The university application body, UCAS, has announced a decrease of almost 9% in the number of students’ applying to universities in the UK. At the same time, the government has revealed statistics showing that some 457,200 apprenticeships were delivered for 2010/11 academic year which represents an increase of more than 60% from the previous year.

With tuition fees rising to up to £9,000 per year from 2012 and a record rate of youth unemployment, young people across Britain are considering apprenticeship schemes as a more stable way of developing their career.

With increased funding from the government, the number of people age between 16-21 years old who are starting apprenticeships is expected to rise even further from next year.

Apprenticeship Training Limited (ATL) is a leading national training provider in the Building Services Engineering sector with an established network of centres across the UK, including a centre in Worcestershire.

Its Hartlebury based centre, which was recently visited by BBC Hereford and Worcester, provides hundreds of apprenticeships to people of all ages across Worcestershire and West Midlands region.

BBC Hereford and Worcester reported that apprentices are given the opportunity to earn as well as learn, whilst they are gaining practical experience from the workplace.

Paul Barnes, who is 18-years old and from Bromsgrove, said to BBC Hereford and Worcester that he is convinced to have made the right decision by taking on an apprenticeship.

Paul, who completed his GCSEs with two A and three B grades, did not choose to go to university because of the huge debt he would have to pay back after graduating.

“I didn’t want to go to university because the fees are very expensive plus I would have had to spend two years at college doing A levels. So, I am skipping that and I am getting paid for the time I would have been doing A levels at college.”- the ambitious apprentice said.

Paul added: “I might even come out of this with some savings, rather than coming out of with the debt of around £40,000.”

The Government is determined to deepen its funding programme in order to deal with high levels of unemployment and get more people back into work.

In July, it set up a £25m fund to support 10,000 additional apprenticeships for small businesses and similar sectors with skills shortage.

Do you think the increase of tuition fees is the main reason for fewer student applications at universities or are there other reasons why people decide not to go to university?  If you are a young person, tell us what would you choose and why by commenting below: