Futuretrack's methodology is thoroughly tested to ensure that we gather the best information from students.

The results of the 2005 pilot study:

• Males remain more employment-orientated than females.
• 'Non-traditional' students (from manual backgrounds) feel the need to go to university to ‘demonstrate their ability and potential’.
• The most important influences on choice of course are: visits, course characteristics and reputation of the HE institution.
• Respondents whose parents don’t have an HE qualification are more likely to go to uni to ‘get a better job’.
• Those with parents with HE qualifications go to university because it’s the ‘normal thing to do’ and to ‘be a student’.
• Two out of three respondents expect to have significant debts when they leave university.
• Mature students are far less likely to expect to undertake work or leave university in debt.
• Two-thirds agree that student loans are a good idea.

The survey raises three important areas that will influence future policy decisions:

• a need for better careers advice before students pick HE courses
• the diversity of HE experience needs to be taken into account in careers guidance
• the diversity of HE experience presents a challenge for careers advisers.

Care to comment? Email our research team.