tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/graduate-jobs-11812/articlesGraduate jobs – The Conversation2023-10-02T19:12:04Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2144712023-10-02T19:12:04Z2023-10-02T19:12:04ZAustralia is leaving thousands of international graduates in visa limbo, and it’s about to get worse<p>Many international students come to Australia with the hope of staying permanently.</p>
<p>But our latest report, <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/graduates-in-limbo">Graduates in limbo: International student visa pathways after graduation</a>, shows that the rights Australia grants international students to stay and work here after they graduate are too generous, offering many false hope.</p>
<p>Australia offers graduating students <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/extended-poststudy-work-rights-international-graduates/resources/poststudy-work-rights-report">much longer temporary visas than our main competitors</a> for international students, such as Canada, the UK and the US.</p>
<p>But many temporary graduate visa holders struggle to pursue their chosen careers in Australia, with </p>
<ul>
<li>only half securing full-time employment</li>
<li>most working in low-skilled jobs </li>
<li>and half earning less than A$53,300 a year, compared to just one-third of all graduates.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Outcomes are often not matching the effort</h2>
<p>More than half of these visa holders work in jobs that don’t even require a tertiary qualification. In fact, the incomes of temporary graduate visa holders look more like those of working holiday makers, most of whom come to Australia to travel.</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>A new Grattan Institute survey of employers shows many are reluctant to hire international graduates, especially because of uncertainty about whether they can stay and work in Australia once their temporary graduate visa expires.</p>
<p>Other <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12546-022-09291-7">evidence</a> suggests that poor English language skills, the poor education some students receive and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1048984322000583">discrimination</a> are also important factors.</p>
<h2>Fewer international graduates now get permanent visas</h2>
<p>A growing number of international graduates are stuck in visa limbo in Australia, with less than one-third of temporary graduate visa holders now transitioning to permanent residency when their visa expires, down from two-thirds in 2014.</p>
<p>One in three return to further study here once their visa expires, mostly in cheaper vocational courses, to prolong their stay in Australia. </p>
<p>Encouraging so many international graduates to stay and struggle in Australia is in no one’s interests. It damages the reputation of our international higher education sector and erodes public trust in our migration program.</p>
<p>It hurts the long-term prospects of those graduates who do stay permanently. It adds to population pressures and housing prices. And it’s unfair to those graduates who invest years in Australia with little prospect of securing permanent residency.</p>
<p>And recent policy changes will only make this problem worse.</p>
<p>The Albanese government’s <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/addressing-skills-shortages-key-industries-and-rebuilding-international-education-sector">decision</a> at last year’s Jobs and Skills Summit to extend the length of temporary visas for international graduates is a big reason why we should expect their numbers to nearly double to about 370,000 by 2030. </p>
<p>Some students studying in the regions can now stay and work in Australia on a temporary visa for up to eight years after they graduate. </p>
<p>Unless the number of permanent visas on offer each year rises, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-improve-the-migration-system-for-the-good-of-temporary-migrants-and-australia-199520">which seems unlikely</a>, many more graduates will be left in limbo in the future. </p>
<p>And that’s despite the government pledging to reduce the number of migrants in Australia in “<a href="https://clareoneil.com/media-centre/speeches/national-press-club-australias-migration-system-with-q-and-a/">permanently temporary limbo</a>”.</p>
<p>The government needs to reverse course, and quickly. Here’s what it should do. </p>
<h2>Stop offering false hope</h2>
<p>First, Australia should offer shorter post-study work visas to international graduates: just long enough to identify which graduates would make good prospects for permanent residency. </p>
<p>Visa extensions currently on offer for graduates with degrees in nominated areas of shortage, and for those living in the regions, should be scrapped.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-universities-have-dropped-in-the-latest-round-of-global-rankings-should-we-be-worried-214555">Australian universities have dropped in the latest round of global rankings – should we be worried?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Instead, graduates should be eligible for an extension to their visa only if they earn at least $70,000 a year – a good sign that they’ll eventually secure a permanent skilled visa. </p>
<p>Grattan Institute modelling shows that these reforms could result in the number of international graduates on temporary visas in Australia growing only modestly, to 260,000 by 2030. That’s 110,000 fewer than if current policies remain in place. </p>
<h2>Fix visa pathways for talented graduates</h2>
<p>Second, Australia should fix the pathways for talented graduates after they finish their temporary graduate visa. </p>
<p>The current system rewards persistence, encouraging students to make education and career decisions to secure permanent residency rather than making decisions that benefit their careers in the long-term.</p>
<p>We need to make it easier for employers to sponsor migrants if they earn a high wage, rather than the current system of restricting sponsorship to an <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-australia-dumped-its-bureaucratic-list-based-approach-to-temporary-work-visas-179104">outdated list of nominated occupations</a>. </p>
<p>And we should select permanent skilled migrants who come here without a sponsor, based on our assessment of the characteristics <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/australias-migration-opportunity-how-rethinking-skilled-migration-can-solve-some-of-our-biggest-problems/">that point to them succeeding in Australia long-term</a>. </p>
<h2>Do more to help international graduates find good jobs</h2>
<p>And last, Australia should do more to help international graduates to thrive here. </p>
<p>The government should launch a campaign designed to change employer attitudes about new graduates, and public sector graduate programs should accept international graduates.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-wants-international-students-to-stay-and-work-after-graduation-they-find-it-difficult-for-4-reasons-191259">Australia wants international students to stay and work after graduation. They find it difficult for 4 reasons</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The federal government should publish detailed league tables of the employment outcomes of international graduates, including their earnings, to shame universities into supporting international graduates to build careers in Australia. </p>
<p>The price of policy inaction is clear: Australia will host an ever-larger pool of international graduates living in limbo.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214471/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the Federal and Victorian Governments, $4 million from BHP Billiton, and $1 million from NAB. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute's board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and contribute to funding Grattan Institute's activities. Grattan Institute also receives funding from corporates, foundations, and individuals to support its general activities, as disclosed on its website. We would also like to thank the Scanlon Foundation for its generous support of our migration research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Trent Wiltshire and Tyler Reysenbach do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The number of unemployed international graduates in Australia is set to rise if the temporary graduate visa program isn’t overhauled.Brendan Coates, Program Director, Economic Policy, Grattan InstituteTrent Wiltshire, Deputy Program Director, Migration and Labour Markets, Grattan InstituteTyler Reysenbach, Research associate, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2037092023-07-05T12:46:16Z2023-07-05T12:46:16ZUniversity is expensive – how a mid-course work placement can help with costs and careers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535310/original/file-20230703-274838-azdorj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=47%2C15%2C5191%2C3471&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-asian-different-age-colleagues-seated-1751484332">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Students are struggling financially. A 2022 survey from the Office for National Statistics found that <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/educationandchildcare/bulletins/costoflivingandhighereducationstudentsengland/24octoberto7november2022">half of students</a> in England felt they were facing financial difficulties, and that one-quarter of students had borrowed more to cope with the cost of living crisis. In England, tuition fees for bachelor’s programmes are the <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/b35a14e5-en.pdf?expires=1683803663&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=6289B4A23CCB0D02CA5278D25BA77FE6">highest among OECD countries</a>. </p>
<p>In addition to the financial burden of a degree, students have to deal with stress about getting a job in the competitive labour market and the prospects for their future career. A <a href="https://www.highfliers.co.uk/">report on the graduate job market</a> found that in 2022, there were an average of 39 applications for each graduate-level vacancy.</p>
<p>A 2021 survey of young people found that over one-third <a href="https://graduatemarkettrends.cdn.prismic.io/graduatemarkettrends/7e528f0e-5f54-45bc-8a94-c55a014fb396_early-careers-survey-2021-jobs-apprenticeships-and-postgraduate-study.pdf">felt uncertain</a> about their career plans. University students found a lack of work experience to be a key obstacle in <a href="https://graduatemarkettrends.cdn.prismic.io/graduatemarkettrends/7e528f0e-5f54-45bc-8a94-c55a014fb396_early-careers-survey-2021-jobs-apprenticeships-and-postgraduate-study.pdf">applying for jobs</a> and close to one in two university students <a href="https://graduatemarkettrends.cdn.prismic.io/graduatemarkettrends/7e528f0e-5f54-45bc-8a94-c55a014fb396_early-careers-survey-2021-jobs-apprenticeships-and-postgraduate-study.pdf">didn’t feel prepared</a> for getting a job.</p>
<p>Working during a university degree is one way of both gaining work experience and some much-needed cash. But while many students might opt for a part-time job alongside their studies, this work experience is unlikely to be related to students’ studies or career aspirations, as it typically covers students’ short-term needs. </p>
<p>But a work placement – a period of employment in a relevant industry in the middle of a university course – can offer significant benefits, including finding a job <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2023.2225540">aligned with their career goals</a> after graduation. </p>
<h2>Work placements</h2>
<p>Many UK universities offer the option between a standard three-year programme and a four-year programme with a work placement – known as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/paid-work-experience-and-sandwich-degrees-help-boost-social-mobility-new-research-112197">“sandwich” degree</a>. Students who undertake a work placement complete the first two years of their programme, and spend their third year working in a relevant industry before completing their degree in the fourth year. This option gives students the opportunity to gain full-time and typically paid work experience with an organisation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Older and younger female colleagues talking" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535312/original/file-20230703-256675-y2xpsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535312/original/file-20230703-256675-y2xpsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535312/original/file-20230703-256675-y2xpsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535312/original/file-20230703-256675-y2xpsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535312/original/file-20230703-256675-y2xpsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535312/original/file-20230703-256675-y2xpsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535312/original/file-20230703-256675-y2xpsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A placement year can help students build professional networks in their preferred field.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/diverse-old-young-female-colleagues-talking-1332825527">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because work placements are part of a degree programme, universities help students find an appropriate placement. Support is available from the universities’ careers services, offering advice that helps students search for the right employer and apply for jobs.</p>
<p>The placement year extends a student’s time at university, but they pay a reduced tuition fee for the year they are on work placement: around 20% of the standard annual fee (£1,850 for a standard fee of £9,250). And the income can make a significant difference to student finances. Our research found that the average salary for economics placements is £19,000, and there are placements that offer <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13562517.2020.1863345">more than £30,000</a>. </p>
<p>Students on placements develop transferable skills, such as communication, teamwork and time management, as well as industry knowledge. This may help improve their <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2014.988702">final-year academic performance</a> when they return to study.</p>
<h2>Benefits after graduation</h2>
<p>Students who take a placement year also develop a professional network and obtain valuable information from employers about future jobs. This can boost their graduate employability and career success by increasing the chances of finding graduate jobs that fit their career plans. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2023.2225540">Our research</a> found that economics graduates who did a placement were more likely to find a job that aligned with their career aspirations than graduates who did not do a placement.</p>
<p>There may also be earnings implications after graduation. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2014.988702">Earlier research</a> has shown that placement graduates in full-time employment earn on average £2,000 more than non-placement graduates. But there is substantial variation across degree subjects, for example, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2023.2225540">our recent research</a> has shown that this value is approximately £1,300 for economics graduates. But placement students need a few years to be financially better off than non-placement graduates, as they postpone entering the graduate labour market by one year.</p>
<p>Despite these benefits, some students may not see a placement as a viable option. They may face pressure to finish their degree, and the extra income may not be enough to assuage their financial concerns. </p>
<p>Students who struggle financially are likely to take a part-time job during their studies to address their immediate needs – and the prospect of a third-year placement is unlikely to change this. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680930801924490">Research has shown</a> that term-time work has a negative effect on academic performance – and the impact is greater the more hours a student works. </p>
<p>However, working and possibly saving during a placement year could take the pressure off in the crucial final year, allowing students to focus more on their studies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203709/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Students doing a “sandwich degree” can spend a year between their second and final years at university in employment.Panagiotis Arsenis, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of SurreyMiguel Flores, Assistant Professor in Economics, National College of IrelandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1714912021-11-10T19:08:21Z2021-11-10T19:08:21ZStudents’ choice of university has no effect on new graduate pay, and a small impact later on. What they study matters more<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431218/original/file-20211110-27-p73c7z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=455%2C0%2C3781%2C2476&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year in Australia school leavers suffer ATAR anxiety, worrying about whether they will get into their preferred course and university. <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/general/article/2021/11/04/graduate-incomes-data">New research</a> by the Commonwealth Department of Education, using Australian Taxation Office earnings data, examines in detail how much difference what a person studies, and where, makes to their future income. </p>
<p>It finds students’ course choices matter more than their choice of university. Qualifications in some fields of study lead to much higher incomes nine years after graduation. Which university a student attends has little influence on short-term graduate earnings, but differences emerge over time. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lets-not-focus-on-graduate-incomes-when-assessing-the-worth-of-education-106168">Let's not focus on graduate incomes when assessing the worth of education</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why might graduates of some universities earn more?</h2>
<p>We would expect some university effect on earnings. Universities vary in their teaching quality, at least as <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/surveys/student-experience-survey-(ses)">measured by student satisfaction</a>. In theory, those whose graduates learn more could expect labour market rewards. </p>
<p>Whether justified by objective learning gains or not, some universities are better known and more prestigious than others. This could influence employers when choosing between job applicants.</p>
<p>And some universities, especially those with many full-time and on-campus undergraduates, offer greater networking opportunities. The people met at university could open up employment and business opportunities. </p>
<h2>Why might graduates of some courses earn more?</h2>
<p>Previous research shows <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/mapping-australian-higher-education-2018/">graduate earnings vary greatly</a> according to a degree’s field of education. </p>
<p>Some degrees are entry points to specific occupations. The pay for those jobs is a major influence on graduate earnings. Other degrees provide more general skills that are valued to a greater or lesser extent in the labour market. </p>
<p>These differences reflect market conditions, occupational regulation and political decisions more than how good either the university or the graduate might be. University and graduate factors can influence who gets hired and promoted, but job markets set the salary range. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/want-to-improve-your-chances-of-getting-a-full-time-job-a-double-degree-can-do-that-157306">Want to improve your chances of getting a full-time job? A double degree can do that</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What do the department’s results show?</h2>
<p>The Department of Education’s <a href="https://qilt.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/bachelor-graduate-incomes-report.docx?sfvrsn=11c4e648_0">graduate income report</a> and <a href="https://qilt.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/graduate-incomes-2017_18.xlsx?sfvrsn=8dc8da2_0">accompanying spreadsheets</a> show earnings at various time points after graduation. I will mainly discuss the medium-term results, as at 2017-18 for people who graduated in the late 2000s. </p>
<p>As the chart shows, bachelor degree earnings differ significantly by the field of study nine years after graduation. At the high end, half of medical graduates reported annual incomes of A$149,500 or more (the median). A quarter earned $206,900 or more (the 75th percentile). The equivalent figures for performing arts were $53,000 and $80,300. </p>
<p>The overall results (including fields not shown here) were a median of $77,100 and a 75th percentile of $102,600. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431223/original/file-20211110-22-1hj2a0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Bar chart showing median and 75th percentile earnings for bachelor degree graduates in 2017-18 by profession" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431223/original/file-20211110-22-1hj2a0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431223/original/file-20211110-22-1hj2a0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431223/original/file-20211110-22-1hj2a0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431223/original/file-20211110-22-1hj2a0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=349&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431223/original/file-20211110-22-1hj2a0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431223/original/file-20211110-22-1hj2a0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431223/original/file-20211110-22-1hj2a0k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Source: Author/ANU. Data: DESE graduate income data from Australian Taxation Office records</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://qilt.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/bachelor-graduate-incomes-report.docx?sfvrsn=11c4e648_0">department’s statistical analysis</a> shows substantial course differences persist after taking into account university attended and personal characteristics such as gender, socioeconomic background and ATAR. For example, compared to business and management graduates, law and engineering graduates earn an extra $11,000 a year. </p>
