[]

• print this page
• 30 Jul 2010

• Products and services
  • Prospects Directory
  • Prospects Finalist
  • Prospects Jobs & Courses
  • Prospects Law
  • Prospects Work Experience
  • Prospects.ac.uk
  • Prospects Immediate Vacancies
  • Prospects Virtual Fair
  • Prospects ChatLive
• News and information
  • Labour Market Information
  • Graduate Market Trends
  • Subscribe to GMT
  • Testimonials
• Online vacancy advertising
  • Why advertise online?
  • Packages and prices
  • Sample online advert
• How to...
  • Advertise with Prospects
  • Promote work experience
  • Use Prospects Net

YOU ARE IN » Home page > News and information main menu > Labour Market Information > February 2007

February 2007

Education

• The economic benefits of a degree
• Variable tuition fees in England
• Ethnic minority degrees ‘mystery’
• £600 million boost to be generated for higher education fundraising
• Improving information: HEIs’ provision of online financial information
• Welsh further education colleges provide £553 million boost to the economy
• Open University extends reach through Tesco Clubcard Partnership
• Imperial launches centenary campaign to raise £207m
• University announces new school
• Foundation degrees: key statistics 2001-02 to 2006-07
• University and college applicants up 6.4% for 2007
• £1m programme for gifted students
• Universities unite for joint physics school
• London Met targets banks for LPC push

Students

• New guidance for medicine students

Recruitment

• The AGR Graduate Recruitment Survey 2007, Winter Review
• War for talent pushes retention rates beyond 90%
• Employers target new college graduates to lead organizations in future, inject fresh ideas
• Firm-tailored education slow to persuade top law firm students
• Drugs industry short of UK graduates
• US law firms set to tap young talent after booming 2006

Employment

• Ernst & Young welcomes first group of undergrads for taste of corporate life
• NACE Salary Survey 2007
• Skillfast-UK tackles support for design graduates
• First graduates for CIOB diploma

Education

The study concludes that there are significant economic and non-economic advantages to obtaining a degree. Degree-educated individuals, over a lifetime, will earn between 20% and 25% more than their peers holding two A-levels. Degree holders are also more likely to be employed. It also notes that the economic return of higher education qualifications varies between subjects, gender and socio-economic background. Lifetime earnings of postgraduate qualification holders (degree or certificate) are also discussed, as are average rates of return for graduates since the introduction of variable tuition fees.

(Universities UK/PricewaterhouseCoopers, 7 February 2007.)

The study assesses the impact of the introduction of variable tuition fees for home and EU full-time undergraduates in England in 2006/07. It focuses on the demand for higher education, widening participation, enrolments, fees and bursaries, and income from full-time undergraduate tuition fees. The research noted a wide variation in bursary and scholarship schemes on offer and concluded that there was no evidence of correlation between change in application levels by institution and the relative generosity of bursaries. Fee income from full-time undergraduate fees varied considerably between institutions.

(Universities UK February 2007.)

Research by the Department for Education and Skills suggests that ethnic minority undergraduates are less likely to achieve a first class degree compared with their white peers. The study predicted that fewer black or black Caribbean, black African, and Bangladeshi and Pakistani students would achieve firsts than white UK Irish or other white students. The research was based on a statistical model and used various characteristics to predict what class of degree 65,000 undergraduates would achieve.

(BBC Education, 26 January 2007. )

The government has unveiled an initiative aimed at increasing voluntary donations to English higher education institutions. The government is to provide £200 million over three years for a matched funding scheme to support English HEIs in their fundraising activities. The venture aims to stimulate an extra £400 million in private cash donations to the sector. The scheme will start in 2008 and will match-fund donations on a 2:1 private to public basis.

(DfES press release, 15 February 2007. )

The report notes that prospective students’ knowledge of financial support packages is patchy. Informal sources, such as blogs and forums, and school-based events were popular sources of financial information, although university open days were deemed to be the most useful source. The study calls for the introduction of a common and simple language to facilitate easy access to financial information. It also recommends that information should be presented in a user-friendly manner and that financial information should be available from HEIs’ homepages.

