Login
- You are not logged in
- Login
Web stats
Figures for Prospects.ac.uk
October 2009:
ABCE audited figures
Unique users:
986,775
Page impressions:
5,850,858
Contact us
Customer survey
Complete our short satisfaction survey for online job advertising to receive a 10% discount on your next advert
What Do Graduates Do? 2007 (Winter 06/07)
Summary
Each year, writes Charlie Ball of the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU), Graduate Prospects/HECSU and the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) produce What Do Graduates Do?, an annual review of graduate first destinations. The publication is designed as a guide for careers advisers, teachers with responsibility for careers guidance, young people considering higher education as an option, and parents to give an overview of the first career steps taken by graduates from a range of degrees. The data comes from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey, conducted by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
In this article, we present an overview of the main findings from the 2007 edition of What Do Graduates Do?. This edition looks at those students from the UK who graduated from UK universities with a first degree, foundation degree or HND in 2005.
First degree all subjects
There were 256,460 UK-domiciled graduates with first degrees from UK universities in 2005, the first time that over a quarter of a million graduates have been produced. This represents a rise of 3.7% on 2004. A total of 206,965 qualifiers responded to the DLHE survey. The proportion of women graduates increased again this year: 57.7% of graduate respondents were women.
Nearly three quarters, 71.7%, of graduates were either working, or combining work and study, six months after graduation (see Figure 1). There was no change in the proportion of graduates who chose to go overseas to start their careers, holding steady at 1.7%. 13.9% of graduates went on to further study or training (as a sole activity), with 2.6% going on to teacher training and 6.2% on to studying another higher degree in the UK, a minor fall of 0.1 percentage points on last year.
Unemployment was marginally up by 0.1 percentage points on last year, to 6.2%, but still much lower than the figure of 6.9% for 2002 graduates. If all those who were unemployed but due to start work within a month are excluded, unemployment drops to 6.0%.
Figure 1: First destinations of UK-domiciled first degree graduates from 2005.
Types of work
144,515 UK-domiciled first degree graduates from 2005 were known to be working in the UK at the start of 2006, six months after their graduation.
The most popular area for new graduates remains the health sector, which increased in relative popularity this year (see Table 1). 13.2% went into a health or health associate profession, up 0.4 percentage points from last year's figure. Much of this is attributed to graduates from highly vocational medical or nursing degrees.[1]
Commercial, industrial and public sector management is still very popular, with nearly one in ten graduates, 9.5%, entering managerial posts six months after graduating. This represents a modest decrease of 0.3 percentage points, but one that is unlikely to represent a significant change in the recruitment market.
The fastest rising occupations for graduates were amongst business and finance professionals and associates, up 0.6 percentage points on last year, and accounting for 7.8% of the working graduate population, and in the area of arts, design, culture and sports, which also rose 0.6 percentage points to 5.8% of the graduate population.
Education positions were also popular - 6.6% of new graduates started their career in a teaching or educational role.
The impression of a recent upturn in graduate recruitment is reinforced by the news that the largest decrease in graduate occupations was in areas not traditionally considered graduate level. Clerical and secretarial positions remained an important starting option for many graduates at 11.7% of the working cohort, but this represents a fall of 0.7 percentage points on 2005. These positions are usually seen as entry level jobs that allow inexperienced graduates to gain and demonstrate the skills they need to progress in employment, and as a result, graduates pass quickly out of them into jobs that more commonly require graduate level skills.
| Type of work | Percentage of working population |
| Marketing, Sales and Advertising Professionals | 4.5% |
| Commercial, Industrial and Public Sector Managers | 9.5% |
| Scientific Research, Development and Analysis Professionals | 1.1% |
| Engineering Professionals | 3.0% |
| Health Professionals and Associate Professionals | 13.2% |
| Education Professionals | 6.6% |
| Business and Finance Professionals and Associate Professionals | 7.8% |
| Information Technology Professionals | 4.0% |
| Arts, Design, Culture, Media and Sports Professionals | 5.8% |
| Legal Professionals | 0.7% |
| Social and Welfare Professionals | 3.2% |
| Other Professionals, Associate Professionals and Technical Occupations | 5.3% |
| Numerical Clerks and Cashiers | 2.8% |
| Other Clerical and Secretarial Occupations | 11.7% |
| Retail, Waiting and Bar Staff | 9.3% |
| Other Occupations | 11.5% |
| Unknown Occupations | 0.1% |
Subjects
Science
With a debate about the supply of science skills still ongoing, it is perhaps surprising to see that the number of UK-domiciled physics graduates went up in 2005 by 85 from last year to 2,035. Sports science was the largest climber at 5,350, up 615, whilst biology saw a marginal rise in numbers. The number of environmental sciences graduates, on the other hand, has fallen, whilst the number for chemistry has stayed virtually the same.