<p>Much of the apparent variation in earnings between universities reflects differences in enrolment patterns. For example, universities with more graduates in high-paying fields such as medicine, law and engineering end up with higher median earnings than universities that focus on teaching or nursing. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/think-our-unis-are-all-much-the-same-look-more-closely-and-you-will-find-diversity-164319">Think our unis are all much the same? Look more closely and you will find diversity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The department’s analysis does show, however, that a decade after leaving university Group of Eight (<a href="https://go8.edu.au/">Go8</a>) graduates earn about $4,300 a year more than others from a comparison group of universities. Australian Technology Network (<a href="https://www.atn.edu.au/">ATN</a>) university graduates also earn more than non-Go8 graduates. These findings take into account course taken and personal characteristics such as gender, socioeconomic background and ATAR.</p>
<h2>Does this change our understanding of graduate outcomes?</h2>
<p>These findings confirm general patterns observed in previous research. They do so in ways that give us more confidence in earlier results. </p>
<p>Several studies have found either <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/818-mapping-background-20141.pdf">no</a> or a <a href="https://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A79644">small</a> Go8 salary advantage for new graduates, after taking into account other factors known to influence graduate pay. The short-term results (one to two years after graduation) using ATO data also report no such advantage. </p>
<p>These findings count against strong prestige effects. If there were such effects, we would expect these to be greatest early in graduates’ careers, before they have had a chance to demonstrate their quality to employers. </p>
<p>Before now, longer-term earnings by university have been very difficult to analyse. Few data sources record both income and university attended more than three years after graduation. </p>
<p>The main exception has been the <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/hilda">HILDA survey</a>. Its data were used in <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/818-mapping-background-20141.pdf">a study I co-authored</a> at the Grattan Institute in 2014 and <a href="https://espace.curtin.edu.au/bitstream/20.500.11937/9628/2/240933_240933.pdf">a later one</a> by Curtin University researchers. </p>
<p>Both these studies found small university and larger course effects on income. The Grattan paper also found Go8 and ATN graduates doing slightly better. The Curtin paper found an earnings disadvantage for regional university graduates, with other university grouping differences not statistically significant. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-does-your-choice-of-university-affect-your-future-45699">How does your choice of university affect your future?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>At the time of the Grattan paper there was some surprise that the university differences were not larger. Given the modest number of graduates in the HILDA sample, including people who finished university at many different times, its findings needed to be checked using other data sources. </p>
<p>The Department of Education’s analysis includes most graduates who finished in the same year. It both provides a much larger sample and lets us compare people at similar points in their career who faced common economic conditions. The strong parallels between the HILDA and ATO-based findings give us confidence the conclusions are right.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1458195949147365377"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/surveys-are-not-the-best-way-to-measure-the-performance-of-australian-universities-90166">Surveys are not the best way to measure the performance of Australian universities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Caveats and suggestions</h2>
<p>While a significant step forward, the ATO data source has some weaknesses. It relies on students borrowing under the HELP loan scheme to create the link between tax file numbers and enrolment records. The analysis excludes international students and domestic students who paid their fees up-front. </p>
<p>For future work using the ATO data I suggest looking at the effects of local labour markets. After taking into account courses taken and student characteristics, most of the universities showing earnings premiums are in NSW or the ACT. </p>
<p>Have universities there found a special strategy for improving graduate outcomes? Or are there simply more well-paid jobs in Sydney and Canberra? With the Grattan and Curtin papers both finding a NSW premium, the second explanation looks most plausible. </p>
<h2>Will student choices change?</h2>
<p>The ATO data show significant differences in earnings by course taken, but this is already well-known and probably won’t change students’ course choices. <a href="https://andrewnorton.net.au/2020/06/21/jobs-interests-and-student-course-choices/">Student interests</a> primarily shape these choices. </p>
<p>Within a prospective student’s range of interests, labour market prospects affect choices, but job availability is the <a href="https://andrewnorton.net.au/2020/06/28/financial-influences-on-job-seeking-university-applicants/">main driver of shifts in applications</a>. Nursing, which recorded a <a href="https://andrewnorton.net.au/2021/10/25/the-first-job-ready-graduates-university-applications-data/">big increase in applications</a> for 2021, may not lead to high salaries but is a reliable source of flexible employment. </p>
<p>On university choice, the main message is that earnings should only be a small factor in students’ decision-making. University attended explains only a small proportion of all the variation in graduate income. </p>
<p>A degree from a Go8 university is not going to open many doors that would otherwise be closed. A wide range of personal, occupational, firm, industry and broader economic factors influence long-term earnings.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171491/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Norton has worked on projects funded by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment that include analysis of post-school outcomes. </span></em></p>Most of the universities whose graduates earn more after nine years in the workforce are in NSW and ACT. That suggests it’s more about where the best-paid jobs are than the universities themselves.Andrew Norton, Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1573062021-04-21T20:14:32Z2021-04-21T20:14:32ZWant to improve your chances of getting a full-time job? A double degree can do that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395910/original/file-20210420-15-14mf9l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C10%2C3356%2C2220&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-girl-students-happy-after-graduation-1082692739">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Career-related motivations are among the <a href="https://melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/1513123/FYE-2014-FULL-report-FINAL-web.pdf">most important factors</a> in Australian students’ decision to undertake higher education. This means universities must demonstrate their graduates’ ability to find work when seeking to recruit students in an increasingly competitive tertiary education marketplace. Our research shows double degrees (students study for two degrees at once) can greatly improve new graduates’ prospects of finding full-time work. </p>
<p>Some combinations increased the success rate by as much as 40% compared to students with a single “generalist” degree. The gains were biggest for students in the arts and sciences. </p>
<p>Yet double degrees are often overlooked as a way to improve graduates’ employability. Universities’ efforts to improve graduates’ employment outcomes generally focus on curricular and extracurricular programs such as work-integrated learning, internships and workshops. These will continue to grow in importance, as graduates are increasingly competing in a labour market where the supply of high-quality graduate jobs is <a href="https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/careers/new-flinders-university-study-reveals-a-puzzle-in-the-graduate-job-market-20161006-grws5z">failing to keep up with the production of graduates</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-4-unemployed-australians-has-a-degree-how-did-we-get-to-this-point-156867">1 in 4 unemployed Australians has a degree. How did we get to this point?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, recent Monash University research, as yet unpublished, shows something even more fundamental to universities — the structure of our educational offerings – can have a major impact on graduates’ employment outcomes. In particular, offering double degrees for undergraduates can make a significant difference.</p>
<h2>Why offer double degrees?</h2>
<p>Monash University has had a long-term focus on strengthening its double-degree offerings. The aim is to give students a more versatile skill set that increases their career flexibility and opportunities. </p>
<p>This focus on double degrees involves a huge resource commitment. It shapes many facets of Monash’s operations, from the design of our courses to the physical layout of our campuses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396210/original/file-20210421-15-9ttgnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Table showing numbers of Monash University graduates with single and double degrees in various disciplines" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396210/original/file-20210421-15-9ttgnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396210/original/file-20210421-15-9ttgnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396210/original/file-20210421-15-9ttgnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396210/original/file-20210421-15-9ttgnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396210/original/file-20210421-15-9ttgnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=650&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396210/original/file-20210421-15-9ttgnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=650&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396210/original/file-20210421-15-9ttgnp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=650&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our approach is designed to prepare graduates to adapt to varying labour market demand for skills across different academic disciplines. The demand for specific disciplines expands and contracts based on economic forces that are often hard to predict. </p>
<p>A problem graduates then face is that the skills acquired in one academic discipline are not universally transferable. A student completing a law degree, for example, might be highly capable, but would struggle to leverage their skills (at least without substantial retraining) to become an engineer if that discipline was in greater demand. To improve employment outcomes, then, graduates need a broad skill set that allows them to be productive across different sectors.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cheaper-courses-wont-help-graduates-get-jobs-they-need-good-careers-advice-and-links-with-employers-141270">Cheaper courses won't help graduates get jobs – they need good careers advice and links with employers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What did the research find?</h2>
<p>When the results of the most recent national <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/qilt-surveys/graduate-employment">Graduate Outcomes Survey</a> were released, a key question for Monash was whether our investment in double degrees had helped graduates weather the labour market shocks of the pandemic. The national employment rate for new graduates fell from 72.5% in 2019 to 69.1% in 2020.</p>
<p>We examined undergraduate employment rates across Monash’s faculties based on whether students had undertaken double degrees. This yielded a number of interesting findings.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396205/original/file-20210421-13-1tyua3y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing percentages of graduates in full-time work by degree or double-degree category" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396205/original/file-20210421-13-1tyua3y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396205/original/file-20210421-13-1tyua3y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396205/original/file-20210421-13-1tyua3y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396205/original/file-20210421-13-1tyua3y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396205/original/file-20210421-13-1tyua3y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396205/original/file-20210421-13-1tyua3y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/396205/original/file-20210421-13-1tyua3y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>First, double-degree students have significantly higher full-time (FT) employment rates around six months after course completion for second degrees in humanities and social sciences (HASS) and in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). </p>
<p>Second, we found this effect is greatest for so-called “generalist” degrees. These do not have career pathways as clearly defined as other disciplines. Specifically, graduates from courses in science and in arts/art, design and architecture were much more likely to find full-time work if they completed a double degree.</p>
<p>The effect is less pronounced for more vocationally oriented courses, such as education, engineering (paired with STEM) and law (paired with HASS). This is not to suggest double degrees are not valuable for students in these disciplines. Double degrees allow students to keep their options open, insulating them somewhat from the notoriously unpredictable supply and demand for graduate skills.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/humanities-graduates-earn-more-than-those-who-study-science-and-maths-141112">Humanities graduates earn more than those who study science and maths</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Isn’t it just the kind of person who does double degrees?</h2>
<p>These results prompted the question: are double degrees responsible for these strong employment outcomes, or are the people who study double degrees inherently more employable to begin with? In other words, do double degrees improve graduate employability, or do they merely reflect graduate employability? </p>
<p>To investigate this, we modelled graduate employment based on double-degree completion and students’ background characteristics. The effect held — the advantage associated with double degrees does not appear to be simply an artefact of the type of individual who chose to enrol in one.</p>
<p>Ultimately, Monash’s commitment to double degrees played a substantial role in achieving the highest full-time undergraduate employment rate of Victorian-based universities in 2020.</p>
<h2>What explains the employability benefit?</h2>
<p>So, why do double degrees give graduates such an advantage in the labour market? This is a much harder question to answer. </p>
<p>There is likely to be a human capital benefit, in that double-degree holders have gained a greater depth and breadth of skills than those with single degrees. The labour market recognises this through a greater likelihood of receiving a job offer. </p>
<p>There is likely also to be a signalling benefit as employers, faced with very little information on the productivity of the graduates sitting opposite them in job interviews, use the double degree as a sign of their productivity. It’s likely they make offers to graduates on this basis.</p>
<p>In a practical sense, the mechanism behind the effect of double degrees on employability is less important than the existence of the effect itself. Whether the effect is due to human capital factors, signalling or their combined effect, double degrees offer a significant employment benefit to the students who complete them and to the universities that develop and promote them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Completing two degrees at the same time can increase graduates’ rate of success in finding full-time work by up to 40%.David Carroll, Researcher and Senior Manager, Strategic Information, Monash UniversityKris Ryan, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Monash UniversitySusan Elliott, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Education), Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1505252021-02-05T13:05:53Z2021-02-05T13:05:53ZGraduate students need a PhD that makes sense for their real lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379769/original/file-20210120-15-16tqhid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3927%2C5890&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Doctoral programs often prepare graduates to become professors, but those jobs are scarce today.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/student-stands-and-reads-a-book-among-the-stacks-in-the-news-photo/586158350?adppopup=true">JHU Sheridan Libraries/Gado/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There used to be a time – back in the 1960s – when it made sense for doctoral programs to prepare students to become professors. For that <a href="https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/may-2003/we-historians-the-golden-age-and-beyond">brief postwar moment</a>, there were more jobs for professors than there were doctorate holders to fill them.</p>
<p>But that time is <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c12863/c12863.pdf">long gone</a>. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/04/bad-job-market-phds/479205/">Professorships are scarce</a> now, and most people with doctorates will end up working <a href="https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/doctoratework/2017/html/sdr2017_dst_12-3.html">outside of academia</a>.</p>
<p>In “<a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/new-phd#:%7E:text=The%20New%20PhD%20is%20a,change%20agents%20throughout%20our%20world">The New PhD: How to Build a Better Graduate Education</a>,” former professor and university president Robert Weisbuch and I argue that graduate programs aren’t preparing doctoral students for the jobs they’ll likely have outside college classrooms or laboratories. </p>
<p>We propose a new design for graduate school that points graduates toward fulfilling work both inside and outside the academy. </p>
<h2>Rethinking doctorates</h2>
<p>Instead of seeking work across society, many highly skilled doctorate holders end up teaching a course here and there – for <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/20/new-report-says-many-adjuncts-make-less-3500-course-and-25000-year">low wages</a> – in the vanishing hope of full-time jobs as professors. This <a href="https://www.hepg.org/her-home/issues/harvard-educational-review-volume-89,-issue-4/herbooknote/the-adjunct-underclass">proliferation of adjunct labor</a> devalues the people doing it and the academic workplace together. </p>
<p>We argue that the problem starts with an intense desire to stay in academia no matter what. Professorial jobs are scarcer than ever, but doctoral education <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03191-7">socializes students</a> to want those jobs above all others.</p>
<p>Professors model a rarefied existence without educating students to prepare for the actual alternatives they will face. For example, <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/a-degree-of-uncommon-success/?cid2=gen_login_refresh&cid=gen_sign_in">scientists are encouraged to narrowly specialize</a> within their subfields, while <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/8845365/manifesto_for_the_humanities">humanities scholars are given few opportunities to collaborate with others</a> in ways that are common in most workplaces. </p>
<p>In both cases, we believe graduate students would be better served by a curriculum that encourages a wider variety of skills and capacities, including working in project teams and translating their work to nonspecialized audiences. <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/new-phd#:%7E:text=The%20New%20PhD%20is%20a,change%20agents%20throughout%20our%20world">Our research finds</a> that such a program would draw more people of color and more women, and that graduates would be <a href="https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/title/new-phd#:%7E:text=The%20New%20PhD%20is%20a,change%20agents%20throughout%20our%20world">more competitive in today’s job market</a>. </p>
<h2>Why should anyone care?</h2>
<p>What happens to the doctorate holder ripples outward. The doctoral curriculum shapes liberal arts curriculum because doctoral programs train most professors who teach liberal arts subjects. And the way universities design and <a href="https://www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files/LEAP/leap_vision_summary.pdf">teach the liberal arts</a> affects colleges, high schools and every other level of the education pyramid.</p>
<p>We’d like to see an academic experience that remains rich in scholarship but is far less hermetic. In “The New PhD,” we offer real-life examples of programs that offer disciplinary expertise while recognizing the diverse career outcomes that students will face. </p>
<p>A new humanities doctoral program at University of Iowa’s <a href="https://obermann.uiowa.edu/programs/humanities-public-good">Obermann Center</a> and the <a href="https://versatilehumanists.duke.edu/internships/">Versatile Humanists program</a> at Duke University are examples. They place graduate student interns in a variety of workplaces outside the university. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/outcomes-based-graduate-school-the-humanities-edition/">Lehigh University</a> and other schools have used alumni career data to redesign their curriculum and prepare graduates for the jobs they will actually encounter. For example, the department recently added a certificate program in writing instruction. </p>
<p>Programs like Lehigh’s admit smaller student cohorts to advise students individually as they progress. We support this curated approach to doctoral education, and believe a program should admit only as many students as it can advise carefully and attentively. </p>
<h2>Valuing people of color and women</h2>
<p>Doctoral students don’t resemble the demographics of the country at large. Black Americans, Latinos and Native Americans together make up about <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/AGE775219">30% of the U.S. population</a> but only <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2017/nsf17306/report/who-earns-a-us-doctorate/race-and-ethnicity.cfm#:%7E:text=Participation%20in%20doctoral%20education%20by,of%20Hispanic%20or%20Latino%20doctorate">15% of U.S. doctorates</a>. Women are <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.1002/chem.201600035">greatly underrepresented</a> in graduate STEM programs.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>And once women and people of color get through the door, they often feel a <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/03/study-finds-serious-attrition-issues-black-and-latino-doctoral-students">lack of support</a> from their institutions. A 2014 study found <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/03/study-finds-serious-attrition-issues-black-and-latino-doctoral-students">fewer than half</a> of Black and Latino doctoral students in the behavioral and social sciences earned a doctoral degree within seven years. More than a third left their programs without finishing.</p>
