Overall, over 70% of graduates are positive about how well higher education has prepared them for, or helped them progress, their career aspirations. However nuances in our analyses show where universities might be able to take action and challenge themselves to support even more students step forth confidently into their future careers.
Edge’s latest research investigates some of the possible drivers of graduate career success in the UK - factors which can be linked to students’ higher education experience. The analyses draw on the large-scale graduate destination surveys commissioned by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), comparing students’ answers at approximately six months after graduation with their answers at 3.5 years after graduation. The analyses model career success through students’ reported career satisfaction and salary outcomes.
Key findings from the report include:
- For those from less privileged backgrounds, several factors are particularly strong drivers of career satisfaction: the reported importance of the degree for entry to employment, whether the degree included work experience, and university support for developing transferable skillls.
- The single strongest relationship with career satisfaction was graduates feeling that higher education provided them with the ability to function highly effectively at work across eight different transferable skills.
- The job relevance of the degree subject has a stronger link to career satisfaction than degree grade or qualification type, or whether the degree was useful as evidence for skills and competencies. However, less than 50% of graduates report that their subject was important for their entry into employment.
- Graduates who said they found their job through their university (such as via careers service or the course) were earning more on average than those who found it through any other route, having controlled for student prior attainment, socio-economic background and demographics. For instance, when compared to finding the job via a recruitment agency or website (the most common route), students finding work via their university were earning £1.2k more per year on average. However, only 8% of our core sample reported finding their job through the university.