Although the number of graduates in the subject rose, there was little evidence of a large demand for physics degrees in the economy, as some have suggested. The unemployment rate for physics graduates six months after receiving their degree went down 0.4 percentage points, but physicists were still the most likely graduates from all the major science disciplines to be unemployed, with 8.7%, or over one in twelve, out of work six months after graduating. Physics graduates were more likely to go into the finance and business industry or enter management than to find work in the sciences. 27% of physics graduates went on to higher degrees, up 2.5 percentage points from last year, and this raises questions about the level at which the demand for physics skills by employers truly lies.
There was an increase in the unemployment rate of chemistry graduates of 0.5 percentage points. 6.3% of first degree chemists were out of work six months after graduation. But the most popular area of employment for chemistry graduates remains scientific research and development, taking 22.2% of working graduates, down 0.8 percentage points from last year. Nearly a quarter of all chemistry graduates, 24.8%, went on to a higher degree in the UK, rising 1.1 percentage points from last year. With unemployment rising, and work at first degree level in the sciences falling, this again prompts questions about the real issues of shortage of chemistry graduates.
Although sports science continues to gain in popularity, unemployment fell by 0.4 percentage points this year, and now stands well below the graduate average at 4.7%. Sport and fitness occupations, and education are the most popular working destinations for sports scientists, but management remains a popular option, with 8.4% of working sports science graduates starting their careers as a manager.
Maths and IT
After making gains in 2004, both subjects saw a drop in graduate numbers. Maths fell by 180 graduates to 4,030 and IT by 290 to a still-healthy 15,930 in 2005. But this masked differences in the relative outcomes for each degree.
Maths graduates experienced a sharp rise in unemployment, up 0.8 percentage points to 6.6%, meaning mathematicians were more likely than graduates as a whole to be unemployed six months after graduating. But more than a third of those who did get work, 33.9%, entered the lucrative business and finance occupational area, up over 5 percentage points on last year. In addition, 7.1% of maths graduates were in teacher training six months after graduating. Despite concerns about the number of trainee maths teachers in the UK, the number of graduates entering teaching courses fell by 0.8 percentage points from 2005.
Unemployment for IT graduates fell 0.4 percentage points, but remains at 10.3% six months after graduating, giving IT the highest unemployment rate of all the subjects covered in What Do Graduates Do? - a legacy of the recession that hit the industry in the early part of the decade.
Engineering
There is plenty of evidence of considerable employer demand for some engineering disciplines, amidst concern that supply is insufficient to meet the needs of industry.
The number of civil engineering graduates increased again this year, up 175 to 1,700. Over two-thirds (67.4%) of working civil engineers went into an engineering career, and unemployment rates dropped sharply by 0.6 percentage points to 3.3%, to give civil engineers the lowest unemployment rate of all subjects in What Do Graduates Do? Architects and building graduates also had over two- thirds (67.1%) of working graduates going into a directly relevant job and a low unemployment rate, 3.9%. However, graduate numbers fell slightly this year to 4,710 - the first fall for five years.
Mechanical engineering numbers rose for the first time since the mid-90s, by a marginal amount, and this was accompanied by an increase in the number of graduates going into engineering jobs, up 1.8 percentage points to 54.9% of working graduates. There are still mixed messages about demand for the qualification, though - unemployment rose slightly by 0.2 percentage points and remains well above the average graduate unemployment rate, at 7.3%.
The recession in IT also hit electrical and electronic engineering hard, and the slow recovery process continues. Employment for electrical and electronic engineering graduates went up by 0.8 percentage points in engineering, and 2.8 percentage points in IT professions, whilst unemployment fell by 1.5 percentage points - but still remains high, at 9.2%.
