With students facing the biggest squeeze on higher education in 20 years and
only one in three likely to find a place through clearing, what better
excuse to go on a gap year? By the end of June, in spite of the prospect of
racking up about £20,000 in student debt, there were 52,204 more
applications to university than last year. But with just 13,000 more
full-time undergraduate places, more than 250,000 school-leavers are likely
to take a gap year before climbing back on to the academic treadmill.
As the recession bites, many leavers will find the Bank of Mum and Dad even
less willing to lend them a few thousand pounds to lie on a beach in
Thailand for six months, having helped to build a school hut in Mozambique.
So increasingly the most popular option is the work placement, which allows
school-leavers to garner valuable work experience ahead of college, as well
as saving some money and spending some time on the beach.
At Year in Industry, an education charity that matches up to 600
school-leavers to 200 British companies every year, the number of
applications has risen by a fifth over last year.
“Money is the main motivator and a wish to offset student debts. But they have
also taken in the fact that a gap year is not actually 12 but 15 months
long,” says the charity’s Penny Tysoe. “So if they can work and travel, they
can have it all.”
Year in Industry, which has been operating for 21 years, offers an average
salary of between £10,000 and £14,000 for a placement of between nine months
and a year. It helps successful applicants to get a foot in business, as
well as meeting potential employers, and gives students a taste of
responsibility before they start university.
About a quarter of the companies go on to sponsor their student through
college and employ them during the holidays. Of those accepted on to Year in
Industry courses, 85 per cent gain a first or 2:1 degree and 75 per cent are
employed straight after graduating.
Tanya Edwards, 20, is going into her second year studying physics and
astrophysics at Leeds University. She applied to the charity, largely
because she wanted a constructive gap year that would give her an insight
into business.
She ended up working in the quality assurance department of Wrigley, the
chewing gum manufacturer, and looking for ways to reduce costs and raise
productivity. During her placement, she devised a means of wasting fewer
ingredients and recalibrating the machinery that is estimated to have saved
the company more than £620,000 a year.
“You are really thrown into the deep end and have to fend for yourself,” says
Edwards. “The experience was invaluable. You get to know how industry works,
you learn social skills on the job, how to interact with people and you get
a lot more practical life experience.”
For those who miss out on a Year in Industry placement or have set their
hearts on banking or accountancy, projects such as Deloitte’s scholar scheme
offer an alternative. This scheme also gives school-leavers the chance to
gain work experience, travel and earn a wage.
Deloitte has taken on 250 gap-year students in the past five years and this
year plans to recruit an additional 45. The business advisory firm pays
about £20,000 pro rata over seven months and applications are now open.
In addition, the company donates £1,500 to fund the student’s gap year travel,
offers a £1,500 annual bursary while they attend university, as well as four
weeks’ paid holiday work. A large number of “scholars” end up working for
Deloitte on graduating, but it is not compulsory.
Such schemes are heaven-sent for parents fearful for the safety of their young
on gap-year adventures, as well as the danger of them wasting their precious
time out from studying.
But if their offspring are determined to go travelling rather than signing on
for work experience in an office, there are other prospects. Platform2, for
example, is a government-sponsored three-year programme aiming to involve
2,500 volunteers, which is open to all UK 18 to 25-year-olds who could not
otherwise afford to volunteer overseas.
For those whose parents are better off and can afford fees of up to £3,500 for
three months’ travel, there are still the traditional routes of teaching in
Nepal, working on an African game reserve or assisting a remote community in
the Amazon jungle, which may be found under organisations such as the Year
Out Group. Richard Oliver, chief executive of the group, says that
subscribing to such organisations can be a good investment.
“Those who go away teaching for three months or do conservation work come back
different people. They are more mature, more focused and less likely to drop
out of university,” he says.
“If they have taught, for example, they will have learnt how to handle
children, plan lessons, negotiate and fit into another culture. They will
probably also have had adventures they can never tell their parents about,
but that is all part of the experience.”
Case Study: Try business before pleasure
Rory McGregor (pictured), a Deloitte scholar, says he fell into the business
advisory company’s scheme by mistake, Alexandra Blair writes.
“I didn’t really want to take a gap year because of my perception that it
was just more work behind the bar and travel and would be difficult to get
back into my studies,” he says.
“But when Deloitte came and gave a presentation at our school, I signed up and
forgot all about it, until they sent me a reminder three months later.”
McGregor, 20, has always been interested in the business world, so “it seemed
like the natural thing to do,” he says. “As soon as I arrived I was treated
like a graduate and assigned to Royal Sun Alliance and the Man Investment
Group in the audit department. We had almost five weeks’ training and I was
monitored at all times.”
McGregor’s placement lasted from the end of August to the end of April. “With
my salary and extra cash, I then headed to Thailand, Australia and New
Zealand for three months and ended up going on a rugby tour in South
America. I had done my hard graft so it was three months or so of pure
holiday.”
He will soon begin his second year at York University, studying accountancy,
business finance and management. “At uni I still pull pints behind the bar
for £5.50 per hour, but I have managed to put aside the annual £1,500
bursary as a back-up fund. I pretty much used up my salary on travelling.”
McGregor has been back to Deloitte twice since his scholarship began and
during this eight-week stint he is working in the consultancy department
with the London 2012 team. “Nobody has mocked me for working in my year off.
Friends think it’s amazing that I got to work and travel and have help with
paying my way through uni.
“Most of my friends are really struggling to find jobs through the holidays,
which should be one of the best times to start paying off debts.”
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