<p>Graduate schools can recruit more diverse students by looking to the undergraduate pipeline and even high schools. Many undergrad programs recruit heavily among students from marginalized groups. But graduate schools compete for a much smaller pool of qualified and interested candidates, and such recruitment can strain departmental budgets.</p>
<p>One way to do this is for graduate faculty to work with teachers at all levels to excite young people about their fields. The City University of New York has done this successfully with its <a href="http://www.diversiphd.com/about">Pipeline Program</a>, which immerses undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups in academic culture. Surveys tell us such social engagement helps <a href="https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.13-02-0021">persuade underrepresented students</a> to pursue graduate study. </p>
<p>At CUNY and elsewhere, on behalf of students from all backgrounds, work is being done to make doctoral education more attentive to the reality that doctorate holders face. Our book describes that work and brings it to light.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150525/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leonard Cassuto does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Graduate programs can be rich in scholarship and still prepare students for real-world careers.Leonard Cassuto, Professor of English and American Studies, Fordham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1125412019-03-19T14:42:58Z2019-03-19T14:42:58ZStudents, this is how you can stand out from the crowd in a very competitive job market<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263594/original/file-20190313-123545-1iatssd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The employment market is saturated with graduates who have good degrees and the right qualifications. So the question on many recruiters’ minds is: what else can this candidate offer? </p>
<p>Employers have been reporting a “skills gap” in graduates for a few decades now and there is <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13583883.2015.1114139">research</a> to support its existence. Many employers feel there isn’t enough overlap between the contents of degree programmes and the skills that transform recent graduates into successful employees. </p>
<p>So with the number of graduates steadily <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/graduatesintheuklabourmarket/2017">rising</a> – and competition getting tougher – it’s more important than ever that students know how to improve their employability skills. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-75166-5_2">evidence</a> that work-based learning can help to remove employers’ concerns and make graduates more employable. So the savvy student should be undertaking a number of opportunities to build up their CV through work experience. But of course, not all opportunities are created equal, so it’s important students seek out the right sort of experience that recruiters will look favourably upon. </p>
<h2>What employees look for</h2>
<p>When it comes to employability, universities are keen to support student development beyond the classroom – <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2016.1139555?scroll=top&needAccess=true">and research</a> shows that a number of strategies can help to achieve this. These range from careers advice, networking and mentor support, as well as internships, extracurricular, off-campus work or co-curricular activities (these tend to be on-campus work associated with degree programmes). Then there is also paid work. But which is a best option for a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ijmr.12153">busy student</a> to pursue? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263595/original/file-20190313-123525-tpuf8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263595/original/file-20190313-123525-tpuf8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263595/original/file-20190313-123525-tpuf8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263595/original/file-20190313-123525-tpuf8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263595/original/file-20190313-123525-tpuf8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263595/original/file-20190313-123525-tpuf8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263595/original/file-20190313-123525-tpuf8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gain experience, but make sure it’s the right sort of experience.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>CVs are the main form of employability assessment used by recruiters and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2007.00288.x">employers</a>. And <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1464-0597.2007.00288.x">research</a> suggests that academic qualifications and work experience are both important. </p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-015-9903-9">Existing research</a>, for example, shows that internships can help students gain important insights into the workplace – including how to communicate effectively – but they can be highly competitive. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00071005.2010.527666">Volunteering</a> roles on the other hand are generally less competitive and can also help students to develop different skills – such as resilience and moral engagement. While extracurricular activities can provide additional skills and experience which can be closely related with an area of study or interest. </p>
<p>Certainly good academic performance combined with extracurricular activities has been shown to predict a high level of perceived <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001879117300052">employability</a>. However, there is a lack of research directly comparing how different types of work experience might be evaluated. </p>
<h2>What the research says</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-019-00369-5?wt_mc=Internal.Event.1.SEM.ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst&utm_source=ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst&utm_medium=email&utm_content=AA_en_06082018&ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst_20190302">new research study</a> investigated academic, employer and student assessment of a series of fictional CV excerpts. Each excerpt was based on a social science student with a 2:1 degree classification but varying work experience. </p>
<p>The CV excerpts allowed us to manipulate three key aspects of work experience: duration (six months versus two years), type (internship versus volunteering) and location (extracurricular versus co-curricular). Although previous <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07294360.2016.1139555">research</a> suggests that opinions of student employability can differ, our results found that students, academics and employers were similar in their assessments. </p>
<p>We found that extracurricular activities were viewed more positively than co-curricular activities overall. Internships were viewed more positively for graduate level positions compared with volunteer experience. And duration did not have an impact on employability evaluations. </p>
<h2>What this mean for students</h2>
<p>When it comes to making yourself employable, you can’t be expected to do everything, so you need to be selective in your work experience. Based on our results, it seems extracurricular activities that take place off campus are to be recommended above co-curricular activities. So it might be better to work as a project assistant for a charity than spend time as a class rep. Internships may also prove more useful than volunteering, though it should be noted that internships are generally more difficult to get hold of than volunteer positions. </p>
<p>It’s also worth considering that a long term placement is not necessarily going to be better for your CV than a series of short term placements – so worry less about how long the role will last, and more about what the role involves. </p>
<p>Ultimately though, as our study shows, employers view all work experience as important. So if in doubt, some work experience (of any type) is always going to be better than no work experience at all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112541/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Irwin received funding from ESRC/SGSSS for a collaborative PhD studentship (student: Gabi Lipan) with Skills Development Scotland</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabi Lipan receives funding from ESRC/SGSSS and Skills Development Scotland. </span></em></p>When a degree is not enough, how can students make themselves more employable?Dr Amy Irwin, Lecturer in Psychology, University of AberdeenGabi Lipan, PhD Candidate in the School of Psychology, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1096542019-01-10T23:45:15Z2019-01-10T23:45:15ZGraduate employment is up, but finding a job can still take a while<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253166/original/file-20190110-32154-p9mpdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Full-time employment is up, the gender gap has widened, and employers are generally satisfied with the quality of Australian graduates.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Four years on from the <a href="http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/AGS_REPORT_2014_FINAL.pdf">worst new graduate employment outcomes</a> ever, the 2018 statistics <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/about-this-site/graduate-employment">released today</a> show cause for optimism. Although full-time employment rates remain well down on a decade ago, they are improving.</p>
<h2>Graduates in health-related courses fare the best</h2>
<p>In early 2018, about four months after completing an undergraduate course, 73% of new graduates who were looking for full-time employment had found it. This continues a positive trend since the low point of 68% in 2014. But apart from the early 1990s recession, it’s still a poor result by historical standards. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253165/original/file-20190110-32139-1uru41s.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253165/original/file-20190110-32139-1uru41s.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253165/original/file-20190110-32139-1uru41s.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253165/original/file-20190110-32139-1uru41s.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253165/original/file-20190110-32139-1uru41s.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253165/original/file-20190110-32139-1uru41s.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253165/original/file-20190110-32139-1uru41s.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Full-time undergraduate employment rates, approximately four months after completion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Department of Education and Training, Graduate Outcomes Survey and Graduate Careers Australia, Graduate Destination Survey</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These overall results hide substantial differences between graduates of different degrees. As usual, health-related occupations have the best employment rate, with medicine, pharmacy and physiotherapy recording more than 90% employment. </p>
<p>Also as usual, graduates in the visual and performing arts have the worst outcomes, with just over half in full-time employment. Biological sciences graduates did better in 2018 than 2017, but with 58% in full-time employment they’re still in a tough labour market.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/docs/default-source/gos-reports/2018-gos-l/2018-gos-l-national-report-final.pdf?sfvrsn=742e33c_2">follow-up survey three years after graduation</a> suggests employment rates improve significantly over time, although the strong fields at the four-month point usually retain their top position. </p>
<h2>Job quality is stable</h2>
<p>Compared to 2017, job quality for new graduates in 2018 is stable. In both 2017 and 2018, 72% of graduates working full-time were in professional or managerial occupations. On a more subjective measure, in 2018 27% of graduates with full-time jobs felt they were not fully using their skills, slightly up on 2017. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-myths-about-australian-university-graduate-outcomes-87074">Five myths about Australian university graduate outcomes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Unfortunately, graduates from courses with poor overall full-time employment rates also have relatively low rates of professional and managerial employment and relatively high rates of reporting their job does not fully use their skills. </p>
<h2>Starting salaries are up slightly, but the gender gap has increased</h2>
<p>Median starting salaries also differ significantly between fields in 2018, ranging from a high of A$83,700 for dentistry to a low of A$47,000 for pharmacy. This reflects their <a href="https://www.pharmacyboard.gov.au/registration/internships.aspx">system for professional registration</a>. </p>
<p>The overall median starting salary in 2018 was A$61,000, up from A$60,000 in 2017. This roughly reflects salary increases <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/CBC188AEC406299BCA25817D0019F9CC?opendocument">across the overall labour market</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253336/original/file-20190110-43529-1yjnfzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253336/original/file-20190110-43529-1yjnfzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253336/original/file-20190110-43529-1yjnfzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253336/original/file-20190110-43529-1yjnfzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253336/original/file-20190110-43529-1yjnfzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253336/original/file-20190110-43529-1yjnfzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253336/original/file-20190110-43529-1yjnfzk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The gender pay gap for graduates widened again in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 2017, the graduate gender pay gap had narrowed to men earning 2% more than women. But in 2018 it widened again to 5%, or A$3,000 a year. Some of this is due to men choosing courses that lead to higher-paying jobs. But even in highly-feminised fields such as nursing and teaching men report slightly higher median salaries. </p>
<h2>Prestige universities do not provide better outcomes</h2>
<p>At first glance, the most surprising results in this survey are those reporting outcomes by university. Students from some of the most prestigious universities report poor employment and salary outcomes, while students from some regional universities do very well.</p>
<p>These counter-intuitive results highlight the importance of looking carefully at other characteristics of graduates. Regional universities enrol more mature-age students than big-city sandstone universities. Older people often already have work histories and current jobs, which is why they earn more when they graduate.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-it-pay-to-graduate-from-an-elite-university-not-as-much-as-youd-think-95658">Does it pay to graduate from an ‘elite’ university? Not as much as you'd think</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Sandstone universities are also more likely to have large arts and science faculties, and graduates in those fields can drag down median salaries. Even so, <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/816-mapping-higher-education-20142.pdf">previous studies have found</a> employers typically don’t initially pay a wage premium to graduates from sandstone universities. They want to see performance before they pay more, rather than trust university prestige. </p>
<h2>Employer satisfaction</h2>
<p>The complicated issue of graduate quality is examined in another report released today, the <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/about-this-site/employer-satisfaction">employer satisfaction survey</a>. This survey has a bias, as it relies on graduates nominating their supervisor to participate. </p>
<p>Graduates who think they’re doing badly are unlikely to nominate their supervisor, so the report’s 85% overall employer satisfaction is probably above the true number. But the survey is still useful for comparisons.</p>
<p>As with some of the other employment outcomes, employer satisfaction by university does not follow any prestige-based pattern. Only one sandstone university, the University of Queensland, makes it to the top ten universities by employer satisfaction. Bond University graduates have the most satisfied employers, followed by Western Sydney University and James Cook University graduates. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-problem-isnt-unskilled-graduates-its-a-lack-of-full-time-job-opportunities-90104">The problem isn't unskilled graduates, it's a lack of full-time job opportunities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>While employers were generally happy with their graduate hires, 40% said the qualification could have better developed graduates “technical and professional skills”. That seems high. On the other hand, few employers (5%) suggested the qualification could improve “teamwork and interpersonal skills”. </p>
<h2>Job growth is critical to employment outcomes</h2>
<p>The government wants universities to do more on graduate employment. Graduate job outcomes are likely to be part of new <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/performance-based-funding-commonwealth-grant-scheme">university performance funding scheme</a>. </p>
<p>But as the Minister for Education, Dan Tehan, <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/tehan/uni-graduates-taking-advantage-strong-economy">says in his media release</a> on these reports, job creation is crucial. Especially as <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/51381">total graduate numbers continue to increase</a>, job growth is the vital link between employability, which universities can help with, and actual employment for their graduates. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6291.0.55.003Feb%202014?OpenDocument">In 2014</a>, an increasing number of graduates collided with a declining number of professional and managerial jobs for people aged between 20 and 24 years. This is what caused the worst-ever graduate employment outcome. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253179/original/file-20190110-32139-1338ak9.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/253179/original/file-20190110-32139-1338ak9.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253179/original/file-20190110-32139-1338ak9.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253179/original/file-20190110-32139-1338ak9.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=466&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253179/original/file-20190110-32139-1338ak9.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253179/original/file-20190110-32139-1338ak9.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/253179/original/file-20190110-32139-1338ak9.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Professional and managerial jobs, people aged 20 to 24 years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Australian Bureau of Statistics, Detailed labour force</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But since 2014, with a couple of hesitations, the jobs trend has been positive. Job numbers were still going up in late 2018, which is a good sign for recent graduates looking for work. </p>
<p>The labour market will always fluctuate, but at least in the short term both the outcomes survey released today and the latest ABS figures suggest employment opportunities for graduates are increasing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109654/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Norton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At least in the short term, employment opportunities for graduates seem to be increasing.Andrew Norton, Higher Education Program Director, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1031802018-10-04T09:54:33Z2018-10-04T09:54:33ZUniversity isn’t the be all and end all when it comes to employment outcomes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238700/original/file-20181001-195272-n5fpzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is increasing pressure being placed on universities to deliver better “value for money”. Universities minister Sam Gyimah <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/delivering-value-for-money-in-the-age-of-the-student">wants school leavers to have greater</a> access to the labour market outcomes for each individual course. This would mean that prospective students could see which ones provide a good return on their investment. </p>
<p>It’s thought by the government, that subject level awards, detailed information on employment outcomes and performance rankings would help to reveal differences in teaching quality – allowing students to make <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/universities-to-be-rated-by-subject-quality">informed choices in the higher education market</a>.</p>
<p>The underlying assumption is that employment rates are a direct outcome of how well <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-must-look-at-local-employment-markets-when-building-their-graduates-skills-74631">students are taught in higher education</a>. There is a wider acceptance that workers with graduate qualifications are a distinct group of “better educated” people, whose “advanced skills” should convey higher wages in the labour market. And so if graduates are not finding (suitable) jobs or are not paid premium wages, something must be wrong with what and how they are taught at university.</p>
<h2>Better educated?</h2>
