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Raleigh, the youth and education charity which has been helping young people for over 25 years, has been extolling the virtues of the gap year for anyone who has misses out on a university place this year.

The University and College Union (UCU) forecasts that around 170 thousand students won’t find a place in university this year due to increased demand for places on courses.

Raleigh is encouraging young people to look at this not as a negative but as a positive opportunity to get some life skills by taking a gap year. Raleigh organises leadership expeditions for people aged between 17 and 24 which help them attain skills that are invaluable for furthering your career.

Raleigh run 10 week and 5 week expeditions to Borneo, Costa Rica, India and Nicaragua where young people work on adventure, community and environmental projects.

The charity has now seen over 30 thousand put through their paces on gap year programmes. They are proud of the skills - such as communication, problem solving, maturity, confidence, team work and adaptability – that all of their attendees have picked up along the way. Those are all skills which will look highly appealing to university admission boards or employers further down the line.

A heavy endorsement for Raleigh comes from co-founder of Innocent Drinks, Richard Reed, who seconds the importance of the skills learned on a gap year with the charity. He describes an expedition with Raleigh as ‘a pretty phenomenal thing.’ Other companies who give Raleigh their backing include Accenture and Cap Gemini.

Kishan Raj who attended a Raleigh gap year in Costa Rica gave his personal experiences of the how the expedition helped him: “Despite having four Grade A results at AS-level and four A’s predicted for my A levels, I was unable to secure an interview, let alone a university offer. I decided to join an expedition with Raleigh. It turned out to be, without a shadow of a doubt, the best experience of my life. Looking back now, not getting my place first time round was a blessing in disguise.”

If you are interested in these challenge and adventure expeditions then you can find further details about Raleigh and other providers on our Year Out Options page. We also advertise a range of gap year opportunities and temporary jobs directly on the E4S website. You will find all of the latest prospects in our Gap Year section.