How Much Does Higher Education Enhance the Employability of Graduates?

Summary

This study investigates universities' efforts to enhance graduate employability and the extent to which they are successful. It provides evidence on how HE courses seek to improve the employability of their graduates, and evaluates the success of these in the light of graduates' experiences in finding their first employment and experiences in their early years of employment.

It investigated graduate employability in the following ways:

34 departments in eight different universities were visited to find out what changes have been made in recent years to employability skills teaching and learning
First Destination survey data was analysed for all graduates in the year 2000 from the sample departments
a telephone survey of recent graduates was held in the subjects being investigated and a parallel survey of their line managers.

Graduates in five subject areas were focused on:

biological sciences
business studies
computer science/studies
design studies
history.

Some of the conclusions are:

work experience during courses appear to be a highly positive influence on employability
employer involvement in course design and delivery is positively associated with the quality of initial employment found by graduates.

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Summary
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Chapters 1-4
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Chapters 5-6
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Chapters 7-8
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Appendices
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Last updated 4 September 2003