<p>The idea that universities need to take responsibility for how well students do in the labour market is far from new. In fact, over the last two decades, the success of higher education has been increasingly measured by the employability of its graduates. And because students in England are paying high amounts for their degrees, institutions are now meant to deliver the type of graduate that employers (are deemed to) want.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238707/original/file-20181001-195282-hpqcc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238707/original/file-20181001-195282-hpqcc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238707/original/file-20181001-195282-hpqcc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238707/original/file-20181001-195282-hpqcc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238707/original/file-20181001-195282-hpqcc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238707/original/file-20181001-195282-hpqcc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238707/original/file-20181001-195282-hpqcc5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Employers are looking for more than just a university degree.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, there is such a thing as a “graduate premium”. Those workers with degrees earn, on average, <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/graduatesintheuklabourmarket/2017">higher wages</a> than those who don’t. Those who study particular subjects, such as medicine, maths and economics, and those who have studied at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/undergraduate-degrees-relative-labour-market-returns">more prestigious institutions</a> tend to earn particularly well. Graduates are also more likely to <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/graduatesintheuklabourmarket/2017">be employed and to work in higher skilled roles</a>. </p>
<p>The issue here, though, is the presumption these superior labour market outcomes must be the result of the skills and knowledge students develop during those years spent in higher education. But the evidence for this is not convincing. </p>
<h2>The role of education in work</h2>
<p>Social science research suggests that the “graduate premium” is not positively driven by what graduates have learnt in higher education. Economists have tried to measure the pure effect of education – controlling for differences in preexisting abilities such as general intelligence. This proves to be <a href="http://ftp.iza.org/dp8235.pdf">quite tricky</a> to do, but it does seem as though this <a href="http://www.umass.edu/preferen/gintis/jelpap.pdf">seriously reduces</a> the impact of the “graduate premium”. </p>
<p>Sociologists and labour market researchers have also pointed out that employers select and reward graduate workers on a much wider basis than merely the skills and knowledge developed at university. This includes factors such as personality, work experience, exclusive credentials, networks, cultural characteristics and skills not necessarily developed at university. They have also pointed out that because this access to many high-paying sectors, occupations and positions have become virtually closed off to those without (elite) university degrees.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238708/original/file-20181001-195266-wr580a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238708/original/file-20181001-195266-wr580a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238708/original/file-20181001-195266-wr580a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238708/original/file-20181001-195266-wr580a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238708/original/file-20181001-195266-wr580a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238708/original/file-20181001-195266-wr580a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238708/original/file-20181001-195266-wr580a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Qualifications matter, but university isn’t the only way to get them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/graduate-work-9780198744481?cc=gb&lang=en&">recent study</a> looks at four occupations that are commonly thought of as “graduate roles”: lab-based scientists, software engineers, financial analysts and press officers. My research shows that among these occupations higher education is not actually very valued by employers and workers. Also, the meaning of degrees within these occupations differs a lot between roles as well as between organisations and sectors.</p>
<h2>Graduate outcomes</h2>
<p>So as my research shows, although qualifications still matter – in particular to access certain occupations – the skills and knowledge developed in higher education certainly does not drive many forms of high-skilled work. </p>
<p>Also, it’s employers who offer jobs and set wages, not universities. So just because occupations with large shares of graduates pay well, it does not mean university education itself drives wages. Why particular degrees pay better than others depends on the jobs graduates do after university, rather than simply the degrees they hold. It seems hard, therefore, to believe that universities can be held responsible for their graduates’ labour market outcomes.</p>
<p>The universities minister has been rightly criticised for his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2018/jun/26/value-for-money-what-a-grim-cold-way-to-talk-about-universitiesvalue-for-money-universities-government-further-education-job">crude instrumentalism</a>. But Gyimah’s recent drive for university courses to offer value for money also shows a crucial misunderstanding of the relationship between higher education and labour market outcomes. He isn’t the first person to overestimate and misinterpret the role higher education plays in many occupations – and I’m sure he won’t be the last.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103180/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gerbrand Tholen received funding from The British Academy. </span></em></p>The relationship between higher education and labour market outcomes is overestimated and misinterpreted.Gerbrand Tholen, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1026342018-09-05T07:48:19Z2018-09-05T07:48:19ZTo fix higher education funding, we also need to fix vocational education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234961/original/file-20180905-45169-e6f9ex.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We need a tertiary education funding system that will help get students into courses with employment opportunities at the end of them.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Yesterday the shadow education minister, Tanya Plibersek, <a href="http://www.tanyaplibersek.com/media_release_labor_to_help_all_australians_get_the_chance_to_study_at_uni">announced</a> Labor plans to invest an additional A$174 million in the higher education sector if there’s a change of government at the next election. This extra funding would be to give first in family students, students from outer suburbs and the country, Indigenous students, and students with a disability a better chance to study at university. </p>
<p>This is on top of a <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/labor-reaffirms-backing-uncapped-numbers-australia">promise to uncap student places</a> at university. Labor estimates this will see the number of Australians getting a university education rise by 200,000 over 12 years.</p>
<p>But university may not be the best option for everyone. Concern about a glut of students graduating from degrees such as <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/too-many-lawyers-futureproof-your-degree-20150730-ginpjh.html">law</a> or <a href="https://mumbrella.com.au/three-quarters-of-journalism-grads-fail-to-land-a-job-in-the-industry-535780">journalism</a> and not getting jobs have ignited discussion about whether we should control the number of students entering university or particular courses.</p>
<p>But if universities are to enrol fewer people, we should offer attractive alternatives to university education. To fix higher education, we also need to fix vocational education to help get students into courses with employment opportunities.</p>
<h2>Balancing graduates and the labour market</h2>
<p>From 2009 until last December, universities could enrol unlimited numbers of bachelor degree students and be paid for each one. This is a system called demand driven funding. It ended when the Commonwealth government announced it would only pay universities a <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/opinion/bold-and-successful-experiment-comes-to-premature-end-with-22-billion-university-funding-cut-20171220-h07tfa.html">fixed sum of money</a> from 2018 onwards, capping this sum for two years at the amount paid out in 2017. </p>
<p>A major criticism of the demand driven system was that it flooded the labour market with graduates who couldn’t find jobs in their field. In 2014, short-term graduate employment outcomes were the <a href="https://andrewnorton.net.au/2018/01/15/is-the-graduate-labour-market-recovering/">worst on record</a>. Nearly a third of graduates who were looking for full-time work couldn’t find it. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-problem-isnt-unskilled-graduates-its-a-lack-of-full-time-job-opportunities-90104">The problem isn't unskilled graduates, it's a lack of full-time job opportunities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The recent poor employment results for new graduates were partly due to bad timing. Most graduates aim for the professional jobs most likely to use their skills. But growth in the number of professional jobs nearly stalled in 2013 as the mining boom ended and <a href="http://highereducationstatistics.education.gov.au/">graduations started increasing</a> due to the introduction of the demand driven system. When the economy is weak, new job seekers suffer the most.</p>
<p>But over the longer run, <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/5F60A449AE6DE5F6CA258090000ED52A?opendocument">ABS data</a> shows the number of people in their early career securing professional jobs is increasing significantly. The end of the mining boom paused growth, but it didn’t reverse the long-term upward trend. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234739/original/file-20180904-41708-1fummv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234739/original/file-20180904-41708-1fummv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234739/original/file-20180904-41708-1fummv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234739/original/file-20180904-41708-1fummv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=392&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234739/original/file-20180904-41708-1fummv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234739/original/file-20180904-41708-1fummv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234739/original/file-20180904-41708-1fummv9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=493&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Occupational trends, 1987-2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ABS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>No higher education system can produce a perfect balance between graduates and the labour market. Education and the economy will always work on different timelines. But we need a tertiary education funding system that will help get students into courses with employment opportunities. </p>
<h2>Fixed funding</h2>
<p>Before demand driven funding, with universities getting fixed annual grants as they do again now, the system did not respond well to the labour market. In 2008, 40 professional occupations were in <a href="https://docs.jobs.gov.au/documents/historical-list-skill-shortages-australia-0">skills shortage</a>, with health-related fields such as aged care particularly badly affected. If Australia hadn’t been able to import large numbers of health professionals from overseas, this would have been a public health disaster. </p>
<p>Capped funding for universities makes it hard for them to respond to workforce issues as they emerge. Universities aren’t funded to accommodate the number of students who want to study or the number of skilled graduates needed in key areas, such as health care.</p>
<h2>The demand driven system mostly responded to labour market signals…</h2>
<p>Under demand driven funding, the higher education system adjusted to demand for graduates in certain fields and oversupply in others without government intervention. Demand driven funding does not mean endless, rapid growth in the numbers of students studying at university.</p>
<p>We can see how labour market information flowed through to student behaviour. <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/work-and-pay-prospects-for-graduates-deteriorated-in-2014-a-survey-shows-20141230-12fl2u.html">Media reports</a> highlighting poor graduate outcomes likely played a role in communicating market signals to students. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/deregulating-tafe-is-a-big-risk-to-the-labour-market-54171">Deregulating TAFE is a big risk to the labour market</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/no-school-jobs-available-for-thousands-of-trained-teachers-throughout-nsw-schools/news-story/e060deceae07330197c18cd659eccd3d">reports in NSW spread</a> of teaching graduates not finding work, the number of students commencing teaching degrees in NSW <a href="http://highereducationstatistics.education.gov.au/">fell by nearly 2,000</a>. The number of people <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/47771">accepting an offer</a> for an engineering course also fell as the mining boom ended. A shortage of skilled health workers was the biggest problem under the previous system, and health-related enrolments <a href="http://highereducationstatistics.education.gov.au/">grew by the most</a> under demand-driven funding. </p>
<p>By 2015 <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/demand_driven_facts_figures_SLNSW_13Feb.pdf">the enrolment boom</a> that began in 2009 was over. Only five professional occupations <a href="https://www.jobs.gov.au/national-state-and-territory-skill-shortage-information">remain in skills shortage</a>, including surveyors and vets. </p>
<h2>But not always</h2>
<p>Students don’t always react to bad labour market news. Science added <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/demand_driven_facts_figures_SLNSW_13Feb.pdf">more than 12,000</a> commencing students between 2008 and 2016, as employment outcomes went <a href="https://www.afr.com/technology/panic-over-science-education-is-overdone-says-andrew-norton-20160406-go043o">from mediocre to terrible</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/2013/05/the-future-of-science-in-australia/">Chief Scientist</a> and politicians promoted science, which may have misled students. The science experience is a reminder to policymakers they need to be careful about the signals they send to students. </p>
<h2>Offer attractive alternatives to university</h2>
<p>Although well-motivated by concerns about who has access to a university education, <a href="http://www.tanyaplibersek.com/media_release_labor_to_help_all_australians_get_the_chance_to_study_at_uni">Labor’s current talking up</a> of higher education may not be good advice to students in every case. The demand driven system has often responded to labour market signals, but some further moderation in the numbers of students attending university would make it easier for graduates to find professional jobs. </p>
<p>But if universities are to enrol fewer people, we should offer attractive alternatives to university education, rather than simply restricting university student numbers. Vocational education is one of those potential alternatives. Technical and trade employment is also growing, as the chart above shows. Thirty technical and trade occupations were <a href="https://docs.jobs.gov.au/documents/historical-list-skill-shortages-australia-0">in skills shortage in 2017</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vocational-education-and-training-sector-is-still-missing-out-on-government-funding-report-88863">Vocational education and training sector is still missing out on government funding: report</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Unfortunately, university demand driven funding coincided with chaos in vocational education, thanks to <a href="http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/reports/expenditure-on-education-and-training-in-australia-2017/">state governments cutting funding</a> for vocational education and the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/how-australia-s-education-debacle-is-still-creating-victims-20180419-p4zal3.html">VET FEE-HELP fiasco</a>. </p>
<p>It’s hard for vocational education to compete with universities when students sometimes need to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for their course, while higher education undergraduates can <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-loan-program-help">defer all their tuition costs via HELP</a>. The student income support system is also biased against vocational education, with <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/youth-allowance-students-and-australian-apprentices/who-can-get-it/approved-courses-and-institutions#a2">restricted eligibility</a> and <a href="https://www.humanservices.gov.au/individuals/services/centrelink/student-start-loan/eligibility/approved-courses">lower payments</a>. </p>
<p>The policy status quo of capped higher education funding and a funding bias against vocational education will not serve us well. With restored demand driven funding and changes to vocational education, the tertiary education system would do a better job of matching students with the courses that maximise their long-term employment outcomes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102634/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Norton was a government-appointed co-reviewer of the demand driven system in 2014, and served on an expert panel advising the minister for higher education in 2016 and 2017. The demand driven system was one of the issues under consideration by the panel. </span></em></p>If Labor is to once again uncap university funding, vocational education reform is a vital.Andrew Norton, Higher Education Program Director, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/985112018-06-25T09:16:49Z2018-06-25T09:16:49ZCan university graduates really become police detectives in 12 weeks? The jury’s still out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224027/original/file-20180620-137708-1ek2nh3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/130810625?src=1XNYkuBlnMLVZoGWn6vVeQ-2-34&size=huge_jpg">shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The announcement of a plan <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/home-office-detectives-major-shortage-national-crisis-hmic-nick-hurd-a8392391.html">by government ministers</a> to recruit and develop new graduates into police detectives with a 12-week training course, instantly polarised opinion. While the minister of policing, Nick Hurd, declared his “delight” at the introduction of new talent, the <a href="http://www.polfed.org/aboutus/default.aspx">Police Federation</a> called it an <a href="https://polfed.org/Surrey/news/2018/new-fast-track-scheme-is-an-insult-to-detectives/">“insult”</a> to its current members.</p>
<p>Based on discussions I have had with senior officers, operational detectives and academics, I aim to present both sides of the debate and allow the reader to consider all the arguments.</p>
<h2>A police force in need</h2>
<p>The chief proponents of the scheme, the Home Office and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), argue that it will help the police recruit more detectives, and increase their effectiveness.</p>
<p>This is for three main reasons. First, it is a reasonable response to a <a href="https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/news/news-feed/hmic-raises-warning-flag-as-forces-strive-to-cope-with-increased-demand/">national crisis in detective numbers</a>. Most of the country’s police forces are suffering from a shortage of investigators, and the lack of new recruits leads to excessive stress on those already in their roles.</p>
<p>Second, as society evolves and generates new types of criminality, the police must evolve in tandem. In recent years, increasingly effective security measures have <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/overviewofburglaryandotherhouseholdtheft/englandandwales">cut some conventional crimes</a> (car theft, burglary). But organised crime, online crime (fraud, child pornography) and hidden crime (child sexual exploitation) appear to now be more prevalent. Snapping up more graduates and fast-tracking them through, it has been suggested, will create a more diverse, flexible police force better equipped to take on these new challenges.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224021/original/file-20180620-137720-yges3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224021/original/file-20180620-137720-yges3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224021/original/file-20180620-137720-yges3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224021/original/file-20180620-137720-yges3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224021/original/file-20180620-137720-yges3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224021/original/file-20180620-137720-yges3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224021/original/file-20180620-137720-yges3c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cybercrime is on the rise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/558399481?src=63dnkMeCXvJwssyVelZdZA-1-47&size=huge_jpg">shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Finally, since the 1990s, criminal investigation has developed as a research area in both physical (forensics) and social (psychology, sociology, criminology) sciences. And so the scheme also seeks to harness the academic prowess of university graduates fresh from research-heavy degrees, who can get to grips with the new challenges facing the police.</p>
<p>Offender profiling – popularised by 1991 Oscar-winner <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102926/">Silence of the Lambs</a> – offers a quick and low-cost approach to identifying suspects by matching up crime scene behaviours with offender characteristics. New techniques for improving witness testimony (<a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-interview.html">cognitive interviewing</a>), and suspect examination (investigative interviewing), ushered in a new age of behavioural insight, while scientific advances such as DNA analysis became increasingly significant.</p>
<p>But these methods bring their own dangers. The original FBI research that kickstarted profiling has since been <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/14636646200500019">widely discredited</a>, while in the UK an attempted sting operation against a profiled suspect met with <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/3834196/Rachel-Nickell-the-psychologist-who-focused-on-Colin-Stagg.html">fierce criticism</a>. Even forensic science techniques have generated concern when <a href="http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150512-can-we-trust-forensic-science">not practised with proper professionalism</a>. The hope is that graduates with more experience in research methodology will be better-equipped to employ research-led techniques in a more effective manner.</p>
<h2>Overzealous and under-qualified?</h2>
