University Tuition Fees and Employment Prospects
Poll
University Tuition Fees and Employment Prospects
Should degree courses with 50% or less of their graduates getting a "graduate" level job be charging the same level as those that have much higher employment levels. Some university courses have 30% or less, and indeed some universities have consistently lower job prospects regardless of subject studied, with many that are lower than at A-level. Why would anyone do a course with that, as they would be financially better off with A-levels, as their degree course has actually reduced their employability.
One thought is that by reducing the fee charged for those courses with considerably weaker job prospects it would act as an incentive for universities to improve them, or cull them.
I came across a university offering Social Policy and Public Administration degrees with 20% going into graduate jobs, which means that the degree has reduced the earning potential they had with A-levels.
Perhaps A-level students also need to be made aware of the opportunity cost of higher education, as they will be forgoing 3 or 4 years money and work experience to do a course that could 'harm' their prospects and give them a sizeable debt to pay off, as they could do a degree at the Open Uni or UCEM - they work and study, or better still do an apprenticeship (including degree apprenticeship). It seems that some courses and universities exist to 'hide' the level of unemployment at great cost to students.
One thought is that by reducing the fee charged for those courses with considerably weaker job prospects it would act as an incentive for universities to improve them, or cull them.
I came across a university offering Social Policy and Public Administration degrees with 20% going into graduate jobs, which means that the degree has reduced the earning potential they had with A-levels.
Perhaps A-level students also need to be made aware of the opportunity cost of higher education, as they will be forgoing 3 or 4 years money and work experience to do a course that could 'harm' their prospects and give them a sizeable debt to pay off, as they could do a degree at the Open Uni or UCEM - they work and study, or better still do an apprenticeship (including degree apprenticeship). It seems that some courses and universities exist to 'hide' the level of unemployment at great cost to students.
(edited 8 months ago)
Sometimes people do degrees for intellectual stimulation rather than getting a job...they may well already be planning to take over a family business on graduation (which may not be considered a graduate level job) or they may simply want to go into a non-graduate level job for personal reasons.
A lot of jobs in heritage/cultural/arts sectors would not be considered "graduate level jobs" and getting to the graduate level jobs requires a certain level of experience that usually requires them to work in non-graduate level roles...also many roles in the agricultural and animal husbandry sectors, including conservation focused roles with zoos and aquariums, are often not considered "graduate level" for the ones working directly with the animals/agricultural equipment.
Not everyone wants a job sitting in an office starting at excel for 8 hours a day, which is what functionally most graduate level jobs are outside of specific vocational roles e.g. in healthcare.
In any event more specifically in relation to tuition fees - in many developed European countries tuition is free and students just pay a nominal fee for administration costs at the start of each term. So a better question is why are we having to pay tuition fees at all? As historically in the UK students did not pay tuition fees until the early 2000s I gather.
A lot of jobs in heritage/cultural/arts sectors would not be considered "graduate level jobs" and getting to the graduate level jobs requires a certain level of experience that usually requires them to work in non-graduate level roles...also many roles in the agricultural and animal husbandry sectors, including conservation focused roles with zoos and aquariums, are often not considered "graduate level" for the ones working directly with the animals/agricultural equipment.
Not everyone wants a job sitting in an office starting at excel for 8 hours a day, which is what functionally most graduate level jobs are outside of specific vocational roles e.g. in healthcare.
In any event more specifically in relation to tuition fees - in many developed European countries tuition is free and students just pay a nominal fee for administration costs at the start of each term. So a better question is why are we having to pay tuition fees at all? As historically in the UK students did not pay tuition fees until the early 2000s I gather.
(edited 8 months ago)
I wouldn't deem getting a grad role as a measure of 'success' of studying at undergrad.
Original post by artful_lounger
Sometimes people do degrees for intellectual stimulation rather than getting a job...they may well already be planning to take over a family business on graduation (which may not be considered a graduate level job) or they may simply want to go into a non-graduate level job for personal reasons.
A lot of jobs in heritage/cultural/arts sectors would not be considered "graduate level jobs" and getting to the graduate level jobs requires a certain level of experience that usually requires them to work in non-graduate level roles...also many roles in the agricultural and animal husbandry sectors, including conservation focused roles with zoos and aquariums, are often not considered "graduate level" for the ones working directly with the animals/agricultural equipment.
