More than a million A level, AS level, and T level results were awarded across England and Wales today (13th August), with continued momentum behind Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects.
A-level entries have ticked up slightly this year on the back of a growing 18-year-old population – but for the engineering and electronics sector, the more telling numbers sit beneath the headline totals.
UCAS figures released alongside today’s results show engineering and technology recording the largest growth in university acceptances of any subject area, with 34,100 placed applicants – up 14% on 2025’s 30,020. Yet only around one in five of those places went to female applicants, underlining a gap that continues to shadow the sector’s growth story.
The picture across A-level entries themselves is more encouraging on gender balance: girls’ participation in core STEM subjects rose 3.7%, taking their share of core-STEM entries to 42.9%. Maths held its position as the most-taken subject nationally with over 115,000 entries, while Biology and Chemistry retained third and fourth place, up 3.5% and 3.2% respectively. Physics slipped to eighth after climbing to sixth last year, overtaken in part by a 10.5% jump in Economics entries, now in fifth. The standout shift, though, came in Digital Technology, where girls’ participation grew 18.8% year-on-year – lifting their share of the cohort from 27.7% in 2025 to 30.3% in 2026.
For an industry that continues to report engineering vacancies accounting for a quarter of all job adverts and a STEM workforce shortfall estimated at 173,000, that pipeline data matters. The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and WISE (Women into Science and Engineering) are using today’s results to press policymakers, educators, and employers to keep building toward a more diverse STEM talent base.
Dr Laura Norton, Head of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and WISE Director at the IET, said: “Firstly, congratulations to the thousands of young people across the UK receiving their results today. The subject choices young people make now will shape the future STEM workforce that the UK depends on to deliver innovation, economic growth and solutions to some of society’s biggest challenges.
“While it’s encouraging to see continued interest in STEM subjects and positive progress in the number of young women entering STEM pathways, we know there is still a significant skills challenge ahead. The UK’s engineering and technology sectors need a larger and more diverse talent pool if we’re to meet future workforce demand.
“Women make up more than half of the UK population yet remain significantly underrepresented in STEM careers. If we’re serious about closing skills gaps, we must ensure more young women see STEM as a pathway where they can belong, succeed and lead. Visible role models remain critical. When girls see women thriving in STEM careers, they are more likely to believe those opportunities are available to them too. By widening participation and creating inclusive pathways into STEM, we can build the diverse workforce needed for the future.”
Becca Gooch, Head of Research at EngineeringUK, points to a broader spread of subject growth feeding that same pipeline: “STEM A levels are a key route into engineering and technology careers, so we are pleased to see an increase in entries for all relevant subjects. This includes maths (+3.9%) maintaining over 100,000 entries for the third-year running, further maths (+8.5%), computing (+1.1%), design and technology (+2.8%), and physics (+1.9%).
“It is positive too to see an increase in entries across all of these subjects among girls. In particular, for both computing (+2.8%) and D&T (+3.6%), the increase overall was driven by girls. While the increases in maths (+2.9%), further maths (+6.4%) and physics (+0.4%) were lower than the overall increases in these entries, it is still a move in the right direction.”
T levels: technical routes gain ground, but remain a minority path
Beyond A levels, today also marked results for thousands of T-level students – and the trajectory here is arguably more significant for an engineering employer base already stretched thin. The number of students in England and Wales passing manufacturing and engineering-focused T-levels rose from 1,916 to 2,804, a 46% increase on last year, with the total cohort of engineering and technology T-level entries reaching 8,307. The proportion of girls taking engineering and technology T-levels also edged up, from 12% to 13%.
Gooch frames the scale of the challenge that remains: “Currently women make up just 17% of the engineering and technology workforce. Addressing this gender imbalance would help the country meet its workforce needs as well as giving women a financial boost. It’s great to see positive movement, but there is still more to be done to increase the uptake of STEM subjects among girls.
“We’re delighted too that so many young people are opting to study engineering and technology at university level – it’s a great choice for them and welcome news for the sector … There’s huge growth across a range of industries and endless opportunities to make a real-world impact, from climate change to digital transformation. So, it’s an exciting time to be starting out on a career in engineering and technology.