<p>So much for the positives. Other organisations, such as police staff association the Police Federation, have <a href="http://www.polfed.org/newsroom/5729.aspx">strongly criticised the initiative</a>, arguing that the existing structures are much more likely to create high-quality investigators.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224024/original/file-20180620-137708-nm55i1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224024/original/file-20180620-137708-nm55i1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224024/original/file-20180620-137708-nm55i1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224024/original/file-20180620-137708-nm55i1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224024/original/file-20180620-137708-nm55i1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224024/original/file-20180620-137708-nm55i1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224024/original/file-20180620-137708-nm55i1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Young police officers are in demand.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/296525768?src=1XNYkuBlnMLVZoGWn6vVeQ-1-7&size=huge_jpg">shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Under the current system, serving officers experience the reality of criminal investigation before deciding that they want to become detectives. A graduate, on the other hand, may be more influenced by the notoriously inaccurate representations in cop shows and detective stories. </p>
<p>Some also argue that the plan ignores the root cause of the problem - the steady devaluing of the role of the detective. Detectives were recently left livid after it emerged that uniformed officers receive <a href="https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/police-chief-reveals-uniform-officers-12678434">higher pay due to their shift allowance</a>. If the detective role was better understood and the demands of the job more appreciated, critics suggest, its value would rise and recruitment would increase.</p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.npcc.police.uk/2017%20FOI/CO/078%2017%20CCC%20April%202017%2018%20HMIC%20Recommendations%20Appendix%201.pdf">2017 NPCC report</a> also highlighted that many UK forces (Metropolitan Police Service, South Yorkshire, Durham, Essex, Hampshire, Devon and Cornwall) already have systems in place to fast-track detectives, or use <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/on-the-beat-with-the-civilian-detectives-in-manchester-1787335.html">civilian investigators</a> to fill related roles. Critics say that these approaches deserve proper evaluation prior to the rolling out of any national scheme. </p>
<h2>Time will tell</h2>
<p>There is no doubt that the challenges that the police face today are very different to those they faced in the past. Society has experienced unprecedented technological and economic change, while the population is larger and moves around more, increasing the pressure on law enforcement. Police forces are also saddled with contracting budgets, but, constrained by their leadership and tight organisational structures, it is also argued that they have been slow to adapt to the modern world.</p>
<p>Change is clearly necessary, and the direct entry scheme for detectives is responding to a well-documented need. But like many other policing initiatives, we lack a base of hard evidence with which to reliably predict its success. Time will ultimately be arbiter of which of these two sides is proved right.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98511/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Kirby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New plans will speed students through an intensive training course, that will see them working cases in 12 weeks.Stuart Kirby, Professor of Policing and Criminal Investigation, University of Central LancashireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/901662018-01-17T18:44:14Z2018-01-17T18:44:14ZSurveys are not the best way to measure the performance of Australian universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202231/original/file-20180117-53302-7x64gn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C170%2C991%2C453&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The surveyors start out with almost 100,000 graduate contacts, of whom less than 10% provide their supervisor's details and of those supervisors, less than half participate in the survey. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Depending on who’s doing the reading, the <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/about-this-site/employer-satisfaction">2017 Employer Satisfaction Survey</a> shows the overwhelming majority of employers <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/Media-and-Events/media-releases/Grads-well-prepared-for-jobs--employer-satisfaction-remains-high--survey#.Wl1NX66Wa70">think graduates are well-prepared for jobs</a>. Or it might show universities <a href="https://www.senatorbirmingham.com.au/improving-the-employment-potential-of-graduates/">need to do more to address the needs of graduates and employers</a>. Or even that universities are <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/university-degrees-are-failing-to-deliver-for-business/news-story/554c200326874314f8b14ff161296503">not delivering to businesses</a>.</p>
<p>Concerns about whether universities are doing enough to make graduates job-ready are not new. As higher education policy expert Andrew Norton observed <a href="http://andrewnorton.net.au/2018/01/08/over-qualification-hard-to-measure-harder-to-avoid/">recently</a>, this issue was alive in the early <a href="http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A29728">70s</a>. </p>
<p>In fact, you can go back in time even further. In the 1950s, the Report of the Committee on Australian Universities <a href="http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A53782">called</a> upon both universities and government to do more to work with industry to identify future labour demand and offer courses accordingly. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-myths-about-australian-university-graduate-outcomes-87074">Five myths about Australian university graduate outcomes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The release of the latest <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/docs/default-source/gos-reports/2017/2017_gos_national_report_final_accessiblea45d8791b1e86477b58fff00006709da.pdf?sfvrsn=ceb5e33c_4&_cldee=c29waGllLmhlaXplckB0aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uZWR1LmF1&recipientid=contact-09dc957fbd87e7118120e0071b66a691-0930c8235d7d4a10bd63a0fdd8972b65&esid=f8ef3ba5-1cf7-e711-8134-e0071b68f7c1">Graduate Ouctomes Survey</a> had a similar effect in focussing attention on higher education performance. </p>
<p>A focus on graduate employability is not surprising. What is surprising is we are using mostly the same ways of measuring university performance we have for decades, when more accurate means exist. </p>
<h2>Why the way we use the surveys is flawed</h2>
<p>Like all surveys, the <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/about-this-site/employer-satisfaction">Employer Satisfaction Survey</a> has to account for and overcome a number of elements that can affect the validity of the results. For example, 4,348 survey responses sounds like a lot, but this represents only 9.3% of all possible employer contacts. </p>
<p>Also, the way employers are contacted is a problem. It’s the graduate who’s contacted and invited to provide their supervisor’s details to the survey team. So the surveyors start out with almost 100,000 graduate contacts, of whom less than 10% provide their supervisor’s details and of those supervisors, less than half participate in the survey. </p>
<p>Another issue is the survey relies largely on subjective measurements of perception. For example, data <a href="http://andrewnorton.net.au/2018/01/08/over-qualification-hard-to-measure-harder-to-avoid/">shows</a> the supervisors of graduates are more likely than the graduates themselves to think the graduate’s qualification is important. Two perceptions of the same qualification in the same context - which one, if either, is right? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202236/original/file-20180117-53328-12peyri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202236/original/file-20180117-53328-12peyri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202236/original/file-20180117-53328-12peyri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202236/original/file-20180117-53328-12peyri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202236/original/file-20180117-53328-12peyri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202236/original/file-20180117-53328-12peyri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202236/original/file-20180117-53328-12peyri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Employers and graduates had different ideas of how important the graduate’s qualification was.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/docs/default-source/gos-reports/2017/2017_gos_national_report_final_accessiblea45d8791b1e86477b58fff00006709da.pdf?sfvrsn=ceb5e33c_4&_cldee=c29waGllLmhlaXplckB0aGVjb252ZXJzYXRpb24uZWR1LmF1&recipientid=contact-09dc957fbd87e7118120e0071b66a691-0930c8235d7d4a10bd63a0fdd8972b65&esid=f8ef3ba5-1cf7-e711-8134-e0071b68f7c1">Graduate Outcomes Survey</a> also relies on graduates being willing to complete the survey. The latest survey had a response rate of 45%, which is very good for surveys. But the survey is sent out only four months after graduation. It does not, then, necessarily reflect the short - let alone medium or long-term - employment prospects for the individual. </p>
<p>This is not to say the methodologies underpinning these surveys are not robust, or the <a href="http://www.srcentre.com.au/">Social Research Centre</a>, who deliver the surveys, are not experts in their field. It is and they are. When a survey is the best option for gathering data, then these types of survey should be run. But we shouldn’t be using findings such as these to measure university performance, when there are better options available. </p>
<h2>The missing link</h2>
<p>For decades now, there has been an administrative link between a graduate’s education and taxation records. If domestic students have ever wondered why they are issued with a<a href="http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees/pages/track_debt"> Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number</a> (CHESSN), and why they need to provide their Tax File Number (TFN) to the university, this is the reason. </p>
<p>The CHESSN tracks their educational history, even when they change courses or institutions. Consequently it keeps track of their
<a href="http://studyassist.gov.au/sites/studyassist/helppayingmyfees/hecs-help/pages/hecs-help-welcome">HECS-HELP</a> debt. By linking the CHESSN to the TFN, a record of the debt can be provided to the Australian Taxation Office, for future collection. </p>
<p>This administrative link could also be used to provide accurate and detailed longitudinal analyses of which jobs all graduates end up in, not just those motivated to respond to a survey. As time passes - or by going back further into the records - detailed pictures can be provided about how graduates perform over time, which organisations recruit and retain the most graduates, which courses show evidence of greater graduate mobility, actual lifetime earnings (as opposed to predicted), and so on. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202237/original/file-20180117-53289-1ke8jld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/202237/original/file-20180117-53289-1ke8jld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202237/original/file-20180117-53289-1ke8jld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202237/original/file-20180117-53289-1ke8jld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202237/original/file-20180117-53289-1ke8jld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202237/original/file-20180117-53289-1ke8jld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/202237/original/file-20180117-53289-1ke8jld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students already have to provide their TFN to their place of study and work so that debt can be tracked.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Graduate outcomes would also be better contextualised against non-graduate outcomes, as well as national and international labour market trends. One-off, or purpose-specific analyses could be more easily provided to address specific government or community concerns as and when they arise. </p>
<p>If the government were to make key findings of these analyses publicly-available on a regular basis, students, politicians and policymakers would be able to make much more informed decisions regarding future study requirements. The current surveys would still be important, as they can provide additional information government records cannot. But when it comes to measuring university performance, hard data is the key.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-problem-isnt-unskilled-graduates-its-a-lack-of-full-time-job-opportunities-90104">The problem isn't unskilled graduates, it's a lack of full-time job opportunities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Linking government records in this way is a sensitive issue. There would need to be a significant investment in the right infrastructure and systems to ensure the data was protected and analysed appropriately. Given the centrality of graduate employability to government higher education policy, now might be the time for this investment.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The final paragraph of this article has been amended since publication to reflect that there is some existing legislation that could facilitate this data collection.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90166/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Pitman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An administrative link between a graduate’s education and taxation records already exists, and it could be used to give us more accurate and detailed longitudinal analyses of graduate outcomes.Tim Pitman, Senior Researcher Fellow, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/870742017-11-24T01:59:38Z2017-11-24T01:59:38ZFive myths about Australian university graduate outcomes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195387/original/file-20171120-18525-1y1prot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">While securing a stable job is essential, dismissing the qualitative experience of learning and its extraordinary benefits is reductive.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Universities are vital to Australia’s sustained prosperity. However, the complexity of our current higher education policy landscape, combined with profound economic forces, have led to a number of myths and misconceptions about what happens to students after they graduate. </p>
<p>New analysis reveals five myths or misconceptions about Australian university graduate outcomes. The analysis uses data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (<a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/">ABS</a>) <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/Employment-and-Unemployment">Labour Force Survey</a>, <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/">Quality Indicators of Learning and Teaching</a> (QILT), and former Australian Graduate Survey (<a href="http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/research/surveys/australiangraduatesurvey/">AGS</a>).</p>
<h2>Myth 1: Full-time graduate employment rates have been consistently declining for decades</h2>
<p>Overall, <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/docs/default-source/gos-reports/2017/2016-ses-national-report-final.pdf?sfvrsn=14e0e33c_5">student satisfaction</a> is high (82%) and <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/docs/default-source/gos-reports/2016/gos-national-report.pdf?sfvrsn=423de23c_12">graduate outcomes</a> in Australia are good. Full-time employment immediately following graduation was at 70.9% in 2016, up from 68.8% in 2015.</p>
<p>Australian graduate employment rates are among the best in the world. One third of all Australian universities made the world’s top 200 list in <a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/employability-rankings/2017">Graduate Employability Rankings</a>. </p>
<p>However, the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Full-time graduate employment rates have fluctuated significantly over the past 35 years. These fluctuations coincide with major shocks to the Australian economy, during recessions of the 1980s, 1990s and after the Global Financial Crisis (<a href="https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2009/sp-so-150409.html">GFC</a>) of 2008/09. </p>
<p>Full-time graduate employment rates rise and fall in direct correlation with changes in Australia’s <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/5206.0">Gross Domestic Product</a> (GDP):</p>
<hr>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/8Q7ND/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="800"></iframe>
<hr>
<p>In their first four months following graduation, university graduates are particularly exposed to these economic factors. They are often entering a new career for the first time, with limited discipline experience, in an environment where businesses might be clamping down on increased costs. Full-time <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/docs/default-source/gos-reports/2016/gos-national-report.pdf?sfvrsn=423de23c_12">graduate employment</a> rates rise a further 17.5% (to 88.4%) in just under three years after graduation.</p>
<p>The last 35 years have also seen massive change to labour markets and the Australian economy. The myth of a “consistent decline” runs counter to what has been an era of constant change. For example, in 1986, only 7.2% of 15-74 year olds held a bachelor degree qualification, compared to 28% for men and 35% for women in 2017 (<a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats%5Cabs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/D422D0160CA82AE8CA25750C00117DD1">ABS</a>). During this time, the sophistication and diversity of the Australian graduate employment market have forever changed, and for the better.</p>
<p>Following the late 1980s recession and stock market crash known as “<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-19/black-tuesday-1987-share-crash-three-decades-on/9053796">Black Tuesday</a>”, graduate employment rates took ten years to recover to their original levels. Unlike the sharp turns of the stock market, losses and gains in graduate employment are a slow burn. </p>
<h2>Myth 2: Graduate employment rates are not impacted by economic downturns</h2>
<p>While it seems counter-intuitive, this is <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/productivity-review/report/productivity-review-supporting7.pdf">a prevalent myth</a>. The logic stems from Myth 1: if graduate employment rates have been declining consistently, then this decline has nothing to do with cyclical economic downturns or recessions.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194744/original/file-20171115-19768-1v7rjk5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/194744/original/file-20171115-19768-1v7rjk5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194744/original/file-20171115-19768-1v7rjk5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194744/original/file-20171115-19768-1v7rjk5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194744/original/file-20171115-19768-1v7rjk5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194744/original/file-20171115-19768-1v7rjk5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/194744/original/file-20171115-19768-1v7rjk5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>The errors of this myth can be logically dispelled. Analysis clearly reveals full-time graduate employment rates are correlated with Gross Domestic Product changes over a 35-year period. This correlation is particularly acute over the last three years. In other words, a good economy is a strong predictor of graduate success. </p>
<h2>Myth 3: Most graduates are underemployed by choice</h2>
<p>Graduate employment is influenced by numerous large scale economic factors. However, many graduates (29.1%) <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/about-this-site/graduate-employment">initially feel</a> that they are working in jobs that doesn’t fully utilise their skills and education. </p>
<p>According to the national Graduate Outcomes Survey (<a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/about-this-site/graduate-employment">GOS</a>), most graduates say labour market factors are to blame for both underemployment and under-utilisation of their skills and education. Once again, it is the health of local job markets that influence whether a degree will be useful after graduation. </p>
<hr>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/HCIcD/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="425"></iframe>
<hr>
<p>The vast majority (92%) of <a href="https://www.qilt.edu.au/about-this-site/graduate-employment">employers said</a> they were satisfied with the foundation and technical skills of their graduate. Overall satisfaction among employers is high, at 84%. Interestingly, graduates tend to view their qualification as less important than their employer. </p>
<h2>Myth 4: A university degree is a short term investment</h2>
<p>One of the more recent myths is the assumption that a degree provides just short-term, immediate gains that are only as good as a graduate’s first job out of uni. In a world of multiple career changes, regular market disruptions and reinvented occupations, the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/there-is-no-such-thing-as-a-job-for-life-anymore-20160223-gn141j.html">career-for-life</a> are over. The new challenge for university degrees is developing transferable skills and knowledge.</p>
<p>The myth is also immersed in a fine policy distinction between Australia’s vocational education and training (VET) system and higher education. For this, a simple distinction can be made. VET is focused on the here and now – for <a href="https://www.asqa.gov.au/vet-registration/understand-requirements-registration/vet-quality-framework">workplace-specific skills and knowledge</a> that are responsive to industry needs. Universities are <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/uni-participation-quality">focused</a> on the present and future to ensure that Australia’s future skills needs are met, national productivity improves, and a high-income economy is sustained.</p>
<p>A university education is a long-term investment for a life of critical thinking and self-awareness. Graduate employment outcomes just a few months after completion are a crude measure for the <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/review_of_the_demand_driven_funding_system_report_for_the_website.pdf">expansive benefits</a>, lower unemployment, lower welfare dependency, personal satisfaction, health and quality of life university graduates are rewarded with throughout the course of their lives.</p>
