‘Gapper’ students swapping the beach for a career path

THEY are seen by some as an excuse to hop from beach to beach in the name “finding oneself”.

But for a new generation of students, it seems the gap year is an essential way of bolstering the CV and impressing prospective employers back home.

A survey has found that “gappers” embarking on a year out are motivated by the desire to gain work experience and make money, rather than simply soak up the sun and party.

With university places increasingly hard to come by, it is expected that more than a third of young adults in the UK are planning a gap year in 2012. Research to be released today shows that 34 per cent of those aged 16 to 24 intend to head off abroad at a time when the cost of going to university has become a political issue.

Half of those potential travellers – about 1.3 million – appear to have firm plans in place, stating they plan to head on their trips between now and August.

Firms that help to organise foreign trips agreed the majority of young people now look to garner experience for their future careers, even tailoring their gap years to subjects they plan to study at university.

According to the survey, the new generation of financially savvy gappers are motivated not by hedonism, but by the desire to earn money or gain work experience in order to make them more employable.

Of those who said they were planning a gap year, 43 per cent said they would focus on paid employment or a combination of work and travel in order to save money or to fund their trip.

By contrast, fewer than one in five (19 per cent) said their gap year would be a time of rest and relaxation.