(Office for Fair Access, 1 February 2007. )

A report from the Welsh Development Agency (WDA) argues that further education institutions (FEIs) in Wales support over 11,800 full-time equivalent jobs and are worth £553 million to the Welsh economy. The study analysed FEIs economic impact on the regional economy and investigated the role of FE colleges in responding to employers’ needs. The findings will be used to allow funding bodies to target investment in areas with the greatest economic impact and will contribute to a Welsh Assembly government review of further education in Wales.

(Welsh Assembly Government press release, 17 January. )

The Open University has launched an innovative partnership with Tesco that will allow shoppers to pay for all or part of an Open University course by exchanging Tesco Clubcard vouchers. The university is the first to add the Clubcard scheme to its marketing activities. Tesco shoppers can swap their vouchers for Clubcard Deals and receive four times their value, so, for example, for every £10 of Clubcard vouchers, shoppers will receive £40 towards paying for an Open University course.

(Open University press release press release, 6 February 2007. )

Imperial College London has launched a new funding campaign to mark its Centenary. The College plans to raise the £207m by July 2010, the culmination of a ten-year fundraising campaign. The funding will be used to provide scholarships, continue building and refurbishing and support the College’s mission. Alumni, industrial associates and trusts and foundations are among the campaign’s supporters and Imperial has already raised £7m for scholarships, £76m for campus renewal and £40m to support its mission.

(Imperial College press release press release, 30 January 2007. )

Dundee University has created a new school of accounting and finance. Until recently, the area was part of the ex-faculty of Law and Accountancy, but will now form part of the College of Arts and Social Sciences. The announcement came as part of the university’s efficiency drive, which in part aims to increase the university’s income to £6.8 million by 2010.

(BBC Scotland, 12 February 2007. )

The report describes the characteristics of foundation degree courses, and considers attributes, progression, achievement, attitudes and post-qualification outcomes of students on these courses, in addition to the support received from employers. It notes that 83 universities and 255 further education colleges now offer foundation degrees. The number of foundation degree students has risen since 2001/02; in 2004/05, the most recent year for which the fullest data are available, the majority of the foundation degree student population was in further education colleges.

(Higher Education Funding Council for England, 25 January 2007. )

Figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show a 6.4% rise in the number of people applying for full-time undergraduate courses at UK institutions compared with 2006. 395,307 applicants applied in 2007. Applicants from England and Scotland increased but Welsh and Northern Irish applicants were down on the previous year. There was also a rise in the number of people applying from outside the EU, with applicant numbers from China, Hong Kong, the United States, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and India all rising.

(UCAS press release, 14 February 2007.)

A £1million trust aimed at helping gifted students from low-income families attend their local universities has been launched. The scheme will assist 900 students over three years at the universities of Manchester, Nottingham and Birmingham. The universities were chosen because few young people living close to them entered higher education. The Goldman Sachs Foundation and the Sutton Trust are part-funding the initiative. Successful applicants will receive extra support and mentoring from current undergraduates, in addition to personal leadership and development training.

(BBC Education, 22 January 2007.)

The universities of Birmingham, Nottingham and Warwick have joined forces to create a joint graduate school for physics. The Midlands Physics Alliance has received £3.9million funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England and will bring together academics from the three institutions to conduct research, in addition to developing the next generation of scientists. The venture will create six lectureships, though students will achieve their degrees from the individual institutions.

(The Guardian, 25 January 2007).

London Metropolitan University is to offer its Legal Practice Course (LPC) at Canary Wharf to people in a bid attract paralegals working at investment banks. The course will be delivered on a part-time, evening basis by the university’s Department of Law, Governance and International Relations. 30 students will take the course from September 2007.

(The Lawyer, 16 February 2007.)

Students

A book aimed at helping medicine students take the first steps in their career has been launched. A Career in Medicine: Do you have what it takes?, is targeted towards school and college students considering applying to medical school, university students presently undertaking medical studies, and new junior doctors. The book also provides an online resource, www.acareerinmedicine.net, where students and junior doctors can seek guidance directly from the book’s contributors.

(Oxford University press release, 29 January 2007. )

Recruitment

The study surveys 211 blue-chip employers and analyses graduate salaries and vacancies by region, sector and business function. It predicts that graduate vacancies will rise by 15.1% in 2007, with notable increases in retail management, research and development, civil engineering and science. The median starting salary is predicted to stand at around £23,500. Graduate recruitment marketing spend is predicted to rise considerably in 2007, and hot topics in graduate recruitment, including age discrimination legislation, tuition fees, and school-leaver entry programmes, are also examined.

(Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR), February 2007. The report is free to members or £200 to non-members.)

City law firms Freshfields, Linklaters, Macfarlanes, Herbert Smith, Slaughter & May, Lovells, and Ashurst expect to keep at least 90% of their trainees this financial year. Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Simmons & Simmons, Addleshaw Goddard and CMS Cameron McKenna have offered jobs to less than 90% of their trainees. Outside London, Osborne Clarke, Hammonds, DLA Piper and Pinsent Mason expect to keep 80% or less of their intake, while Eversheds, Dickinson Dees and Wragge & Co have offered jobs to over 80% of their recruits.

(Legal Week, 22 February 2007.

Research among 267 employers by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the association connecting career services and employers in the US, suggests that employers are increasingly hiring new college graduates. The Job Outlook 2007 survey found that respondents projected a 17.4% increase in graduate recruitment in 2006-07 over 2005-06. Employers said they hired graduates for their enthusiasm and motivation, ability to provide fresh ideas and the skills they bring to the workplace. Hiring new graduates was seen as a way of moulding an organisation’s future leaders.

(NACE press release, 1 February 2007.)

Research by Legal Week Intelligence, the research arm of the publication Legal Week, suggests that 23% of students are deterred from applying for training contracts at firms offering tailored Legal Practice Courses (LPCs). The study, which also revealed that 32% of Oxbridge students were deterred from applying for contracts at firms running firm-specific LPCs, concluded that students deterred from firm-specific courses were concerned about being pigeonholed. Summer placements were seen to be the most effective recruitment tool for law firms.

(Legal Week, 15 February.)

Jackie Hunter, a senior vice-president at GlaxoSmithKline, has warned that the shortage of UK science graduates is prompting the firm to recruit from overseas to fill research posts. Dr Hunter added that it was ‘absolutely vital’ for the UK to address the issue to guarantee the UK’s competitiveness in the global drugs market. She said that GSK was looking increasingly to graduates from France, Germany, Spain, Germany and India.

(The Times, 20 February 2007.)

Two US law firms, with offices in the City of London, are looking to hire trainees. Sullivan & Cromwell are currently considering a trainee programme for UK lawyers, and is in discussions with the Law Society regarding accreditation to take on trainees, which could occur in 2008. Cadwalader Wickersham and Taft is planning to hire five or six trainees, and is also retaining all six of its trainee intake qualifying in March 2007. US law firms based in the City posted strong financial results in 2006.

(Legal Week, 22 February 2007.)

Employment

18 students taking the Ernst & Young degree in Accounting and Finance have begun a three-month placement with firm’s offices in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Edinburgh in order to gain a taste of corporate life. Incorporating work experience and professional exams at an early stage, they will be on a fast track to qualifying as chartered accountants, up to 18 months ahead of other graduate recruits. The students are completing their placements as part of the four-year sandwich degree.

(Ernst & Young press release, 6 February 2007.)

The Winter 2007 Salary Survey from National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the association connecting career services and employers in the US, suggests that average starting salaries for new graduates continue to rise. Salaries offered to marketing, accounting, business administration, computer science, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering and electrical engineering graduates have all risen on last year. In contrast, salaries for liberal arts graduates are down by 1.1% on last year.

(NACE press release, 8 February 2007.)

Skillfast-UK, the Sector Skills Council for apparel, fashion and textiles, recently held a meeting that brought together fashion representatives and mentoring groups to discuss support available for design graduates. The meeting was the first stage in a process aiming to support fashion design graduates working in industry or self-employment. Research presented at the meeting by Newham College will be pave the way for the development of an online portal, enabling designers to see what support is available and access appropriate resources.

(SSDA press release, 9 February 2007.)

The first cohort of graduates without construction-related degrees have passed the Chartered Institute of Building’s Graduate Diploma Programme. The course has been established for graduates without construction-related degrees who are currently employed in the construction sector. To date, there are 79 students at various stages are undertaking the course. To register for the programme, candidates must have already obtained an honours degree and either be accepted for employment or already appointed within the sector.

(Recruiter, 14 February 2007.