Website offers advice on alternatives to university

With the increasing pressure on youngsters to go to university, one bright former student has shown that a degree is not a pre-requisite for success.

Tom Mursell, has earned himself a high profile by launching a commercially successful website that shows 16-19-year-olds that there are alternatives to university. No doubt this will come as a relief to those students who fail to gain a place at university this summer.

Now 20 years old, Mr Mursell said when he was taking A levels he felt under great pressure from home, school and careers advisers to apply to university. He fell in line and won a place to study law at Brighton University but in the end pulled out.

“I had a part-time job in a supermarket and some of the shelf stackers were graduates. They were so pessimistic about their prospects. Plus I didn't at that time want to move away. The point is, many successful people have never been to uni but we are led to believe it is the only route,” he told us.

But when he looked for information on alternatives he found there was little advice or guidance. So he set up Notgoingtouni.co.uk.

The site is not anti-university or getting a degree, far from it. Mr Mursell just wanted to show people there are alternative routes such as apprenticeships, employment-funded study, gap years and distance learning.

In fact he is about to start a business degree with the Open University. His website has gained enormous interest from sponsors including the Open University, other distance learning organisations, as well as companies such as Sainsbury's.

Last year around 130,000 A-level students failed to get into university and this year the number is expected to be higher with university places likely to be hotly fought over. Tom Mursell hopes the site will inspire, advise, give young people opportunities and help them to succeed in their chosen path.