Employability hits five-year high

The number of students finding work after graduating from the University of Gloucestershire has hit a five-year high, according to new figures from a national survey.

The number of students finding work after graduating from the University of Gloucestershire has hit a five-year high, according to new figures from a national survey.

The figures reveal high employment levels for University of Gloucestershire graduates, with 94.3% of graduates from full-time first degree courses finding jobs or going on to further study within six months of graduating.

That is a rise of 4% on the previous year, when the same indicator stood at 90.3%. It is a rise of nearly 6% since 2008/09, when the figure was 88.7%.

At the same time, the number of students reporting that they were unemployed six months after graduating has fallen from 7.4% last year to 4.7% this year. The comparable figure in 2008/09 was 8.2%.
The data also reveals an increase in the number of students leaving Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses to take up posts as teachers, rising from 90.4% in 2011/12 to 92.1% in 2012/13. The comparable figure in 2008/09 was 88.7%.

The data are taken from the annual “Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education” (DLHE) survey. That collects information on what leavers from Universities are doing six months after qualifying from their course. All universities are covered by the survey. This year’s survey results relate to graduates who left University in the summer of 2013, and who were surveyed at the end of the calendar year 2013.

The University of Gloucestershire provides a comprehensive programme to help students develop their employability through its DegreePlus scheme. The University offers all students opportunities for work experience, placements, internships and volunteering, so that they can extend their capabilities and experience, over and above their formal degree programme, and gain the skills that employers value. In future, time for these opportunities will be built into the structure of the academic year for students. The University was one of the first in the UK to offer all graduates the Higher Education Achievement Record, helping them to record and present to employers not just their academic qualification but also their wider achievements in higher education.

Vice-Chancellor, Stephen Marston said: “The University is strongly committed to helping our students build their employability skills. It is one of the things we stand for. We want to be sure that, by the time they leave us, our students have a strong foundation for going into great jobs, and they feel confident about starting their careers. Over the past two years, through our Degreeplus programme we have invested a lot in broadening the range of opportunities for students to gain wider experience, and develop a broader set of capabilities, over and above their degree. We are delighted that our graduates have done so well this year in finding jobs. Congratulations to all of them.

“We are continuing to extend the support we offer, and we are introducing from this Autumn a new structure for the academic year which integrates study with opportunities for students to gain a wider experience. We believe that University of Gloucestershire graduates are attractive to employers because we support the development of skills and competencies that are valued in the workplace. All of our programmes offer opportunities for volunteering and internships alongside academic study, which are taken up by more than 3,000 students each year at companies such as Microsoft, Airbus, IBM, the BBC and Saatchi & Saatchi.

“We have a proud reputation for working with Gloucestershire companies to support enterprise and growth. We are committed to ensuring that our courses are relevant to business, working in partnership with employers on the design and delivery of programmes, such as our new honours degree in Engineering. Many of our courses are professionally accredited and led by expert tutors with strong industry experience. And we have just launched our fifth enterprise hub to support graduates who want to set up their own businesses.

“These figures are a tribute not just to the talents of the students themselves, but also to the staff who have supported them in achieving the qualifications, confidence and capabilities to land them their first job after finishing their studies.”

Full data from across the higher education sector will be published by HESA in the summer.