Research reveals strong progression to HE for Cambridge Technicals students

Students with OCR's Level 3 Cambridge Technical vocational qualifications are progressing successfully to higher education, new research reveals. 

The research conducted by Cambridge Assessment's research team looked at UCAS data on application and acceptance rates of students with Cambridge Technicals qualifications. This research tracked approximately 7500 students with Cambridge Technicals qualifications who applied to start undergraduate degrees in 2017/18. Over 95% received at least one offer from HE and over 86% were accepted onto an HE course. There was no significant difference between the percentage of offers made to students studying Cambridge Technicals and to comparable students taking other qualifications. While the majority of students with Cambridge Technicals made successful applications to a range of non-Russell Group universities, nearly 500 were accepted at Russell Group universities. 

In Autumn 2017, OCR shared the news that two students from UTC Sheffield with Cambridge Technicals in Engineering qualifications, alongside A Levels in Maths, Further Maths and Physics, took up places to study Engineering at Cambridge University. 

Cambridge Technicals subjects are well-aligned to subjects offered at university. According to the new research, over 80% of students with Cambridge Technicals qualifications in IT and in Business and Administration, for example, were successful in their applications to Computer Science and Business courses at university. 

OCR is committed to ensuring that students with Cambridge Technicals can progress along their chosen pathways whether it's to higher education, apprenticeships or employment. The message from the data is a positive one and our research in this important area of social mobility continues.

Find out more about Cambridge Technicals.