More young people applied for the positions than the total applications to Oxford University, which attracted 17,000 applications for its 3,000 undergraduate places. The high interest in the programme - which has a starting annual salary of £11,000 to £14,000 - reflects the growing rate of unemployment in the country's six million 18 to 24-year-olds, which is currently 17.5%, and a spike in the birth rate in the early nineties. As a result, more young people are also applying for education places - with university admissions service Ucas reporting in June an 11.7% rise on the previous year in applications received.
Last week, it emerged growing numbers of school leavers were applying directly to companies once thought of as graduate employers rather than going to university. PricewaterhouseCoopers said applications for its school-leavers' entry scheme doubled to 800 in the past two years, while Network Rail said it had 4,000 entries for more than 200 apprenticeship places this year. City & Guilds, which runs vocational qualifications, said interest this summer is up 20% on last year. Meanwhile, the Push Student Debt Survey revealed students starting university this autumn will graduate with almost £25,000 worth of debt.