Not everyone wants a job sitting in an office starting at excel for 8 hours a day, which is what functionally most graduate level jobs are outside of specific vocational roles e.g. in healthcare.
In any event more specifically in relation to tuition fees - in many developed European countries tuition is free and students just pay a nominal fee for administration costs at the start of each term. So a better question is why are we having to pay tuition fees at all? As historically in the UK students did not pay tuition fees until the early 2000s I gather.
A lot of jobs in heritage/cultural/arts sectors would not be considered "graduate level jobs" and getting to the graduate level jobs requires a certain level of experience that usually requires them to work in non-graduate level roles...also many roles in the agricultural and animal husbandry sectors, including conservation focused roles with zoos and aquariums, are often not considered "graduate level" for the ones working directly with the animals/agricultural equipment.
Not everyone wants a job sitting in an office starting at excel for 8 hours a day, which is what functionally most graduate level jobs are outside of specific vocational roles e.g. in healthcare.
In any event more specifically in relation to tuition fees - in many developed European countries tuition is free and students just pay a nominal fee for administration costs at the start of each term. So a better question is why are we having to pay tuition fees at all? As historically in the UK students did not pay tuition fees until the early 2000s I gather.
Supply and demand - over-supply of graduates for a limited number of jobs impacts on salary and job tenure. Science and Engineering courses are expensive for universities to run, but social science, business, arts and humanities are cheap to offer and attract a lot of students. Indeed, as there are more graduates in these subjects, especially marketing, job tenures have become shorter, as organisations recruit staff with a certain level of experience (or inexperience) at a certain salary level. Some job tenures are for as little as 3-6 months with many being 1 year fixed term contracts!!
This is very true for several sectors, especially telecoms, heritage/cultural/arts sector, hospitality & tourism, and for junior academic staff at university. According to my careers advisor many employers have a list of core and target universities and preferred degree subjects, which is why non-core and non-target universities find that their graduates have much lower prospects.
*The best courses to do are professionally accredited regardless of the university*, as this seems to reduce this bias (or prejudice) and they have the best employment prospects too - especially RICS accredited courses, Medical (including Nursing), Teaching (QTS accredited courses and Education Psychology), and Engineering courses (Marine Engineering, Structural Engineering, and Mechatronics). It is also a matter of doing research about universities, courses teaching staff (experience in industry and qualifications), and the university's industry links. Bath, Loughborough, Reading, Aston, Swansea, and Strathclyde universities seem to be very well-regarded by employers - better than several RG universities for certain subjects. The heritage/cultural/arts sector - Courtauld Institute and Central School of Speech and Drama (CSSD), both members of London University seem to be highly regarded, as is the UAL (CSM, LCF, and LCC - especially). Other extremely notables are RADA, Royal College of Art (RCA), Royal Academy Schools, RCM, and RAM - these are widely regarded as some of the best in the world.
(edited 8 months ago)
Original post by Kinga88
Supply and demand - over-supply of graduates for a limited number of jobs impacts on salary and job tenure. Science and Engineering courses are expensive for universities to run, but social science, business, arts and humanities are cheap to offer and attract a lot of students. Indeed, as there are more graduates in these subjects, especially marketing, job tenures have become shorter, as organisations recruit staff with a certain level of experience (or inexperience) at a certain salary level. Some job tenures are for as little as 3-6 months with many being 1 year fixed term contracts!!
This is very true for several sectors, especially telecoms, heritage/cultural/arts sector, hospitality & tourism, and for junior academic staff at university. According to my careers advisor many employers have a list of core and target universities and preferred degree subjects, which is why non-core and non-target universities find that their graduates have much lower prospects. The best courses to do are professionally accredited regardless of the university, as this seems to reduce this bias (or prejudice).
This is very true for several sectors, especially telecoms, heritage/cultural/arts sector, hospitality & tourism, and for junior academic staff at university. According to my careers advisor many employers have a list of core and target universities and preferred degree subjects, which is why non-core and non-target universities find that their graduates have much lower prospects. The best courses to do are professionally accredited regardless of the university, as this seems to reduce this bias (or prejudice).
The only sectors which have target universities I'm aware of are investment banking and management consulting.
I don't know of sectors "preferring" some degree over another - just that some roles require specific competencies that can't be gained outside of certain degrees.
Also research has shown in the long run STEM and non-STEM grads have similar employment outcomes in terms of gaining such "graduate roles" and their pay in them.
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