EPC Chief Executive Johnny Rich gives a snapshot reaction to today’s results in A levels, T levels, BTECs and other level 3 qualifications and what they mean for Engineering higher education.
I’m delighted to see a 13% increase today in acceptances to engineering & technology courses at universities. That’s a significant step in meeting the skills needs to deliver the industrial strategy and economic growth. It also means more opportunities for thousands of young people with potential to succeed.
That said, here are a few reflections beyond the headline:
• The 13% represents acceptances recorded by UCAS. That may be (partly) offset by decreases in international students not included in UCAS data. That said, international demand in terms of visa applications in recent months does appear to have held up as do those recorded in UCAS, but it’s possible that unis aren’t expanding their courses as much as they are shifting the balance of their intake – from international to UK and from postgrads to undergrads.
Some might argue that’s no bad thing, but with the revenue from domestic students falling so far short of the cost of delivering those courses, without high proportions of international students (whose higher fees cross-subsidise UK students), something’s gotta give. Courses may run at a greater losses or there may be ‘efficiencies’, aka ‘savings’, aka ‘cuts’ to keep the show on the road.
• Even if all the 13% is a real increase, that’s about an extra 3,340 graduates in a few years. That’s nowhere near enough to fill the estimated 59,000 annual shortfall in engineering roles (over half at graduate level). It’s progress, but the government and the sector still need to consider ways to go far further.
We must plug the funding gap between the income from fees and the cost of delivery. And we must support pathways into engineering (such as driving up the 10k who took D&T A level this year and barely 40k who took Physics).
• The increase also needs to be seen in the context of level 7 apprenticeships, which the Government is defunding in England and are likely to all but disappear this year. It’s barely a thousand individuals nationwide, but it all eats away at the size of the pipeline.
• There’s also been a significant hike in the number of young people taking T levels in engineering and technology. It’s up by over 56%, but the absolute numbers are still small (5,643 – barely half the number doing D&T A level), and we’re yet to see data on how many of those applied to university let alone achieved places. Also, the increase in women doing engineering T levels is a move in the right direction (up from 9% to 12%), but again, comparisons with A levels (even computing with 18%) are not favourable. T levels are a welcome addition to the landscape, but they’re still falling far short of being an adequate replacement for BTECs. The EPC was right to oppose the defunding of BTECs and will continue to do so.
• As well as looking at the overall increase in engineering acceptances, we should also look at who is being admitted. There is a steady improvement on gender balance with women making up 22.3% of this year’s acceptances. In general, if women were admitted to engineering courses in the same numbers as men, then all our skills pipeline problems would be solved. So tackling the attractiveness of engineering to women students remains a potential opportunity to really shift the dial.
This year’s increase in women taking Physics A level outstrips the rise among men, which is also encouraging in times of the future pipeline, but, in absolute numbers, we’re still only talking about hundreds. The challenge starts young.
• I haven’t seen any data yet on socioeconomic spread. As another area where engineering has traditionally struggled alongside gender and, given the benefits to individuals and society of more diverse engineers, it’ll be an issue to keep a close eye on.
The EPC’s annual enrolment survey is a snapshot of the sectors’ actual admissions. We’ll be starting that process next month and the results, coming in the Autumn, will make particularly interesting reading this year. If you’re responsible for your department’s returns, do please support the exercise.
