Last week’s publication of the UK university application figures for September 2012 from UCAS prompted a perhaps predictable furore. The headline 7.4% decline in applications was blamed squarely on the decision by many universities to charge £9,000 a year in tuition fees. With a talent squeeze as much in evidence today as was the case during more buoyant economic times, surely this is a concerning development?
A closer analysis of the figures perhaps suggests something more nuanced, however not without potential long term implications. Whereas the overall rate of university applications did decline, the figure for 18 year olds, as opposed to mature students, fell by just 3.6%. Factor in a pre-fee increase surge in applications last year of 5.1% and the fact that there are 11,000 fewer 18 year olds (due to population fluctuations) in the UK in 2012, then the figure looks significantly less bleak.
Interestingly too, UCAS was able to point out that the percentage of students applying from what they termed economically disadvantaged homes remained broadly unaffected by the tuition fee increase. However, there was a demographic that did appear to be impacted by the prospect of paying out an eye watering £9,000 per year for a university education.
The demographic? Men. And, in particular, men in England. According to the excellent UCAS, just 29.1% of English male 18 year olds applied for a place at university starting later this year. This compares rather unfavourably to the 38.9% of women. There has been a divide for some time and it is increasing.
Without more data and insight, we can perhaps only hint at reasons for this. Are men more likely to be taking up school leaver programme options or becoming apprentices in greater numbers than their female counterparts? Or is it simply that the prospect of taking on such tuition-related debt is more likely to deter young men than young women?
Although it has shrunk, there is still a clear graduate premium – people who successfully complete higher education are paid more generously over their working lifetime than those who leave education at an earlier stage. It is not impossible, given the divergence hinted at here, to envisage a time when equality of pay within the workforce is a matter furrowing the brows of men and not women.
Similarly, those organisations whose employer branding initiatives have so far not managed to engage female applicants, whether at undergraduate level or with more experienced audiences, face an increasingly stark challenge. Reach out effectively and empathetically to women or face the consequences of fishing from an ever-shrinking talent pool.
Getting to the heart of your employee mindset 