ATTITUDES AND PROGRESSION TO HIGHER EDUCATION :
The top 3 reasons NOT to progress to higher education were :
1 . “ It would depend of the grades I achieve .” 2 . “ The cost is too much .” 3 . “ I want to work and earn money .”
For students who want to progress to higher education , their reasons were :
1 . To get a well paid job . 2 . They enjoy learning .
15 % stated they did not know whether they will apply .
12 % stated they would be ‘ fairly unlikely ’, ‘ very unlikely ’ and
‘ definitely won ’ t ’ apply .
73 % stated they would be ‘ fairly likely ’, ‘ very likely ’ or ‘ definitely will ’ apply to higher education at age 18 or 19 .
Over half of respondents do not know if higher education is for ‘ people like me ’.
Over half of respondents stated they agreed higher education would broaden their horizons .
ENGAGEMENT FIGURES FOR 2020-2021 :
During the 2020-2021 academic year the SUN worked with 16,618 students who took part in sustained and progressive activities .
The top 3 activity types that took place in schools were : 1 . Careers related activities such as the ‘ Festival of Industries ’. 2 . Soft skills activities such as ‘ Empowering Student Voice ’ workshops . 3 . IAG activities such as ‘ Discover your Options ’ activities .
3,375 post-16 students took part in sustained and progressive activities .
SUN Progression Mentors provided 1,842 hours of one-to-one contact time to students in colleges .
The impact of
COVID-19 :
Over a third of respondents stated they were not sure if they would apply to higher education because of the pandemic .
54 % stated they are just as likely to apply to higher education despite the pandemic .
58 % stated COVID-19 has not influenced their decision about what to do after finishing school .
WHAT WILL WE USE THIS INFORMATION FOR ?
This data will help the SUN plan activities for the 2022 – 2023 academic year . It will also help support our evaluation plans for strategic evaluation in the next three academic years .
The SUN will also be able to use this data to support our impact evaluation and provide national evaluation for the Uni Connect programme .