<h2>Myth 5: University education is really just about getting a job</h2>
<p>The economic imperative of university education is underscored by the fact it is partially funded by the Australian public. However, taxpayer funding is only part of the story.</p>
<p>Education is Australia’s <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/Media-and-Events/media-releases/Australia-s-education-exports-at-record-high#.WgWaJdMjGRs">third largest export</a>, with universities responsible for a very large part of A$21.8 billion in international education earnings. </p>
<p>Numbers aside, university-level research, training and partnerships can be attributed to many of Australia’s greatest innovations. These <a href="http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2010/06/australian-inventions-that-changed-the-world/">include</a> polymer bank notes, Wi-Fi technology, ultrasound scanners, Gardasil and Cervarix cancer vaccines and countless <a href="http://www.sciencealert.com/9-surprising-australian-innovations-that-changed-the-world">other</a> non-commercialised contributions. </p>
<p>While securing a stable job is essential, dismissing the qualitative experience of learning and its extraordinary benefits is reductive. It boils higher education down to a credentialling scheme, rather than an innovation ecosystem that drives a smart economy and flourishing society. There is nothing to regret about learning, nor is it ever too late to start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87074/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Omer Yezdani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New analysis reveals surprising insights into five key myths and misconceptions about Australian university student graduate outcomes.Omer Yezdani, Director, Office of Planning and Strategic Management, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/785652017-06-01T08:59:57Z2017-06-01T08:59:57ZYoung people are right to feel hard done by – pay discrimination for under 25s is legal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171688/original/file-20170531-25664-o8qzvo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young people don't have a right to equal pay. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/duncan/7645920232/sizes/l">duncan/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of the university students graduating in the coming months are likely to feel short-changed when they start looking for jobs. Until they reach their 25th birthdays, and regardless of their qualifications, the minimum hourly rate they can be paid is £7.05 gross. That is 45p an hour less than the absolute minimum payable to someone 25-years-old and over, for the same job. The rates are even lower for those under 21 and under 18. </p>
<p>This is because the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/schedule/9">law</a> allows age discrimination in minimum wages – but only for the low-paid. The exemption doesn’t apply if the person is earning over the National Living Wage (NLW) – introduced by the Conservatives in 2016. Yet, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/604442/A_rising_floor_-_the_latest_evidence_on_the_National_Living_Wage_and_youth_rates_of_the_minimum_wage.pdf">as of April 2017</a>, 8.5% of the workforce is on one of the minimum rates. </p>
<p>A National Minimum Wage was introduced in 1998 by the Labour government to fulfil a <a href="http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/man/lab97.htm">manifesto pledge</a> to tackle low pay and poverty. From the outset, distinctions were made for rates for apprentices, but the adult rate applied to those over 21 and not in full-time education.</p>
<p>When, in the face of a mounting campaign for a higher living wage, the Conservative government introduced the NLW in 2016, it decided to exclude under 25-year-olds and create a new age band for 21-24 year olds. Those over 25 saw an increase of 4.3% in the minimum wage while under 25s saw 3.2%. The NLW is a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/summer-budget-2015-key-announcements">commitment</a> to phase in a significant wage increase for those above 25 with a target of £9 an hour by 2020. </p>
<iframe id="datawrapper-chart-Wwwge" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Wwwge/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="350"></iframe>
<h2>Where the parties stand</h2>
<p>Three of the main parties have picked up the issue in their election campaigning. The <a href="http://www.labour.org.uk/index.php/manifesto2017/fair-deal-at-work">Labour Party manifesto</a> promises to raise the minimum wage to the level of the NLW for all workers over 18. The <a href="https://www.greenparty.org.uk/green-guarantee/our-promise-to-young-people.html">Green Party</a> will proceed by scrapping age-related wage bands and raising the national minimum wage to living wage levels for all. The <a href="https://www.snp.org/manifesto">Scottish National Party</a> manifesto is the most far-reaching and supports the Real Living Wage of <a href="https://www.livingwage.org.uk/what-is-the-living-wage">£8.45</a> for all adults over 18. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.libdems.org.uk/liberal-democrats-manifesto-2017-general-election-launch">The Liberal Democrats manifesto</a> vows to promote the adoption of the living wage but is silent on the exclusion of under-25s from it. <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/manifesto">The Conservatives</a> have pledged to increase the NLW to 60% of median earnings by 2020 and thereafter by the rate of median earnings – but there is no proposal to include under-25s. <a href="http://www.ukip.org/manifesto2017">The UKIP Manifesto</a> says it will enforce the living and national wages and increase the number of minimum wage inspectors. It says nothing about the under-25 exclusion. </p>
<h2>Is the discrimination justified?</h2>
<p>Although it has not yet faced a legal challenge, the under-25 exclusion could yet be challenged in court for unjustified age discrimination. An EU <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32000L0078:en:HTML">equality directive</a> on this issue is still applicable while the UK remains part of the EU. It allows countries to legislate for age discrimination, but only where the discrimination fulfils a legitimate aim. Justification of discrimination must be specific and based on evidence.</p>
<p>In his July 2015 budget speech, the then-chancellor, George Osborne, gave no reason for the NLW applying only to working people over 25. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482910/BIS-15-481-NMW-interim-evidence-2015.pdf">A government evidence document</a> published that autumn was more specific and justified excluding workers under 25 in “order to maximise the opportunities for younger workers to gain … experience”. </p>
<p>The government receives annual advice about pay from the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/low-pay-commission">Low Pay Commission</a> which considers evidence from the labour market. In its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/575634/10583-LPC-National_Living_Wage_WEB.pdf">autumn 2016 report</a>, the commission found that the NLW had started to have an inflationary effect on median pay but that this effect was less pronounced for the under-25s. While noting an increase in employment for the 21 to 25 age group, it said that more younger workers were being hired. It didn’t explicitly say so, but it’s possible that this is because they were cheaper for employers to hire. </p>
<p>Since the Brexit vote, there are already <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/indeed-com-fall-eu-citizens-looking-for-work-britain-2017-3">reports</a> of fewer takers for low-pay jobs that had previously been sought by young EU citizens. If this continues, it’s possible that a less crowded labour market may actually remove one of the arguments in favour of a lower minimum rate – because there will be fewer young workers competing for jobs, though this would depend in turn on the state of the economy. </p>
<p>Labour market policy generally and justifications for discrimination specifically must be constantly reviewed in light of changing social conditions. The exclusion does not look cogent and the evidence underpinning it could well change. <a href="https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef1703en.pdf">In Europe,</a> only Greece and the UK draw the line at 25. </p>
<p>Since the election was called, 1.05m 18- to 24-year-olds <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/19/important-young-people-vote/">have registered to vote</a>. Equal access to the NLW for those among them in low pay or risking it may not be the only issue they consider at the ballot box on June 8, but it may be one of them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78565/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandhya Drew does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Until you reach 25, employers can pay you less than your older colleagues.Sandhya Drew, Associate Tutor in Public, Employment and Equality Law, University of SurreyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/651142016-09-18T16:43:14Z2016-09-18T16:43:14ZIf Africa grows its universities cleverly, its economies will flourish<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137062/original/image-20160908-25272-1heut6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As degrees become more commonplace, African graduates are struggling more to find jobs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">George Esiri/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea of “education for the masses” – rapidly increasing university enrolment rates – has <a href="http://portal.unesco.org/education/es/files/9619/10376170210CommissionI-E.pdf/CommissionI-E.pdf">changed the face</a> of higher education in the past 50 years. The term “massification” has been adopted to describe it.</p>
<p>Universities in the US, Britain, Russia, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21647285-more-and-more-money-being-spent-higher-education-too-little-known-about-whether-it">lead the pack</a> when it comes to opening their doors to more students. </p>
<p>These countries’ institutions also perform well by any measure of research and postgraduate output. They have shown that, over time, there’s no conflict between dramatically increasing access to university education and the quality of this tertiary education. </p>
<p>Africa’s universities are also growing rapidly. In 1999, there were <a href="http://monitor.icef.com/2015/03/african-summit-calls-for-major-expansion-of-higher-education/">around 3.53 million</a> students on the continent. By 2012, that figure had <a href="http://monitor.icef.com/2015/03/african-summit-calls-for-major-expansion-of-higher-education/">trebled to 9.54 million</a>. However, they must learn from more developed nations’ successes and failures to ensure that their massification is not just haphazard.</p>
<p>Massification needs policy, planning and funding. It must be done with a keen eye on a country’s economic needs. Otherwise, increasing graduate numbers will simply translate into increasing graduate unemployment.</p>
<h2>Graduate unemployment around the globe</h2>
<p>There are some 150.6 million tertiary students globally. That’s <a href="http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/ED/pdf/WCHE_2009/1745_trend_final-rep_ES_FP_090617a.pdf">roughly a 53% increase</a> from 2000. Degrees are becoming more commonplace and job markets around the world are seeing a glut of graduates. There simply aren’t enough jobs for all of them. </p>
<p>This is true on all continents and is related to several factors: a mismatch between graduates’ skills and labour market demands; an oversupply of graduates for certain fields, and structural policies. Recent studies <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/53-of-recent-college-grads-are-jobless-or-underemployed-how/256237/">have found</a> that between 40% and 50% of US college graduates are overqualified for the work they’re doing.</p>
<p>The situation is similar in Britain, where <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/publications/long-destinations-2008-09/introduction">underemployment among graduates</a> rose from 37% in 2001 to 47% in June 2013.</p>
<p>Graduate unemployment <a href="http://acetforafrica.org/highlights/unemployment-in-africa-no-jobs-for-50-of-graduates/">plagues Africa</a> too. </p>
<p>But the continent should not use this as an excuse to bring massification to a halt. Given Africa’s growth trajectory, it needs skilled graduates. To meet this need, universities must open their doors to more students. But they must do so armed with knowledge, lessons from elsewhere and strong funding models. </p>
<h2>A regional focus</h2>
<p>Funding models from other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries provide some useful guidelines. Studying these will allow African universities to understand more about how to successfully pursue massification. Political will, government investment and a proper understanding of what sorts of graduates a country needs are all crucial. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uyZwufrro7s?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The US’s experiences with massification hold many lessons for African universities.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The massification of higher education must be linked to regional socioeconomic development strategies. Universities need to respond to their regions’ specific needs. </p>
<p>For instance, Ethiopia is focusing on <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201506250731.html">two major economic initiatives</a>: the development of hydroelectric power and the development of an agricultural sector that provides food security.</p>
<p>The initiatives are in their infancy. But Ethiopia is <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201506250731.html">already starting</a> to integrate infrastructure projects with research and skills development. Its <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201505190473.html">Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam</a> was a site for scientific research and innovation as well as students’ skill development.</p>
<p>A similar model was used for <a href="http://www.smartrailworld.com/nation-building-through-rail-high-speed-rail-and-south-korea">South Korea’s</a> high-speed railway system. The project spawned major innovations and bolstered local engineering skills.</p>
<p>These examples show that large national projects can be run in tandem with universities and other research institutes.</p>
<h2>Alignment is key</h2>
<p>University systems must also align with local industries. One of the most striking is in Rochester, New York led by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York. It is a public-private partnership with a clear mandate to create new jobs and innovative products.</p>
<p>This creates a symbiotic partnership in which both academics and students get practical, relevant exposure. Such partnerships also give universities the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/07/27/fact-sheet-vice-president-biden-announces-new-integrated-photonics">chance to share</a> laboratories and cutting edge research facilities with both industry and government. </p>
<p>This should feed both research and industry needs. Simultaneously, it can drive the creation of new industries. It can also encourage commercialisation and entrepreneurship. A university that specialises in agriculture or has a strong faculty of agriculture should be using its expertise to develop commercial projects. </p>
<p>For instance, Kenya is a major tea producer. Since the 1980s the country has run the <a href="http://www.tearesearch.or.ke/">Tea Research Institute</a>. It taps into an available commodity and produces research which harnesses that commodity’s potential.</p>
<p>When such initiatives are properly organised students can move between classrooms and, for instance, solving concrete agricultural problems. They then gain skills and new insights. And the products that spring from their ideas can generate more funding for their institutions.</p>
<p>This sort of thinking will lead to the development of <a href="http://www.oecd.org/science/inno/2101733.pdf">robust national innovation systems</a>. These systems coherently organise the research and development initiatives of private industry, public research institutions and universities. This makes it easier for research to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/ostp/PCAST/past_research_partnership_report_BOOK.pdf">feed into</a> national development.</p>
<p>If Africa’s universities can get this right, their quality and competitiveness will improve. They’ll be in a position to add value to industry and economic development more broadly – an attractive proposition for the private sector, which will then be more willing to pour funding into universities.</p>
<p>And, as students and professors become part of this collaborative system, the private sector is more likely to develop a seamless capacity for absorbing graduates. If the market is absorbing graduates, the value of a country’s degrees goes up.</p>
<h2>The Asian example</h2>
<p>This is not pie in the sky thinking. It has precedents in Asian countries like South Korea, Singapore, China and Malaysia, among others. There universities have been able to expand enrolments while simultaneously developing partnerships between industry and themselves.</p>
<p>China is considered a latecomer in university massification. In 1988, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2015.1111751">there were 0.67 million</a> available places at China’s universities and colleges. By 2012, this <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2015.1111751">had climbed</a> to 6.89 million.</p>
<p>Until now its graduate unemployment rate has remained very high. But the country has in the past few years adopted <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20110610213858656">a policy</a> of aligning its graduates’ skills to the emerging knowledge economy. It has realised a key lesson of massification: universities cannot be divorced from local, provincial and national economic development plans if they want their graduates to be employed.</p>
<p>Africa must apply this lessons to drive rapid and sustainable economic development. </p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Africa’s universities need to take massification seriously. But they must also be aware of their own – and their countries’ – specific limitations.</p>
<p>A high-quality university education system must be realistic and appropriate to a nation’s stage of economic, technological and industrial development. A high-quality university is not simply a replica of one in the Western world. It must be grounded fully in addressing the local population’s tangible needs before it chases global prestige.</p>
<p>Africa’s universities need to start growing and developing in two dimensions: horizontally, in terms of reaching out to enrol more and more students; and vertically, in terms of total quality management. </p>
<p>If it is strategically managed, massification won’t just benefit individual universities and students. It will improve daily life for all those living on the continent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Emmanuel Ojo receives funding from National Research Foundation (NRF). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandile Swana does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Global economic realities shouldn’t deter African universities from continuing to push for massification. But they must do so armed with knowledge, lessons from elsewhere and strong funding models.Sandile Swana, Lecturer at Wits Business School, University of the WitwatersrandEmmanuel Ojo, Lecturer, Faculty of Humanities, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/623672016-08-22T10:27:25Z2016-08-22T10:27:25ZTen tips to help students become more employable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134443/original/image-20160817-3597-4qolmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/atoach/11227898675/sizes/l">Tim Green aka atoach/flickr.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the <a href="http://www.nus.org.uk/Global/CBI_NUS_Employability%20report_May%202011.pdf">main reasons</a> given by students for going to university is to get a good job afterwards, but with around 500,000 people graduating each year the job market is extremely competitive. A university course will help you develop some of the skills that employers are looking for, but you need more than a degree certificate to get a graduate-level job. </p>
<p>Companies want to see other achievements as well as qualifications, and they also want to make sure you have the <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/student-experience-survey-2016-creating-new-professionals">right employability skills</a> to be able to do the job – such as being a good communicator, an ability to work in a team and being able to solve problems. A positive attitude, enthusiasm and adaptability are also seen as important as you will have a lot to learn when you start your first graduate job. </p>
<p>Here are ten tips to help make yourself more employable and stand out from the crowd.</p>
<h2>1. Get involved in university life</h2>
<p>Whether you enjoy sport, culture, dance or just going out and having fun, your university will have a club or society just for you. Besides meeting new people you can learn new skills, particularly if you are involved in organising events or take on a leadership role in the society. </p>
<h2>2. Ask careers for professional advice</h2>
<p>Many people leave visiting the careers service until they have nearly finished their course but it is better if you can work with it from your first year. It can help you choose a suitable career and advise what employers are looking for in a new recruit. Also make sure you get advice on your CV and attend a session to practice your interview or assessment techniques. First impressions are important and a simple spelling mistake or poor presentation <a href="https://www.gradjobs.co.uk/magazine/features/tired-of-having-your-cv-rejected-by-employers-these-simple-cv-tips-will-help-to-get-you-noticed">can mean</a> your CV ends up in the reject pile.</p>
<h2>3. Keep a record</h2>
