Time for Universities to get serious about T Levels

I’m excited to become the first chair of UCAS’s Qualifications Advisory Group (QAG), to have been chosen from a Further Education (FE) College.  For those unfamiliar with the group’s work, we give strategic advice on qualifications to UCAS and the government.  The QAG committee has traditionally been made up of people from Higher Education (HE), so I’m determined to raise the profile of our sector, and to work to improve the understanding and recognition of it.

There is a widespread lack of understanding of what T Levels are

I want to start with T Levels.  Firstly, there is a widespread lack of understanding of what they are, what they’re for, and how rigorous they are to study.  I’ve already encountered a number of people from universities who have not been as well informed about T Levels as they might be, and many of those have expressed surprise when I’ve explained that they can be every bit as tough as A Levels, and every bit as valuable as evidence of fitness to study for a degree.

It’s interesting to note that the universities that do readily accept applicants with T Levels might be characterised as the younger, hungrier institutions.  They know they’re in a competitive marketplace.  Some Russell Group universities are considerably less likely to recognise the value of T Levels, but this may be something that comes back to bite them.  It’s interesting to note that many of the “less prestigious” universities generally outperformed the red bricks in this year’s National Student Satisfaction Survey.  If degree apprenticeships and other alternative routes to employment continue to grow in popularity, established universities may find themselves having to become better acquainted with the value of T Levels if they wish to maintain their student numbers; and sooner rather than later.

Many employers are keen on job applicants who’ve had an industry placement as part of their education

Elite universities will also have to consider the attitudes of their other customers: employers.  Many of the employers I speak to say, for example, that they are keen on job applicants who’ve had an industry placement as part of their education.  There’s a bit of a trend towards people who don’t just have good, academic brains, but who can also do useful things.  It’s interesting to note that according to The Sunday Times League Table of University rankings, Computer Science is now, “the most popular and lucrative degree in the UK.  Students applying to study a subject that includes robotics, video game design and cyberhacking have increased by 31 per cent since 2019, growing nearly 10 per cent in the past 12 months.”

FE colleges have been successfully “doing digital,” for some time, and the young people taking that path may soon find themselves in rather greater demand from universities that have previously recruited elsewhere.

FE and T Levels excel in employability skills

Then there’s that other area where FE and T Levels excel: employability skills.  Survey after survey shows that businesses despair of recruiting young graduates who have the necessary capabilities.  A degree in medieval French from an Oxbridge college is a wonderful thing, but whether it arms a graduate with the ability to collaborate, innovate or self-manage is questionable.  With their experience of the workplace, those who’ve studied T Levels are often way ahead on these areas so inappropriately described as “soft skills.”

T Levels are not the beginning and ending of this.  I hope to encourage universities to look at the whole range of vocational qualifications, including the remaining BTECs, or whatever replaces them, and Access to Higher Education as well.  I’m not asking them to completely redraw their admissions processes, simply to be more open-minded and to realise there are different ways to be a success in life other than top A Level grades.  What’s more, I’m sure most people working in HE would agree with me.  It’s rarely the people obstructing progress, but rather the system.  I would ask them to come to talk to us.  Visit some FE colleges and see for yourself what vocational qualifications entail and witness the quality of the young people taking them.

When T Levels were launched in 2017, the phrase used was that they should have parity of esteem with A Levels.  Seven years on and this has not been achieved.  It’s time we made it happen.

By Joanna Brown, Careers Lead at Milton Keynes College Group and the new chair of the Qualifications Advisory Group.