Girls entering the core STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – at A-level have increased again this year.
This year’s A-level results show a stable pattern compared with last; with the total pass rate of 98.1% remaining the same. A* and A grades was 25.8%, a small drop of 0.1% on last year’s results.
The trend of girls getting better results than boys continues, with 75% of boys achieving grades A* to C compared to 79.7% of girls. But, the gap at between top performing boys and girls has decreased for the first time since 2011.
The good news for STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – is the number of girls taking them at A-level has increased again.
Mathematics, in particular, saw a significant rise of 1.4% of boys and girls. This makes it the popular subject, making up 10.6% of A-level entries. Biology, History, English and religious studies are the next four most popular subjects.
The removal of the cap on the number of places universities in England, coupled with a historic decrease in the total population of 18 years olds across the country should result in a ‘buyer’s market’ for those entering clearing or re-applying next year.
This is not thought to be offset by a record proportion of students hoping to apply this year to beat the increase in tuition fees made possible by the removal of an upper cap on tuition.
More good news for the long-term prospects of potential students is a recent study from The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). the IFS compared incomes of UK graduates from the mid-1980s with those from the mid-1990s, and while student numbers have more than doubled, graduates still command a wage premium.