<p>It is easy to forget all that you have learnt while you are at university. You will have a record of your grades but you also need to be able to tell employers the skills you have developed and how you use them. Employers like practical examples so it is useful to keep a record of your personal development highlighting activities you have been involved in and what you have gained from them.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134445/original/image-20160817-3592-d8lq23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/134445/original/image-20160817-3592-d8lq23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134445/original/image-20160817-3592-d8lq23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134445/original/image-20160817-3592-d8lq23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134445/original/image-20160817-3592-d8lq23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134445/original/image-20160817-3592-d8lq23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/134445/original/image-20160817-3592-d8lq23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Get involved.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Soundsnaps/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Work hard and get good grades</h2>
<p>While high grades aren’t everything many organisations, <a href="https://www.unilever.co.uk/careers/graduates/uflp/">such as Unilever</a>, still ask for a 2.1 degree as a minimum. Also check out if the company asks for specific UCAS points as it will immediately reject you if you fall below its minimum entry criteria.</p>
<h2>5. Volunteering</h2>
<p>Companies like employing people who have given their time for free as it shows you are prepared to help others to try to make a difference. You can volunteer through the university or <a href="https://do-it.org/">contact local organisations</a>. If you don’t have time to volunteer every week you may be able to help out on a special project such as renovating a community centre or running a fundraising event.</p>
<h2>6. Work experience</h2>
<p>Many students work part-time but gaining work experience as part of your degree really improves your employment opportunities. Whether it is a short internship or a 12-month sandwich placement you will be gaining hands-on, practical experience. It can lead to jobs too: <a href="http://www.highfliers.co.uk/download/2016/graduate_market/GMReport16.pdf">a third of students</a> employed by the top 100 graduate recruiters have already worked for the organisation.</p>
<h2>7. Networking</h2>
<p>It’s not what you know it’s who you know. Attend careers fairs and company presentations to speak to the people involved in recruiting graduates. Also create a professional social media profile. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/">LinkedIn</a> is the largest network though there may be others specific to the industry you want to enter, for example the <a href="http://www.cipd.co.uk/">Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development</a> if you want to work in HR.</p>
<h2>8. Understand the graduate job market</h2>
<p>Each organisation has its own approach to recruitment so research the company and tailor your application to it. Top graduate recruiters such as PwC, Unilever and DHL have early closing dates before Christmas while smaller companies looking for individual graduates will want you to start work almost immediately after you finish your degree in the summer. Timing your applications and fitting them around your exams/ coursework is therefore important.</p>
<h2>9. Be flexible and mobile</h2>
<p>If you are prepared to move you will increase the number of jobs that you can apply for. Many of the large graduate schemes will move you around the organisation during training so being mobile is essential for them.</p>
<h2>10. Be confident</h2>
<p>If you get through to the later stages of interviews and assessment centres remember you have earned the right to be there. The company has seen potential in you and wants to find out more. If you don’t get offered the job, ask for feedback on your performance, learn from it and move on. There is a job out there for everyone you just need to be persistent to find the right one for you.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62367/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Don’t just rely on your degree certificate to get a job after university. Work on your employability too.Ruth Brooks, Principal Lecturer in Organisation Studies, University of HuddersfieldDennis Duty, Senior Lecturer in Management and Operations, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/637112016-08-09T06:28:08Z2016-08-09T06:28:08ZBeing ‘job ready’ is not the purpose of university science degrees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133474/original/image-20160809-9267-ei6nxg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Science graduates struggle to find jobs straight after graduation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent data – highlighted in the Grattan report <a href="http://grattan.edu.au/report/mapping-australian-higher-education-2016/">Mapping Australian Higher Education 2016</a> – raised alarm bells about the employability of science graduates.</p>
<p>The report author, Andrew Norton, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/im-nervous-we-are-in-uncharted-territory-why-australia-needs-fewer-science-graduates-20160807-gqmy19.html">argues</a> that science degrees are “risky” because more students are going into science while graduate employment rates are low.</p>
<p>In 2015, 51% of science graduates seeking full-time employment did not find work four months after graduating. This is 17 percentage points below the average for all respondents to the survey. In the same year, the highest number of students were enrolled in science degrees (112,500) – and more graduated than ever before (15,600 domestic graduates). </p>
<p>What many would consider good news – as problem-solving science graduates are viewed as vital to Australia’s future – was diminished by the employment outcomes data. Information and technology (IT) students reported better employment rates than science graduates with two-thirds in full-time work. </p>
<p>Education Minister <a href="http://www.senatorbirmingham.com.au/Media-Centre/Speeches/ID/3161/Speech--Australian-Council-for-Educational-Research-Conference">Simon Birmingham reacted</a> by questioning universities’ responsibility to enrol students based on employment opportunities. He said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In science, as in all fields of study, it must be the responsibility of universities to be mindful of the numbers of students they enrol relative to the employment opportunities for such graduates.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If short-term employment – being “job ready” – is the goal of a science degree, then the Grattan’s report should provoke worry and concern. It shows science degrees are clearly failing.</p>
<p>But is this the purpose of university science degrees? How should we respond? Are universities to blame?</p>
<h2>Job ready is not purpose of university degrees</h2>
<p>Science degrees do not have a set career roadmap. Unlike professional degrees (such as physiotherapy or accounting), science degrees are generalist programs that offer a broad range of flexibility in what is studied.</p>
<p>Being able to think like a scientist is the unifying principle of broad science degree programs. This scientific way of thinking with transferable skill sets is what <a href="http://www.acds.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/04/BackgroundInScience-_web-Complete-2012.pdf">Australian science graduates value</a>, regardless of where they work.</p>
<p>Being “job ready” is not an outcome of a science degree. As the <a href="http://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/2016/07/article-finkel-hilariously-defends-the-phd-the-australian/">chief scientist Alan Finkel recently argued</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Next time somebody throws the “job ready” phrase at you, invariably in the negative context, retaliate that your role is to train graduates who are “job capable”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Finkel’s view is longer-term, career-oriented with a focus on skills and capabilities that enable employment but do not guarantee it. The longer-term data is worth highlighting.</p>
<p>The Grattan report showed 2011 unemployment for science graduates aged 30 or older was 3%. Like all graduates, they shared in the higher lifetime earnings than non-graduates. Over the long term, job prospects for science graduates improve, according to the report.</p>
<h2>Reward in the risks of science degrees</h2>
<p>If the goal is longer-term employment stability – being “job capable”, as argued by Finkel and many others – then science degrees are faring well.</p>
<p>Pursuing a science degree should be about following your passions and developing your talents. This opens up a variety of career opportunities for students because <a href="https://issuu.com/uqscience/docs/careers_that_started_in_science?backgroundColor=">careers that started in science</a> lead to unexpected places.</p>
<p>Trying to mitigate short-term (four months) risk for longer-term career stability and a fulfilling life is a risk worth taking for students passionate about science.</p>
<h2>A shift in focus in higher education</h2>
<p>The focus is shifting in higher education from learning for the sake of learning toward learning to become my future self that earns money to live.</p>
<p>And science higher education leaders are well aware that students (and parents) view science higher education as part of their career pathways. </p>
<p>Efforts are under way to connect <a href="http://www.acds-tlcc.edu.au/centreprojects/work-integrated-learning/">future work with science degrees</a>. The hope is to make career opportunities more visible in science degree programs.</p>
<p>The Australian Council of Deans of Science (ACDS) funds a <a href="http://www.acds-tlcc.edu.au/">National Science Teaching and Learning Centre</a> to drive degree program reform based on a <a href="http://www.acds-tlcc.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2015/02/altc_standards_SCIENCE_240811_v3_final.pdf">set of outcomes for science degrees</a>. </p>
<p>These outcomes emphasise learning to think like a scientist. They are underpinned by skills typically cited as desirable by employers, such as:</p>
<ul>
<li>collaboration and teamwork</li>
<li>oral and written communication</li>
<li>ethical reasoning</li>
<li>quantitative skills to apply mathematical and statistical thinking.</li>
</ul>
<p>These outcomes are all about enabling “job capable” graduates and they focus attention on whole of science degree program learning outcomes. </p>
<p>This is essential for students to have a coherent science learning experience that enables skills expected by employers.</p>
<h2>Curriculum design</h2>
<p>Science degree programs tend to be content-heavy with an over-reliance on knowledge recall examinations – science students and academics agree that <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03075079.2016.1190704?tokenDomain=eprints&tokenAccess=ie8K76eDAxT3BsB7xk4i&forwardService=showFullText&doi=10.1080%2F03075079.2016.1190704&doi=10.1080%2F03075079.2016.1190704&journalCode=cshe20">skill development is lacking</a>.</p>
<p>The Grattan report signalled that science graduates are more likely to report not using what they learned for their degrees in the workforce. This points to a real problem. </p>
<p>If science graduates are unaware of the broader skills they gained from a science degree, <a href="http://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/1754">as years of my research indicates</a>, then they are unlikely to make links between work and study.</p>
<h2>What is needed?</h2>
<p>What is needed is a focus on the real problem – quality science degree programs must enable students to develop and recognise broader skills that are core to having a science degree. </p>
<p>As a side effect of quality degree programs, science students will graduate with a sense of what they learned and how it will enable them to be “job capable”.</p>
<h2>What is not needed?</h2>
<p>Limiting science degree enrolments. </p>
<p>This would be a ridiculous over-reaction to the limited data presented in the Grattan report and is based on an assumption that the purpose of a science degree is short-term employment outcomes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kelly E Matthews has received funding from the Australian Office for Learning and Teaching.</span></em></p>Confusing short-term jobs with long-term career outcomes is a distraction from the real issues in science higher education.Kelly E Matthews, Senior Lecturer in Higher Education; Australian Learning and Teaching Fellow, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/569122016-04-12T20:10:50Z2016-04-12T20:10:50ZIdeas for Australia: Degrees are more necessary than ever before, but the rewards aren’t as great<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117236/original/image-20160404-18631-p34hdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is it fair to say universities are letting employers down?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The Conversation has asked 20 academics to examine the big ideas facing Australia for the 2016 federal election and beyond. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/ideas-for-australia">20-piece series</a> will examine, among others, the state of democracy, health, education, environment, equality, freedom of speech, federation and economic reform.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p>Having a degree has become a basic prerequisite for most careers. Those without a degree are <a href="http://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/162_graduate_winners_report.pdf">more likely to be disadvantaged</a> in career and economic terms.</p>
<p>You could think of this as somewhat like mobile phone ownership. Twenty years ago, those of us without a mobile phone got by just fine – having one was a status symbol. Now, even though the phones are much, much better, having one is nothing special. And those without one will really struggle.</p>
<p>Yet widespread participation in higher education has implications for individuals. On the one hand, the more people who have a degree, the more this becomes a basic expectation for employers. On the other hand, the more having a degree becomes a basic expectation, the less “special” it is and the lower the premium, in terms of pay, that can be gained. </p>
<p>We can see this clearly in shifts in graduate starting salaries. Since the mid-1970s, median annual starting salaries for bachelor degree graduates <a href="http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Graduate%20Salaries%202012%20%5Bsecured%5D.pdf">have deteriorated steadily</a>.</p>
<p>In 1977, when a minority of people completed high school, let alone went to university, graduates of engineering, education, computer science, social work, veterinary science and agricultural science all had starting salaries above male average weekly earnings (MAWE) – the long-term benchmark for salary levels in Australia.</p>
<p>In 2011, only graduates of dentistry, optometry and earth sciences had salaries above MAWE. Even medicine, perhaps the most sought-after degree, has taken a tumble, from a starting salary of 138.5% of MAWE in 1977 to 91.4% in 2011.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-goes-to-university-the-changing-profile-of-our-students-40373">diminution in monetary value</a> of having a degree corresponds to steep rises in participation in higher education over the same period. </p>
<p>Three decades ago, only around 40% of young people completed high school (46% in 1985, for example). Today, around the same proportion complete a university degree. </p>
<p>The illustration below shows the remarkable increase in participation in higher education, especially by young people, over the three decades to 2010.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117939/original/image-20160408-23642-1vguewy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117939/original/image-20160408-23642-1vguewy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117939/original/image-20160408-23642-1vguewy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117939/original/image-20160408-23642-1vguewy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117939/original/image-20160408-23642-1vguewy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117939/original/image-20160408-23642-1vguewy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117939/original/image-20160408-23642-1vguewy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=547&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Higher Education Students by Broad Age Group, 1980-2010.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Education Selected Statistics</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Degrees more necessary, less rewarded</h2>
<p>What all this shows is that we are experiencing credential creep. The level of educational credential needed to stand out from the crowd has risen steeply. This is compellingly demonstrated by the steep increases in participation in the highest degree levels. </p>
<p>Australian universities <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/selected-higher-education-statistics-2013-student-data">graduated</a> nearly 8,000 doctorates (PhDs and professional doctoral degrees) in 2013, more than double the number graduating in 1999. </p>
<p>Of course, higher education is about much more than the piece of paper received at the end. </p>
<p>Remarkably, in the face of such steep increases in participation, graduates’ satisfaction with their experience at university is extremely high. It has remained high over the past decade, at <a href="http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/GCA_GradStats_2015_FINAL.pdf">well over 90%</a>. Similarly, more than half of Australia’s universities rank in the prestigious <a href="https://theconversation.com/rankings-prestige-student-experience-how-to-choose-a-good-university-45597">Academic Ranking of World Universities top 500</a>.</p>
<p>Data such as this flies in the face of anecdotal concerns about a decline in the quality of higher education in Australia. </p>
<h2>The changing profile of university graduates</h2>
<p>Universities today enrol an exceptionally diverse community of students, of varying social, academic and cultural backgrounds. That this has been achieved without plummeting satisfaction levels or widespread loss of institutional standings – despite static or declining public funding – is remarkable.</p>
<p>But these increases in participation and diversity create social tensions. </p>
<p>Australian tertiary education is now characterised by a lack of clear purpose. This stems from policymakers’ failure to conceptualise the tertiary education landscape and the role of the institutions that comprise it, as well as the lack of any instrumental view of objectives based on need.</p>
<p>It has become unclear what differentiates the vocational, education and training (VET) sector from the university sector and, in turn, from private tertiary education providers. Enabling, bachelor and sometimes postgraduate-level education is available from all three kinds of institution. </p>
<p>Despite this, funding and <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-the-federal-government-take-over-vocational-training-46986">regulation of VET</a> and higher education are undertaken by state and federal governments respectively. The regulation of private, international and postgraduate coursework education has been developed ad hoc rather than planned. </p>
<p>The result is a series of policy and legislative artefacts formed on the hop, rather than a coherent and systematised sector serving clear societal needs. </p>
<h2>Degrees not regarded in the same way</h2>
<p>Having a degree is no longer a quality status signal in itself. What counts now is what institution? What course? What extra-curricular activities? </p>
<p>The more ubiquitous holding a degree becomes, the more we will see status signals and classing structures strengthening their place within the higher education system, with a more nuanced differentiation of the credential as capital. </p>
<p>This raises important questions about social equity. </p>
<p>Today, young people are <a href="https://theconversation.com/year-12-results-day-does-the-atar-actually-matter-that-much-48890">pressured to go to university</a> even if they may not be particularly interested in scholarly pursuits.</p>
<p>Many end up in institutions or courses that are unsuited to them, despite their ability, for selection measures remain tightly correlated with social class. </p>
<p>Large employers (banks and the like) no longer focus their recruitment on school leavers and train them up. Now they recruit university graduates and complain that they do not have the <a href="http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/careers/is-it-time-to-turn-your-back-on-university/news-story/d027a70b034a7b3d8036bde535a5cce4">required skills</a>. Similarly, students forgo earning while they are learning, and the sunk costs of gaining a qualification are high.</p>
<p>Pressing inequalities in early education and <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-gonski-gone-we-can-expect-more-demand-for-private-schools-52760">schooling</a> that lead to inevitable inequalities at the tertiary level; credential creep that is pushing all the way to the PhD; increasing stratification in the status of institutions, disciplines and modes of study – these are the contemporary frontiers for equity in Australian tertiary education. </p>
<p>We need a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australia-needs-a-new-model-for-universities-43696">new conceptualisation</a> of the purpose of tertiary and higher education, of training, of skills. And it needs to be supported by policy and funding mechanisms that recognise new realities rather than perpetuating old stereotypes.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other articles in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/ideas-for-australia">here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>These ideas are explored at greater length in my chapter in <a href="http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9789811003134#aboutBook">Student Equity in Australian Higher Education: Twenty-five years of A Fair Chance for All</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56912/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emmaline Bexley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Young people are pressured into university and many end up in unsuitable courses. We need to recognise these realities and be clear about the purpose of higher education so it doesn’t lose its value.Emmaline Bexley, Senior Lecturer in Higher Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/463492015-12-22T12:09:20Z2015-12-22T12:09:20ZDoes Britain have too many graduates?<p>More 18-year-olds than ever before were accepted into higher education in 2015. Overall, a record 463,700 people from the UK – 235,400 of them aged 18 – entered higher education in 2015, according to <a href="https://www.ucas.com/corporate/data-and-analysis/ucas-undergraduate-releases/ucas-undergraduate-analysis-reports/ucas">UCAS</a>, marking a 2.8% increase on 2014. In England, 42% of today’s young people have entered higher education by age 19. </p>
