The University of Life
According to StudentUniverse, a travel booking site for students and youths, since the UK’s referendum on membership of the European Union there has been an increase in young people taking gap years. These figures follow the recent UCAS announcement that applications to UK universities overall fell by five per cent to 469,490.
The site has seen a 29-per-cent year-on-year increase in searches, which it attributes to Brexit discouraging students from studying in the UK, as well as high tuition fees, which have increased in the UK in recent years. In the same period, the site has seen an 82-per-cent increase in gap year searches to Thailand and a 53-per-cent increase in gap year searches to Australia, as well as a 100-per-cent increase in searches to Bangkok and a 50-per-cent increase in searches to Sydney.
“Here at StudentUniverse, we know travel is essential to a modern education,” commented Dan Baker, head of marketing at StudentUniverse. “Given the recent increase in tuition fees and the uncertainty around the UK’s exit from the EU, it’s not a surprise to see more and more young people opting for the ‘life education’ of a gap year rather than traditional academic studies.”