprehensive CEIAG. In the meantime, we continue to develop our offering.
Early engagement
At UCAS, we know that people need different types of CEIAG and support at different stages of their discovery journey. However, we know that early access to high quality CIAG helps young people make better choices at each stage.
We argue that CIAG should be embedded within the curriculum in primary schools and early secondary years. This curriculum should be age-appropriate, rooted in local economies and communities, and supported by universities, colleges, secondary schools, local employers, training providers and charities.
UCAS is committed to working with school pupils from a younger age, engaging with those aged 13+ to inform and influence their decision-making, right from the start, mindful that early engagement is key to opening doors. From this point, students will have a series of discovery experiences with UCAS as they explore their options, culminating in connecting to this choice.
Targeting and personalisation
We are committed to deepening the personalisation technology within the UCAS Hub to support students with individual needs, and in recognition of their local context, including identifying and targeting opportunities to those from under-represented groups via the information they submit in their UCAS Hub profile. Students register via the UCAS Hub early in their research, rather than as part of submitting their UCAS application, and can then embark upon their own individual journey based on their preferences and circumstances. This journey includes the option to attend UCAS events and explore tools to help them build their own personal profiles and explore the full range of post-secondary options.
Our programme of student led reform seeks to promote flexibility and choice throughout a student’s journey to their post-secondary destination of choice. This ongoing student-led transformation and reform means we are constantly innovating to deliver new products and services. The archetype is Clearing Plus, our data-led system that suggests courses to students based on their preferences and grades. This introduces students to opportunities, including apprenticeships, they may have previously considered out of reach.
Our commitment to Fair Access includes an investigation into how we can connect advisers, and students to outreach opportunities to help universities and colleges reach a wider, more diverse range of students. This also offers significant benefits to third parties (such as third sector charities and Uni Connect partnerships) as it allows their provision to be visible, and enables them to target students they wish to support.
Lifelong learning UCAS supports the reforms outlined in the Post-16 Education and Skills Bill, and sits on the Department for Education’s Lifelong Loan Entitlement working group. UCAS has significant expertise, data and insight about the motivations and decisions of mature learners, as well as our comprehensive understanding of the wider post-secondary education and training landscape. The Lifelong Loan Entitlement is not just about mature learners - it has the potential to transform current patterns of progression to HE for 18 year olds as well, especially in combination with increased and diversified provision of modular learning pathways.
Our programme of student-led transformation and innovation is already delivering significant reforms to make existing UCAS processes and systems more flexible, personalised and accessible, all of which will help deliver the LLE.
Primary school careers advice
ꟷ At UCAS, we know that early access to high quality CIAG helps young people make better choices at each stage. Given that one in three students start considering HE as an option for them at primary school, but that more advantaged students are 1.4 times more likely to do so than their disadvantaged peers, it’s crucial that all students receive high quality careers education from an early age.
ꟷ We argue that CIAG should be embedded within the curriculum in primary schools and early secondary years. This curriculum should be age-appropriate, rooted in local economies and communities, and supported by universities, colleges, secondary schools, local employers, training providers and charities.
Digital Baker Clause
ꟷ UCAS already plays a central role as the most cited source for information for the 700,000 applicants that come to our platform looking for information on HE and apprenticeships. Our content is freely available and offers a comprehensive tool for schools and colleges across the UK – acting as a digital equaliser to support those with lower quality provision, to ensure all students can access the information they need at each stage of their journey into education or employment.
ꟷ But we want to go further: at UCAS, we have a clear ambition to act as a ‘digital Baker Clause’. This means building on our tools and comprehensive information and advice to help students make informed and aspirational choices about the full range of post-secondary options in a single location, to deliver true parity of experience.
September 2022
[1] Careers research survey - PAD 2023, How would you describe your future career plans?