UoG among best UK universities for graduate outcomes

A survey conducted by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) has found that 95.3% of University of Gloucestershire graduates are in employment or further study 15 months after leaving university. This figure puts the University amongst the best in the country.

These glowing results represent a continuation of an already strong performance and are well above the sector average, placing the University second in the South West and 26th in the country for this important measure.

The Graduate Outcomes Survey is the biggest UK survey of its kind and tracks the progress of recent graduates after leaving university. All those who graduated in 2021/22 were invited to take part in the survey, 15 months after they finished their studies. The survey aims to help inform choices of current and future students by giving an insight into career destinations and development paths.

The survey’s key findings include:

• 95.3% of graduates from the University are employed or undertaking further study  
• 72.1% University of Gloucestershire graduates secured employment classified as “highly skilled” or went into further study – this is a 0.6% improvement on last year

Amongst the set of highly positive results, standout performers included journalism, religion, philosophy and ethics, computer games programming and physiotherapy, where 100% of University of Gloucestershire graduates surveyed are in graduate-level jobs or further study.

Other courses performing well included sports journalism, sports coaching science, social work, adult nursing, interior design, popular music, computer science and primary education (with qualified teacher status) – on these programmes more than 90% of graduates surveyed are now in graduate-level jobs or further study.

Clare Marchant, Vice-Chancellor at University of Gloucestershire, said: “Huge congratulations to our incredible and talented graduates. These results highlight the exceptional calibre of our alumni and we couldn’t be prouder.

“Graduate outcomes are the key indicator of quality because they are a measure of the return on investment made in higher education. Therefore, we are delighted with these results, which evidence that we remain amongst the best universities in the country, and show that our students go on to have successful careers and rewarding lives.

“Amongst our fantastic results, we have seen some exceptional performances across many of our creative programmes including journalism, computer games programming, sports journalism and popular music.

“These fields face particularly competitive job markets, yet 90% to 100% of our students surveyed on these programmes go on to graduate-level jobs or further study.

“This is a testament of the world-class talent of our graduates, as well as our ability to forge industry connections that set the foundations for fantastic careers.”

Connections, accommodation and careers

Nick Oxlade, Director of Student Futures at University of Gloucestershire, said: “These results are fantastic. They show that we are performing well against all the key indicators of employment or further study, and graduate-level performance.

“We make three promises to our students; connections, accommodation and careers. In promising our students that they will be career-ready when they graduate and able to meet their ambitions, we place great emphasis on ensuring that career development opportunities are incorporated into the curriculum at course level, through work-related learning, and through activity and events outside of the curriculum.

“Any graduate who’s not in a job six months after graduating is guaranteed six months of free support, followed by the offer of a paid internship to kickstart their career.

“We are also proud to offer lifetime career coaching to all our graduates via our careers team, Student Futures. Any graduate who needs our support should get in touch.”

Main image: Journalism students at University of Gloucestershire