London Higher congratulates all students receiving their A Level, BTEC and level 3 results today. For those who have secured a place at one of London’s 50+ higher education institutions, we are delighted to welcome you to the London HE community. We hope you are looking forward to the opportunities that await you in the world’s Best Student City for 2025.
Today’s results further underscore London’s status as a hotspot of educational opportunity. Excluding the pandemic period, the proportion of 18-year-olds in the capital securing university places is higher than ever before, as is the proportion achieving top marks in their exams. This is an achievement of which they, and London’s schools and colleges, can rightly be proud.
The results are also good news for the UK economy. Higher level skills are essential to addressing the country’s productivity challenges and it is hugely encouraging to see so many young Londoners taking their first steps towards attaining these through progressing to university study.
As clearing continues in the weeks ahead, we can look beyond today’s headline attainment and progression data to understand inter-regional differences in higher education participation. We already know from available UCAS and government data that significant higher education access gaps persist in London. Currently, 82.3% of young Londoners move onto sustained post-18 education, training and employment destinations, some way below the government’s 85% target. It will therefore be critical for both the higher education sector and government to focus on eradicating differences in level 3 achievement within, as well as across, regions if the goal of breaking down barriers to opportunity for all is to be realised.
The London Higher network is fully committed to this objective and our work to help deliver the government’s ‘opportunity mission’ continues apace. Through a new wave of Access and Participation Plans, our members have set out bold plans to remove barriers to higher education access and opportunity in the capital. London Higher is also a delivery partner in the government-funded Uni Connect programme, through which we deliver outreach and pre-level 3 attainment raising initiatives targeting the young Londoners who are currently least represented in higher education.
Around 20% of young Londoners – and in some London boroughs almost half of young people – getting their results today will have studied at least one BTEC. These and other applied general qualifications are a proven platform for progression to university, especially for subjects such as nursing that prepare key workers of the future. The pathway is under threat, however. We therefore call on the government to extend the funding guarantee for BTEC qualifications beyond 2025 whilst the review of the level 3 qualification landscape continues, to provide clarity for colleges and students.
