The RAF gave me a RAF Scholarship in 1968 and I learned to fly Cessnas at Bedfordshire Air Centre. I was planning to enter RAFC as a Flt Cdt; however, the day we all arrived we were told that as many of us as possible should now go to University. Thus a year later I went to London QMC to read Aeronautical Engineering. The UAS kept up my motivation by providing excellent flying training and camaraderie; chaps like 50+ Ray were also there at the time!
The difference was that the flying was purely motivational and was not formally assessed for streaming purposes; completion of the PFB syllabus merely reduced the length of the subsequent (and excellent) Jet Provost course at RAFC. Things continued like that for at least the next 25 years....as I found for myself when I did my first QFI tour at ULAS.
Pressuring the UAS students of today effectively to choose between flying and their academic studies is an atrocious way of doing business. UASs are an enormous intangible asset to the RAF and their cost is peanuts - especially as the RAF doesn't even own the aircraft any longer.
The UAS is an excellent place for novice QFIs to learn their trade; for that reason all FTRS, reservist, pseudo-civilian or whatever other non-regular personnel are currently instructing on UASs should go and their places handed to 'real' RAF QFIs. The syllabus should train the students to the same PFB standard it always did, but there should be no pressure, streaming or other factors to disrupt the students' academic studies.