Congratulations to all students receiving exam results
Today students across England, Northern Ireland, and Wales are receiving their 2025 exam results for A levels, T Levels and Vocational and Technical Qualifications. This follows the recent Scottish Highers results.
Becca Gooch, Head of Research at EngineeringUK, examines the trends shown in 2025's results, and explains what this means for the sector.
STEM interest on the rise
“STEM A levels offer a vital stepping stone into careers in engineering and technology, so we are pleased to see an increased uptake among some key subjects. This includes maths (+4.4%), physics (+4.3%), and further maths (+7.2%). Design and Technology (D&T) entries were broadly stable (+0.3), although computing is down slightly (-2.8%).
Gender focus
“When looking at the gender breakdown, it’s great to see the 4.3% growth in physics was driven by a 7.9% increase in entries from girls. There was also a 3.3% increase in female entries for D&T, higher than the small increase (0.3%) seen overall. Despite the small overall decline in computing science, there was actually a 3.5% increase in entries from female students.
"Women are currently underrepresented in engineering and technology, with just 16.9% of the workforce being female. And while there’s still more to be done to increase the uptake among girls of the STEM subjects that typically offer a route into engineering and technology, today’s results show things are moving in the right direction.
T Levels take off
“For T Levels, we’re delighted to see a 56.2% increase in engineering and technology entries – taking the total to 5,643 young people. It’s positive to see the uptake among girls has increased to 12%, up from 9% last year, although this is still low.
University demand surges
“We were interested to see if universities would meet the increase in demand for applications for engineering and technology degrees this year. So we’re delighted to see a 13% increase to 30,020 in accepted applicants for engineering and technology degrees, compared to 26,680 in 2024.
"This is brilliant news for the sector and suggests that efforts to attract more young people into engineering and technology are starting to pay off. With employers in need of more talent, it’s vital that we have a variety of accessible pathways and systems in place to facilitate the increased demand.
Bright futures ahead
“With so much growth and endless opportunities to make a real-world impact, it’s a really exciting time to embark on a career in engineering and technology. From climate change to digital transformation – wherever students’ interests lie and whatever their preferred pathway might be – they can be assured of a rewarding and varied career in engineering and technology.”
Our full research briefings on the 2025 exam results are now available in our research and evaluation reports.
For T Levels, we’re delighted to see a 56.2% increase in engineering and technology entries - taking the total to 5,643 young people. It’s positive to see the uptake among girls has increased to 12%, up from 9% last year, although this is still low. This reflects the underrepresentation of women in engineering and technology – with just 16.9% of the workforce being female.
— Becca Gooch, Head of Research, EngineeringUK
