1. Help wanted, apply within: seeking DLHE
graduate employability data and other
exciting opportunities
Professor Craig Mahoney 9th May 2013

2. National population 63 million
HE population 2.5 million
International Students 430,000
TNE on UK programmes 500,000
Population under 30 in HE 43%
Academic staff in UK HE 180,000
Staff qualified to teach 38,000
UG = 1.9 million, PG = 600,000
Some numbers to get you
started!
2

3. 3
Fee Structure Across the UK
Domicile of
student
Location of institution
England Scotland Wales NI
England Up to £9k Up to £9k Up to £9k Up to £9k
Scotland Up to £9k No fee Up to £9k Up to £9k
Wales Up to £3,465* Up to £3,465* Up to £3,465* Up to £3,465*
NI Up to £9k Up to £9k Up to £9k Up to £3,465
* balance met by Welsh Government through a non-means tested tuition fee grant, of up to £5,535,

4. • Higher education in UK, most turbulent
times for decades/centuries
• High performance, less money, less time,
less flexibility, more regulation
• Significant funding cuts, change in student
population, increase in expectations
• Students at the heart, their needs
heightened, their awareness raised and
their voices heard
• Student numbers & tight number controls
• Future impact unclear & possibility of
fragile business models 4
Challenges – the short list!

5. • Blokes want data. Blokes like;
• Stephen Farry
• Leighton Andrews
• Mike Russell
• David Willetts
5
Who wants data?

6. • Return on investment
• Policy drivers
• Responsible government
• HEI Performance Indicators
• Employer responsiveness and sensitivity to changing
careers
• Monitor student demand
6
What purpose data to
government?

7. • HEI awarding the degree
• Classification of the degree
• Academic discipline studied
• Transcript of modules studied
• HEAR, transferable skills and graduate attributes
• Employment rates by broad subject
7
What sits behind the data?

8. Policymakers
Institutions
Employers
Parents
Prospective students
Current students
International bodies
The public?
8
Who else wants the data?

9. An under-appreciated national
treasure

10. • Not just a survey of unemployment or jobs that
graduates do.
covers the courses they study, how much they get paid
(if at all)
where they are working and even how they found their
job
useful for careers, for university administration and for
policy
Not Just a Survey

11. • DLHE is one of the world’s best examinations of the
employment of graduates
extremely comprehensive (80% coverage for early
DLHE)
covers graduates at all qualification levels
only the Australians really have a comparable national
survey
the early survey has been going for 50 years, so a rich
time series
it’s followed up with a sample after 3.5 years
World's Best?

12. • HECSU use it to;
help careers advisors understand what graduates
actually do when they graduate
produce publications on career options for university
applicants
examine local jobs markets
investigate postgraduate study and the outcomes of
that study
look into demand for specific subjects and occupations
track how graduates look for jobs and how that
changes over time
How DLHE data is used

13. 1. Commercial awareness (or
business acumen)
2. Communication
3. Teamwork
4. Negotiation and persuasion
5. Problem solving
6. Leadership
7. Organisation
8. Perseverance and motivation
9. Ability to work under
pressure
10. Confidence
Graduate Employment Skills

14. 14

15. CBI forecast predicts GDP growth to hit 0.6%
for 2012 rising to 2% in 2013 (May 2012)
HEA’s Postgraduate Research Experience
Survey (PRES) 2011:
50% agreed "I am encouraged to reflect on my
professional development needs" (compared to
43% in 2009)
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/e
mployability/pedagogy_for_employability_updat
e_2012
15
Employability

16. 16
Changing world
Responding to a changing world. Preparing students for a ‘globalised’ workplace
and for the tough jobs market.
PRES also found that no more than half of PGR students surveyed in 2011 agreed
they had had their career and professional development needs met:
Professional Development and Career questions, % agree (Q7)
43.90%
50.10% 47.20%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
7a) I am encouraged to
think about the range of
career opportunities that
are available to me.
7b) I am encouraged to
reflect on my professional
development needs
7c) I am encouraged to
reflect on my career
development needs
%agree

17. • Disparity between students’ perceptions of employability and
those of employers
• Employers and students’ value work experience but barriers
exist in provision and access
• Students lack awareness of SMEs in terms of requirements and
opportunities
• Employers are confused by the range of employability awards
and how to assess their value
• Many students are not engaged with employability or with
enterprise education
• Assessing the impact of employability support is a challenge
and needs to be addressed
17
Perspectives – employer v
student

18. Press Release Strictly embargoed until 00.01hrs
Monday 14th January 2013
New research shows the graduate job market
stalled in 2012 but vacancies at Britain’s leading
employers are set to increase again in 2013
18
High Fliers
High Fliers Research Limited
King’s Gate, 1 Bravingtons Walk, London N19AE
Telephone 020 7428 9000 Fax 020 7428 9111 Email
surveys@highfliers.co.uk

19. Institutional data: a potentially
rich source of untapped
information useful for planning
and decision-making that is
underexploited by institutions.
Yorke et al, 2005
Universities need to extract
from the data around them
intelligence needed to make
sound decisions if they are to
succeed in these challenging
times.
Bekhradnia, 2005; 2007
19
Gold in them there hills?

20. Reports that say that something hasn't happened are
always interesting to me, because as we know,
there are known knowns;
there are things we know we know.
We also know there are known unknowns; that is to
say we know there are some things we do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones
we don't know we don't know.
Donald H. Rumsfeld, 2002
20
Tackling the knowns and
unknowns

21. DLHE
KIS:
employability
data
Curriculum
development
Marketing
Course
development/
market
intelligence
Student
experience:
triangulation
with other data
sources (eg.
NSS)
Prompts and
levers for
further
investigation
21
One DLHE, many uses

22. 22
% employed by subject area 2010/11
Subject area Employed Unemployed
Medicine & dentistry 90.8% 1.4%
Subjects allied to medicine 86.1% 4.4%
Biological sciences 67.5% 8.1%
Veterinary science 86.8% 6.4%
Agriculture & related subjects 67.1% 6.7%
Physical sciences 62.0% 9.2%
Mathematical sciences 61.6% 9.0%
Computer science 68.2% 12.7%
Engineering & technology 73.1% 8.8%
Architecture, building & planning 77.5% 7.9%
Social studies 73.8% 8.2%
Law 61.5% 7.1%
Business & administrative studies 76.6% 8.4%
Mass communications & documentation 75.9% 11.0%
Languages 64.7% 8.7%
Historical & philosophical studies 63.2% 8.5%
Creative arts & design 70.5% 10.8%
Education 88.4% 3.8%
Combined 70.8% 5.9%
Full-time first degree leavers by subject in Statistical First Release 178

23. 23

24. Curriculum Relevance
Must develop a curricula robustly
informed by a broader world view –
not too British-centric or Euro-
centric
• Individual institutional mission
• Enterprise & IT supported
• Broader knowledge
• Graduate and transferable skills
24
On-going Development

25. 25
Graduate Employment?
The music-graduate human scarecrow:
'You've got to take every opportunity‘
Guardian, Monday 8 October 2012