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YOU ARE IN » Home page > News and information main menu > Labour Market Information > August 08

August 08

Education

• UUK publishes tuition fee report
• HE in Europe
• Links between London’s SMEs and HE to be established
• Tanaka Business School to receive new identity

Student issues

• National Union of Students report into student debt
• Natwest research into student debt
• Push.co.uk report on student debt levels
• Students see bills soar

Employment

• Fall in graduate unemployment
• No evidence to suggest graduate over-supply
• Property and law firms cut graduate intakes
• MI5 to recruit more gay spies
• Deloitte gap year scheme
• Police to launch graduate scheme

This bulletin summarises reports and surveys, press releases and news articles under the following headings: education, student issues and employment. In education, reports looking at tuition fees and higher education in Europe were published, while on the student front, Natwest, Push.co.uk and National Union of Students published research into student debt. In employment, it was revealed that graduate unemployment fell between 2005/06 and 2006/07, research contending there is no evidence of graduate oversupply was published, and it was announced that the Police Service may be unveiling a graduate scheme in a bid to recruit more senior officers.

Education

This report assesses the impact of the introduction of the variable tuition fee regime for full-time undergraduate higher education in England from 2006/07. It argues that there is no data suggesting that the introduction of variable fees in England has yet had any lasting impact on the level or pattern of demand for full-time undergraduate education. Key topics covered include demand for higher education, widening participation, enrolments in higher education institutions, fees and bursaries, and income from full-time undergraduate tuition fees.

(Variable tuition fees: Third report, Universities UK, August 2008.)

This study focuses on policies, official regulations, rights and responsibilities in the governance of higher education institutions in Europe. It aims to provide an in-depth understanding of national frameworks and to position national situations, vis-à-vis trends across Europe. National strategic policies for higher education; structures of higher education governance; direct public funding of higher education institutions; private funds raised by higher education institutions; and academic staff in higher education institutions are also examined.

(Higher education governance in Europe, Eurydice, 2008.)

Small firms in London looking to invest in research and development could be eligible for grants of up to £10,000 following the announcement of a new business support programme. The London Development Agency (LDA)’s Knowledge Connect initiative will help small firms make contacts within universities, further education colleges and private sector specialists. The LDA will invest £3.5m into the scheme, which will last for three years and involve 1,600 businesses and 43 higher education institutions.

(London businesses to receive £10,000 R&D grants, Startups, 14 August 2008.)

Imperial College’s Tanaka Business School is changing its name to Imperial College Business School. The change is being made to emphasise that the School is an integral part of the College. The renaming comes after research suggesting that the name of Tanaka Business School was not strongly associated with Imperial, and that many respondents were unaware of the School’s link with Imperial.

(New identity for Imperial College Business School, Imperial College press release, 20 August 2008.)

Student issues

This study posits that prospective students tend to underestimate (when compared with present students) how much they are likely to spend on various elements of daily spending (groceries, rent, socialising or books). The report also notes that concern about finances and debt tend to rise as student progress through their course and female students are more likely to express concern about their debt levels than males. The study is based on a total of 3,135 current and 250 prospective students.

(NUS/HSBC Research, August 2008. )

Almost half of all UK university students will be managing their studies with part-time work, according to Natwest’s fifth Student Living Index. The research among 2,600 undergraduates from 26 towns and cities across the UK contends that students working term time will earn £2bn collectively, while their combined cost of living has risen from £10.7bn in 2007 to £10.8bn in 2008. Plymouth is the most cost effective place for student living, while Exeter is the most expensive. Brighton has the highest student wages and Swansea the lowest.

(Students juggle classes and jobs, BBC Education, 4 August 2008.)

Research from Push.co.uk, the organisation providing information for prospective students, reveals that students who started university last year can expect to owe more than £17,500 by the time they leave. The survey among over 2,000 students at 136 university campuses throughout the UK finds that student debt now tops £4,500 for each year of study – a hike of 9.6% since last year. Debts in Scotland are lower than those in England and Wales and there is also considerable variation between individual universities.

(Push releases figures for 2008 student survey, Push.co.uk press release, 13th August 2008.)

A report from Abbey claims that soaring food price inflation has sent students’ grocery bills spiralling. According to Abbey, higher prices for staple foodstuffs have added £3,1257.50 to the annual grocery bill faced by first-year students. The figure excludes purchases such as sandwiches and snacks. Abbey also argue that students have been hit especially hard by price rises as the items that they typically buy have experienced some of the most marked increases.

(Inflation sends students' bill soaring, London Stock Exchange, 20 August 2008.)

Employment

Figures published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show a fall in unemployment among recent first-degree graduates. The data show that 5.6% of first-degree graduates were ‘assumed to be unemployed’ six months after graduation in 2006/07, compared with 6.1% in 2005/06. Unemployment rates vary between subjects, with medicine and dentistry, veterinary science, and education having the lowest unemployment rates, and mass communication and documentation, creative arts and design and computer science had the highest.

(Reduction in rate of unemployment for recent graduates, HESA press release, 8 August 2008.)

This paper contends that there is no evidence to suggest that the UK is producing too many graduates. By using the Gottschalk and Hansen model, which examines supply and demand, it concludes that the probability of a graduate being employed in a non-graduate occupation declined in the UK between 1994 and 2004. It also classifies occupations as non-graduate and graduate on the basis of the graduate earnings premium.

(Graduate employment in the UK: An application of the Gottschalk-Hansen model, S Grazier et al, July 2008.)

Property and law firms have reduced their graduate intake by up to 80% owing to the credit crunch.

DTZ, one of the ‘big four’ global property advisers, has reduced its intake from 130 in 2007 to 25 this year, while Artiseal, Europe’s leading provider of integrated commercial property services, has halved its intake from 40 to 20. Montagu Evans, a leading property consultancy, has reduced numbers from 10 to 3.

(Banks and law firms slash graduate intake, Telegraph, 16 August 2008.)

Intelligence service MI5 has teamed up with gay rights lobby group Stonewall in a bid to increase its number of gay recruits. The security service, whose staff numbers are expected to reach 3,500 by the end of the year, has hired Stonewall to advise on attracting more gay and lesbian candidates and encouraging recruits to be open about their sexuality. Later this year, MI5 will feature in Stonewall’s gay-friendly graduate recruitment guide.

(MI5 recruits gay lobbyist Stonewall to target homosexual candidates for spying roles, Personnel Today, 18 August 2008.)

70 young people from across the UK have been awarded a gap year scholarship with business advisory firm, Deloitte. The scheme offers school leavers the opportunity to travel, while gaining some work experience. Participants in the Scholars Scheme will join Deloitte during the autumn for a paid seven-month work placement and on completion, they will also receive £1500 to fund gap year travel before starting university. Scholars also receive an annual bursary of £1500 while at university and four weeks’ paid work experience each year.

(Gap year travel plans, Deloitte press release, 31 July 2008.)

The Police Service may launch a graduate fast-track scheme in a bid to help drive up the number of applicants for senior posts. A Green Paper on policing, entitled From the Neighbourhood to the National: Policing our Communities Together, all 43 forces in England and Wales needed to encourage potential leaders to join the service. The paper argues that new graduate fast-track scheme will be developed by the National Policing Improvement Agency to attract top-quality graduates from leading universities into policing’.

(Police service to launch graduate fast-track scheme to boost applicants for senior posts, Personnel Today, 1 August 2008.)