Students choosing to take a gap year after graduation

Back in the dark ages when I completed my sixth form, it was fairly common for students to take a `gap year` before attending university. This entailed taking a year out of education, and going travelling, usually around Europe, though more intrepid individuals might venture as far as Asia and Australia. I recall there being something called an inter-rail card, that enabled under 20`s to travel the continent on certain train lines at a vastly reduced fare. You could fall asleep in comfort and safety, travelling at 140km an hour, waking up in a new city to explore. It all certainly sounded like a grand adventure, but was definitely something I was too peevish to undertake. `Maybe after university,` I told myself.

My shame over having been too cowardly to embark on a gap year has been somewhat assuaged recently, by learning that there has been a precipitous drop in the number of students going on them. UCAS have just revealed figures showing that only 5% of students deferred their university place this year, compared with 8% last year. These statistics may sound marginal, but thats a fall of nearly 50% in the number of students choosing to take the time out to go on a gap year.

What could be the reason for this sudden drop? A survey conducted by YouGov and London Stansted airport seems to point to the answer. They found that more students are now deciding to take their gap year after university. To me this certainly seems sensible - with their higher education complete, after three years of hard work, poised at the beginning of what may be a career lasting many decades, what better time could there be to take a year out? For the last five years, perhaps even longer, the students will have been studying for one important exam after another. Before they settle down into their careers it would be an apposite time to do some travelling.

It also seems students are being more considerate and selective in their choice of destinations. Meandering aimlessly around Europe without any real plan or itinerary seems to be a less attractive option, with many now sagely looking for experiences that will augment their qualifications, seeking to gain real life knowledge on location. My friend`s daughter is planning to begin a career in charity work, having completed her degree last year, and is currently volunteering to work for amnesty international in her gap year, as part of a support camp working in Uganda. I`m sure this experience will be extremely valuable on her CV - perhaps being esteemed as highly as her degree - when she starts looking for work later this year.

Many students planning to take a gap year will work during the summer after their final exams, saving up as much as they can. Others may try to secure bar or catering work during their travels. Some students choose to take a TEFL courses (teaching English as a foreign language), a short qualification that grants them the opportunity to be an English teacher in many foreign countries. This qualification can be completed in as little as 2 days at centres throughout most major cities in the United Kingdom.

The time immediately after university is a vital juncture in life - it is a point that many will look back on decades later, and see the first steps being taken that have lead them to where they now stand. Such a decisive moment needs to be approached with mental clarity and sober judgement. A year travelling could facilitate exactly the right state of mind required to make the appropriate career choice. After so many years studying, what better reward could there be than a year out - a year broadening the mind with visceral, tangible adventures, as opposed to the necessary, but more academic edifications of the classroom and lecture hall. Many people look back on their gap year as the most exciting time of their lives, a time where, unencumbered by more adult constraints (mortgages, children) they travelled throughout many countries, went through a profound period of personal growth, while deepening the bond with a group of great friends.