According to a new national survey, nearly 90% of UK graduates say their work is fulfilling. They report high levels of optimism regarding their career trajectories. Actions taken by HESA to address issues of race and equality The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Graduate Outcomes survey collected responses from well over 67,500 graduates who completed their degree in the 2018–2019 academic year. Fifteen months post-graduation, these young professionals opened up about their qualities early career experiences. Throughout the process, their insights painted an optimistic picture despite the reality of continued struggles in the labor market.
Yet according to the new survey, 86% of grads feel their work is doing something important. What’s more, 78% of them say they are headed in the right direction with their career. Moreover, 66% of survey participants reported that they were actively using skills learned through their coursework in university. UK creative skills crisis. Yet our creative industries which the UK is internationally famed for are experiencing acute skills shortages. These challenges are the result of a decade’s worth of cuts to creative education programs.
Graduate Experiences of Meaning and Progress
These results from the Graduate Outcomes survey provide a great snapshot of how new graduates in the UK are faring in their early careers. To our delight, a whopping 86% of respondents reported that their work feels meaningful. This means that most people find their calling in their jobs shortly after graduation. This idea of meaningful work is extremely important when considering today’s labor market. Graduates often have difficulty securing jobs that align with their interests.
Better yet, 78% of grads reported that they felt career-ready. This positive statistic opens the door on what has been an alarming trend for new college graduates. Such guidance can be critical to securing long-term professional fulfillment and success. Survey findings reflect an optimistic outlook among those entering the beginnings of their careers. This pins on even more pressure the idea that university education is central to determining future career trajectories.
Equally as important, the survey’s findings underscore the need for classrooms to better reflect how academics are used in the real world. Now, sixty-six percent of their graduates can say that they are using skills directly learned through their degrees. This represents a critical connection between academic preparation and workplace impact. These findings complicate the narrative of “rip-off” degrees in fields like education. This is perhaps most pronounced in the case of arts and humanities, where skepticism tends to be immediately abundant.
Specialization in Medicine and Dentistry
Interestingly, the survey revealed that graduates from medicine and dentistry reported markedly higher levels of satisfaction regarding meaningful work and skill utilization. Nearly 12 percentage points above their classmates in other fields, these graduates reported that their work seemed significant. Moreover, over 30% more of them confirmed they were using their university-trained skills directly as opposed to other disciplines.
Taken together, these findings underscore the distinct experiences that exist in niche disciplines. Second, they stress the extensive unmet demand for all medicine and dentistry skills. Despite the focus on these professions, it is important to recognize that other sectors, particularly arts and culture, contribute significantly to the UK’s economy and cultural landscape.
The Arts and Culture Sector’s Future
The inequalities that pave the way for cultural brutes. The UK’s arts and culture sector make substantial contributions to global civil society, creative practice and innovation. It now finds itself confronted with a critical obstacle — a talent deficit. Labeling these degrees “rip-offs” risks keeping the next generation of students out of vital creative industries. This kind of narrative threatens to bleed away our most promising talent pipeline, which is key to continuing fueling this booming industry.
The Graduate Outcomes survey only follows graduates for up to 15 months after they graduate from the institution. This relatively short period indicates that these long-term trends may shift as graduates spend more time in the field. As they progress in their careers, attitudes toward the value of their degree and fulfillment in their career path can change. The initial data indicates a positive trajectory for many graduates who report meaningful engagement in their work early on.