Social sciences
The number of graduates went up in all disciplines, with the numbers of both law and psychology graduates going up by over 1,000 this year. There were 10,570 psychology graduates in 2005, giving it over 10,000 graduates for the first time, and also overtaking English as the fifth most popular subject covered in What Do Graduates Do?. Law takes fourth place, with 11,675 graduates - 1 in 22 degrees awarded in 2005 was in law.
Management, business and finance careers remain popular with social scientists - one in six (16.1%) politics graduates translated their skills into management jobs, whilst over 40% of economics graduates started their careers in business or finance. Social and welfare professions were also important for psychologists and sociologists, whilst surveying and planning roles were a key niche for geography graduates.
Only sociology and politics, which saw rates hold steady, did not record a rise in unemployment for these popular degrees - only law and psychology had unemployment rates below the graduate average, despite the large rise in graduate numbers for both disciplines.
Arts and humanities
Modern languages were the only subjects to fall in numbers, all other subjects seeing more graduates than in 2004. The number of language graduates fell by 260 from last year, and is now down 14% since 1996. But most other subjects saw a strong rise in graduate numbers, with 920 more performing arts graduates leaving university than last year.
The employability of media studies graduates remained high, with 72.1% of graduates working six months after graduation - putting it third, behind marketing and civil engineering in the rankings, and unemployment down significantly by 0.6 percentage points. Media studies graduates were the most likely of all graduates to enter the extremely competitive media industry. However, only one in seven, 14.5%, of media studies graduates managed to get work in the media, which remains one of the most difficult areas of the economy to break into.
A rise in the number of English graduates, to 10,345, was not enough to prevent it being overtaken in popularity by psychology. Education remained the most popular professional area for new English graduates, with 14% starting their careers in the sector. Graduates in the subject were also the most likely to enter initial teacher training six months after graduating, with 7.6% going on to a PGCE.
One in nine, 11.6%, of working history graduates started their career in management, whilst performing arts and art and design students were most likely to start work in cultural professions.
Business and administrative studies
Business and management remained the most popular degree with UK-domiciled 2005 graduates, although numbers fell a little. 20,085 graduates received degrees in this field. That corresponds to 7.8% of all graduates, or just over one in thirteen. Over one in five, 21.1%, of business and management students went into management positions. This was a slight fall on last year, but despite the large numbers of business studies students graduating, there is no sign that they are becoming less employable as more of their skills enter the labour market.
After a fall last year, the number of accountancy graduates rose again as industry demand increased, to 3,475 in 2005. At the same time, the proportion of working accountancy graduates entering business and finance positions rose 4.7 percentage points to 46%.
The number of marketing students fell this year, down to 2,770 graduates. But 2.7 percentage points more working marketing graduates went into marketing jobs six months after graduating, with over a quarter, 28.4%, entering the industry. Management was also a very popular option for these business-orientated graduates, with 17.7% starting their careers as commercial, industrial, or public sector managers.
Foundation degrees and HNDs
12,645 graduates completed HNDs or foundation degrees in 2005, and 10,370 of them replied to the DLHE survey.
For the first time, substantial numbers of foundation degree graduates were recorded, with 5,090 graduates polled and 4,165 being included in this survey.
Overall, the most popular outcome for these graduates was to continue onwards to an honours degree - 36.2% followed this route, and with 30.8% working in the UK and 20.9% combining work and study, foundation and HND graduates had an unemployment rate of 3.7%, far lower than the average for first degree graduates and comparable with those first degree subjects which have the lowest unemployment rates.
Further information
1. Medicine and nursing are not covered by the paper publication of What Do Graduates Do?, but are covered online for the first time this year. Destinations for anatomy, physiology and pathology, and pharmacology, toxicology and pharmacy graduates can also be found online.
To order What Do Graduates Do? 2007, price: £14.95, please contact UCAS Distribution, tel: 01242 544610, fax: 01242 544960, email: distribution@ucas.ac.uk.
What Do Graduates Do? is available online, and in PDF format from HECSU.
Content last updated: Winter 2006/07
Feedback
If you have any comments or suggestions about the Prospects Net website please email support@prospects.ac.uk.
About Graduate Prospects · accessibility information · terms and conditions
