This article is a summary of the first report of Future Track, a study of 130,000 higher education applicants in the UK in 2006. Commissioned by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit, the study will track these applicants for the next 6 years and on through their early careers, including unsuccessful HE applicants and also successful applicants who chose to pursue non-HE opportunities.

Some of the findings of the first report (the study is being undertaken by the Employment Studies Unit of the University of Warwick) are somewhat expected while others are not. Here is a selection:

Applicants from families where one parent had already participated in higher education had greater expectations of attending higher education than those from families who did not have such experience.

• 73% reported that they had not received enough or no information on the career implications of post-age 16 subject choice
• 60%had notreceived enough or no information on the relationship between HE courses and employment.
• 51% had not enough or no information on possible alternatives to higher education
• 57% had not enough or no information on the range of degrees on offer

Read more