“The upward trend in numbers suggests that efforts to attract more young people into engineering and technology are continuing to pay off. The skills they are developing are in high demand among UK employers, who are keen to welcome new talent into the workforce. These young people, and their peers on vocational and technical pathways, have the opportunity to enjoy sustained, rewarding and well-paid careers.”
Paraic O’Lochlainn, VP at eMaint, a Fluke brand, argues the T-level growth still masks a deeper structural problem: “The increase in the number of students taking T-Levels in manufacturing and engineering disciplines is very positive news for the sector. However, this only amounts to 0.8% of the total number of students in England and Wales studying T-Levels or A-Levels overall, reflecting how more technical careers are still the path less trodden.
“While schools are celebrated for students achieving Russell Group offers, the economy is short of the electricians, engineers, and technicians needed to deliver its biggest growth ambitions – from renewables and data centres to a golden age revival of UK manufacturing. That is the supply-and-demand mismatch no one wants to confront.
“For years, young people were told that success meant university, a degree, and an office job. Everything else was quietly branded second-best. Now we have over a million young people outside education or work, while industries like manufacturers offering paid training, progression, and long-term demand can’t find enough people. That is not a lack of ambition. It is a failure of imagination from the system around them.
“We don’t just need more opportunities. We need to stop hiding the ones that already exist behind outdated assumptions about what a ‘good career’ looks like. Whilst university is a valuable route, it is not the only respectable one. For young people, manufacturing and the trades should not be a Plan B. They are a direct route into skill, income, purpose, and the ‘first rung’ of the career ladder we keep claiming is missing.”
AI is redrawing the entry-level role – and the skills employers need to hire for
That structural mismatch is being compounded by a second shift: as AI reshapes entry-level work across engineering and manufacturing, employers are having to rethink what those first-rung roles actually look like.
Chris Richards, SVP International Sales at Syspro, said: “Recent research reveals that 75% of manufacturers identify skills shortages as their biggest barrier to growth. And with only a 0.6% year-on-year growth in the uptake of UK apprenticeships in manufacturing and engineering, a lack of new talent is starving the industry of fresh minds and new ideas. As students across the UK receive their exam results this month, it’s a critical time for young people deciding what their career path might look like, so it’s vital that businesses in our sector do more to encourage them into the industry.
“Since the introduction of AI has drastically changed how we work, we need to translate those changes into how we bring young people into manufacturing. If AI is increasingly taking on many of the tasks that previously would have been carried out by those in entry-level roles, then the role itself needs refreshing. The goal is to make high-tech factories both appealing and productive: user-friendly tools like AI-powered apps and intuitive interfaces keep next-gen workers engaged, while continuous upskilling through apprenticeship schemes and beyond ensures human expertise grows alongside automation.
“We cannot expect young people to enter the workforce already proficient in how AI is being used in our sector, so manufacturers need to create environments in which employees can experiment with it, learning through real work and building confidence through hands-on experience. Only then will young people gain meaningful opportunities to use AI while still developing the judgement, business understanding and human expertise that technology cannot provide.”
Lex Pedersen at O’Reilly sees a similar recalibration happening in tech careers more broadly and argues the university route is no longer the default path: “Many students in the UK will be finding out today whether they have secured a place at their chosen university as A level results are announced. For some, that will be exactly the right next step. But a degree is no longer the only route into a successful career in technology.
“AI is changing both the skills employers need and the way people learn at work. The challenge is no longer simply keeping up with the latest tools; it is building the judgement to use them well – understanding where AI can accelerate work, where human expertise remains essential, and how to apply new technologies responsibly. In a landscape moving this quickly, learning cannot end on graduation day, and courses need continual development to keep up with the latest developments.
“With the cost of university still a major consideration for many families, employers have a real opportunity to offer credible alternative and complementary routes into digital careers. Apprenticeships and entry-level roles with structured development, certifications, mentoring and access to high-quality online learning can help people build practical skills while gaining experience in the workplace.
“For businesses, this is not just a talent attraction exercise. Organisations that make continuous learning part of the job, rather than an occasional perk, will be better placed to adapt as AI reshapes roles and workflows. The most competitive employers will be those that give people the time, tools and support to keep developing, whatever route they took into the workforce.”
