Bright future for highly driven BTEC students

BTEC students are most career-driven and most likely to set up own business, says Student Room survey

Posted by Stephanie Broad | July 19, 2016 | Teaching

• #btec
• #a-levels
• #university
• #higher-education
• #careers
• #student-room
• #student-room
• #university-of-hertfordshire
• #survey

New research* from The Student Room in partnership with the University of Hertfordshire shows current BTEC students are career focused, more likely to be driven to set up their own business and less likely to take a gap year.  

A BTEC is a vocational qualification equivalent to an A-level. The research spoke to 10,000 students and found that BTEC students are 15% more likely to know where they want their career to go and are extremely focused, compared to students taking the traditional A-level route. Sixteen per cent of BTEC students are also driven to set up their own business compared to just nine per cent of A-level students being motivated to do so.

The volume of such focused BTEC students going to university is also increasing at a huge rate. Since 2008 the number of BTEC students going to university has grown by 113%, making it the most popular qualification route after A-levels. Twenty-four per cent of all students going to university in 2015 were BTEC students, growing from 13% in 2008.

This clear focus on their future, viewing a degree as part of a clear plan to reach their goals, could be the reason BTEC students are 29% less likely to be worried about university tuition fees. 

Hannah Morrish, education community manager at The Student Room, says: “It could be that BTEC students are more comfortable paying back their tuition fees than their A-level counterparts because they have a clearer idea and confidence in their future earnings.”

BTEC students were more ready to accept that a part time job will be a necessity to get them through university, with 44% saying that part time work to help pay for their degree is something they’re more than happy to do to get where they want to be, compared with 37% of A-level students.   

Hannah Morrish added: “BTEC qualifications have traditionally had an image problem. It’s a myth that BTECs are a lesser qualification to A-levels and we can see from university application figures that universities are noticing the quality in BTEC students. We’re seeing an increase in BTECs as a pr