<p>But is there an over-supply of graduates in the UK? In a <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Pages/SupplyAndDemandForHigherLevelSkills.aspx#.VnQERsrUXEU">new report</a> on supply and demand for higher-level skills, Universities UK (UUK) concluded that there is little evidence of “graduate oversupply”. Instead, its authors argued that the economy requires “an even greater number of higher qualified workers”, and that they may actually be underestimating future demand for graduate talent.</p>
<p>These conclusions are likely to come as a surprise to the substantial numbers of recent graduates who have <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/30/graduate-into-underemployment">found it hard</a> to find a job that requires them to use the knowledge and skills they acquired on their undergraduate courses. Unprecedented numbers of recent graduates have experienced unemployment or underemployment since graduating in <a href="http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/highereducation/Documents/2015/SupplyAndDemandForHigherLevelSkills.pdf">recent years</a>. </p>
<p>Our own research, including the <a href="http://www.warwick.ac.uk/Futuretrack">Futuretrack</a> project, has followed the early career experiences of a large, nationally-representative, sample of graduates who completed UK undergraduate degree courses in 2009 or 2010, graduating into the post-financial crisis recession. Drawing from our data, we <a href="https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/futuretrack/findings/stage_4_report_final_06_03_2013.pdf">concluded</a> that in winter 2011-12, 32% were in jobs that did not require “higher-level skills” – defined by a bachelor’s degree level qualification. A further 12% were unemployed and 20% had experienced at least one period of unemployment since graduating. </p>
<h2>Which graduates are using their degrees?</h2>
<p>Our data can help to better understand where there are shortfalls or oversupplies of graduate knowledge and higher-level skills, and which categories of graduates have been unable to access employment. The graph below shows whether graduates used their subject knowledge, and skills they had developed as undergraduates, in each job they had held since graduating. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106649/original/image-20151218-27858-ug7jhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106649/original/image-20151218-27858-ug7jhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106649/original/image-20151218-27858-ug7jhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106649/original/image-20151218-27858-ug7jhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106649/original/image-20151218-27858-ug7jhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106649/original/image-20151218-27858-ug7jhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106649/original/image-20151218-27858-ug7jhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106649/original/image-20151218-27858-ug7jhv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Use of graduate knowledge and skills and current employment status 18-30 months after graduation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Futuretrack Survey Stage 4, UK-domiciled graduates only</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is not surprising that those who completed very vocational courses mainly show up as blue and green on the graph above, meaning they are using their knowledge and skills in their current job. Nor is it surprising that only a quarter of those who studied linguistics and classics were using their subject knowledge, given that demand for specialists in these subjects is small and the high-level communication and problem-solving skills that they develop have traditionally been recognised as predominantly transferable.</p>
<p>But overall the graph reveals substantial under-utilisation of skills that, along with the reported unemployment, reflect a shortfall in demand for such skills. This could be caused by a number of reasons, for example because students have chosen their courses unwisely and developed “the wrong kinds” of knowledge and higher-level skills. Or, as in the case of architecture, building and planning graduates, it might reflect <a href="https://theconversation.com/productivity-the-number-one-economic-issue-missing-from-the-british-election-campaign-40424">lack of government and community investment</a> in housing and infrastructure, or in the case of languages, <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-fall-back-in-love-with-learning-languages-23094">insularity</a> and lack of appreciation of the value and potential of the knowledge and skills on offer. </p>
<h2>Expert, orchestrator or communicator</h2>
<p>Comparing the kinds of jobs obtained by graduates according to the subjects they studied is equally revealing. To do this we used an <a href="https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/futuretrack/findings/elias_purcell_soche_final.pdf">occupational classification</a> that we developed which classifies jobs as one of four categories, according to the extent to which they require the exercise of knowledge and higher-level skills. These are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Experts: those in knowledge-intensive occupations that require them to draw on and use their specialist university knowledge and skills in their daily work. Examples include civil engineers, pharmacists, solicitors, physiotherapists and chartered surveyors.</p></li>
<li><p>Orchestrators: those in jobs that require them to draw on and orchestrate their knowledge and the knowledge of others to evaluate information, assess options, plan, make decisions and co-ordinate others. These jobs are dominated by managers and directors but include senior officers in the armed services and the police force.</p></li>
<li><p>Communicators: those who require interactive skills that may be based on interpersonal and communication skills, creative skills or high-level technological knowledge. Examples include journalists, actors, conference and exhibition organisers, web-designers and marketers. </p></li>
<li><p>A fourth category of non-graduate occupations – where degree-level education is clearly not neccessary in order to be able to do the job well.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106648/original/image-20151218-27880-6fniso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106648/original/image-20151218-27880-6fniso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106648/original/image-20151218-27880-6fniso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106648/original/image-20151218-27880-6fniso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106648/original/image-20151218-27880-6fniso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=298&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106648/original/image-20151218-27880-6fniso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106648/original/image-20151218-27880-6fniso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106648/original/image-20151218-27880-6fniso.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Type of occupation or other activity 18-30 months after graduation, by subject studied.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Futuretrack Survey Stage 4, UK-domiciled graduates in employment only.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the graph above shows, the distribution of these jobs gives cause for concern. Three quarters or more of those who had chosen to study the most directly vocational subjects, and those who had specialised in numeracy-based disciplines, appeared to have got a job appropriate for someone with their qualifications, knowledge and higher-level skills. </p>
<p>But the categories of graduates at the other end of the spectrum were very significantly less likely to have done so. In some cases, this may reflect a short-term impact in the wake of the recession, and the well-established fact that some categories of graduate, notably those who have studied arts and humanities subjects, have <a href="http://www.hecsu.ac.uk/assets/assets/documents/Class_99_Full.pdf">traditionally taken</a> longer to be integrate successfully into the graduate labour market.</p>
<h2>Under-employed graduates on the rise</h2>
<p>Findings from our ongoing research indicate that despite an increase in the proportion of graduates in non-graduate jobs from the beginning of the 1990s, the majority of graduates managed to get appropriate level jobs until the mid-2000s. Since then, during and following the recession, the proportion of graduates unequivocally under-employed has increased steeply. </p>
<p>On the basis of our work on the match between available jobs and graduates, you might conclude that we have an over-supply of graduates in Britain – however, this takes little account of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-credentialism-and-is-a-degree-more-than-just-a-piece-of-paper-40941">intrinsic value</a> of higher education. </p>
<p>Although there has been a slight recovery since 2012, and despite the fact that major graduate recruiters report growth in graduate recruitment and an <a href="http://www.highfliers.co.uk/download/2015/graduate_market/GMReport15.pdf">inability to fill vacancies</a>, we question whether this reflects a “mismatch” of graduates. Instead, it may well reflect mismatches in the provision or quality of higher education courses in relation to the changing needs of industry, commerce and the professions. </p>
<p>At the same time, there is growing competition from highly-skilled job applicants from other countries in the increasingly global and fluid labour market. It is time to consider the implications of an important aspect of the current labour market too rarely raised in policy debates – the inappropriate expectations and lack of investment in employee training and development <a href="http://www.nber.org/papers/w20382.pdf">on the part</a> of employers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Purcell receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (see <a href="http://www.warrwick.ac.uk/paths2work">http://www.warrwick.ac.uk/paths2work</a>) and has previously received funding from this organisation and others, including the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) which was the main funder for the Futuretrack project. None of these funders required any control over the analyses and dissemination of findings from the projects concerned.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Elias has received funding for research on the graduate labour market from the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, Department for Education, Economic and Social Research Council, Higher Education Careers Service Unit and the Higher Education Statistics Agency. </span></em></p>It depends on what you mean by ‘graduates’.Kate Purcell, Emeritus Professor, Institute for Employment Research , University of WarwickPeter Elias, Professor, Institute for Employment Research, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/486392015-10-15T16:31:38Z2015-10-15T16:31:38ZHow to future proof university graduates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98417/original/image-20151014-15131-4220a0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Facing an uncertain future. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tom Wang/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you were thinking that a librarian’s life was the one for you, you might want to think again. Secretaries and personal assistants, I’d look over your shoulder too. The robots are coming for your job. According to a <a href="http://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/growth/articles/from-brawn-to-brains--the-impact-of-technology-on-jobs-in-the-u.html">recent report</a> from consultancy firm Deloitte, these are among a number of occupations categorised as being at high risk of automation.</p>
<p>According to an estimate in the Deloitte report, such jobs – which also include manufacturing – are on a collision course with obsolescence. In the UK, 10.8m jobs – or a third of the adult workforce – are potentially at risk from automation. </p>
<p>That’s the bad news. The good news is that the same forecast tells us that each job created in low-risk occupations – education and care among others – pays £10,000 more than the high-risk jobs which are being replaced. In total this equates to a £140 billion contribution to the UK economy. </p>
<p>Angus Knowles-Cutler, vice-chairman of Deloitte, <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/Growth/deloitte-uk-insights-from-brawns-to-brain.pdf">argues</a> that new graduates will need “more digital know-how, new management and leadership skills, creativity, entrepreneurship and the ability to solve complex problems”.</p>
<p>His conclusions resonate with my own research exploring the rise of social entrepreneurship among university students. The act of blending social missions with innovative business practice, social entrepreneurship has grown rapidly across UK higher education. We’ve found that for many students it plugs a skills gap that they’re aware they need to fill before going out into the world of work. They believe social entrepreneurship confers unique advantages in a fiercely competitive graduate labour market. </p>
<h2>Borderless leadership</h2>
<p>My colleagues and I call these the skills of the borderless leader: the capacity to transcend disciplinary, operational and geographical boundaries to solve complex problems. </p>
<p>The borderless leader must learn to work across sectors: in the future people are likely to have multiple jobs – not just employers. The borderless leader must also be primed for a hyper-globalised world, beset by multi-sided and “wicked” problems <a href="https://theconversation.com/multi-discipline-courses-will-help-solve-emerging-global-problems-30557">which defy disciplinary or national borders</a>. Everything from access to banking to climate change to female empowerment – issues which span government, charity and business sectors – demands a new kind of leader. They must be able to work in collaboration so as to design solutions which are simultaneously locally rooted and globally scaleable. </p>
<p>Borderless leadership involves the possession of a very specific set of intersecting skills. These include being operationally agile, comfortable with digital technologies, literate in a broad range of disciplines and good at mobilising and sustaining personal networks. Entrepreneurship underpins this skill set, because such skills are only truly ignited in the moment of entrepreneurship, where innovation and creativity are essential. </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, borderless skills are at a premium. According to the Omidyar Network’s Sal Giambanco, professionals who possess such attributes <a href="http://skollworldforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Skoll-Talent-4-2014-Sal-Giambanco.pdf">“will significantly outpace supply over the next ten to 15 years.”</a></p>
<h2>What universities should do</h2>
<p>Universities have a responsibility to grow the pool of borderless leaders, and shrink the number of graduates skilled only for jobs which may soon no longer exist.</p>
<p>I’d argue that the best way for universities to foster borderless skills is by embedding opportunities for entrepreneurship into a student’s experience of higher education. To do so, university curricula will need to evolve to fuse disciplinary knowledge with applications outside the classroom, fostering an appetite for continuous learning where skills are constantly reconfigured to match the size and shape of new problems. </p>
<p>We’re already seeing some examples of how universities are responding to the call for borderless skills both within and outside the curriculum.</p>
<p>At Southampton, our curriculum innovation programme has enabled project-based learning through cross-university modules such as <a href="http://www.southampton.ac.uk/cip/information_for_students/find_your_degree/modules/social_enterprise_new_page.page">social enterprise</a>. This module is an immersive 12-week process which takes students – whether they are geographers, medics, physicists or historians – through the design of a social enterprise. This year, for example, one of our project teams is working with a PhD student on a food waste enterprise called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw8HU9FTVZ4">The Biggest Tree</a> which dehydrates waste fruit and sells it as healthy snacks. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zw8HU9FTVZ4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Biggest Tree project that is growing at Southampton.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Elsewhere – in Australia – Monash University has launched <a href="https://monash.edu/study/coursefinder/course/S3001/">a BA degree in Global Challenges</a>, which blends intensive entrepreneurship, leadership and
social network training with projects aimed at finding solutions to global issues. In the US, Stanford is committed to redrawing its programmes around <a href="http://www.stanford2025.com/purpose-learning/">“missions” not majors</a>. Students are to be offered the opportunity to construct their university experience based on motivation, combining classroom learning with practice in impact labs designed to fix global challenges. </p>
<p>But there are barriers to these kinds of curricula. Under the current tuition fee regime in the UK, universities are attracted to curriculum models which are easy to scale up. Project-based modules are expensive and difficult to scale up because they require purpose-built spaces and patient attention: you can’t cram 100 students into a lecture theatre or expect them to design solutions without mentoring and support. </p>
<p>Then there’s the <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-point-of-education-if-google-can-tell-us-anything-44441">question of assessment</a>: entrepreneurial learning outcomes such as creativity and degrees of empathy resist traditional marking criteria – but still need to be valued in some way.</p>
<p>Given the magnitude of the challenge posed by automation and the urgent need to ignite our global innovation economy, such barriers should not paralyse us from retooling our curricula. Unless universities are willing and able to adapt accordingly, their students will struggle to get work when they graduate.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/48639/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Pathik Pathak does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If robots will take traditional graduate jobs, universities should be training students in borderless leadership skills.Pathik Pathak, Faculty Director of Social Entrepreneurship, Founding Director of the Social Impact Lab, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/473912015-10-06T11:26:01Z2015-10-06T11:26:01ZWhy being part of the precariat is harder for some than others<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96979/original/image-20151001-23065-uh3n4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A precarious foot on the job ladder. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cleaner via Dmitry Kalinovsky/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For 30 years after the end of World War II, most young people left school at the earliest opportunity and entered full-time employment immediately after. Most school-leavers were able to find work consistent with their ambitions and expectations and getting a job was usually closely followed by leaving home, marriage and parenthood.</p>
<p>For the vast majority of young people today, the journey into adulthood is more complex, truncated and unpredictable than it was for previous generations. But this changing nature of employment is not experienced evenly across society: life as a member of the young “precariat” with uncertain job prospects is very different depending on how well-off your family is already. </p>
<p>In post-war Britain, the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Leaving_home.html?id=NawoAAAAYAAJ">move from school to work</a> was often both speedy and collective, and employment alongside older workers also helped reinforce certain attitudes, values and cultural norms. There was often a close connection between family, work and leisure, and the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Education_Work_and_Social_Change.html?id=ZVrUngEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">world of work offered</a> a degree of certainty and continuity that does not exist for most young people today. </p>
<p>Yet we should not look at the past through rose-tinted glasses. Factory jobs were a bleak and alienating experience for many, and not all young people settled easily into working life – the ready availability of employment <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3305480&fileId=S0047279400016755">masked the way</a> some “churned” chronically from job to job. </p>
<p>Today, few young people go into full-time employment immediately after leaving school and secure work is difficult to find – not only for those with few qualifications. Of those graduating from UK universities in 2014, <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/component/content/article?id=3630">more than a fifth</a> still did not have a job six months later, and almost a third of those who were in work were in employment which did not require a degree. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/newsarchive/2015/Name,105640,en.html">New figures published</a> by the Higher Education Funding Council do show that three-and-a-half years after leaving university, 96.4% of graduates were employed, 80% of them in “professional occupations”. However, the experience is different for black and minority ethnic graduates: only 66% had a “professional” occupation.</p>
<h2>The birth of the precariat</h2>
<p>Despite various claims <a href="http://news.cbi.org.uk/business-issues/education-and-skills/gateway-to-growth-cbi-pearson-education-and-skills-survey-2015/">about skills shortages</a> and young people’s supposed lack of “employability skills”, underemployment – being in a job for which you are over-qualified or having part-time, temporary or insecure employment – is <a href="https://radicaledbks.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/great-reversal.pdf">now a significant problem</a>, especially for younger workers. </p>
<p>Part of the consequences of this means that access to the traditional signifiers of adulthood – not only finding a job but leaving home, financial independence, getting married, and so forth – have become disturbed or suspended, in some cases <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Lost_Generation.html?id=Y0qbeZWOJ4EC">almost indefinitely</a>. </p>
<p>It is against this backdrop that British economist Guy Standing, drawing on the ideas of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Precariat.html?id=8qE-nQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y">has argued that</a> we have seen the rise of a distinct social class – the precariat. Their working lives and social experiences are broadly characterised by uncertainty, insecurity and uncertain future prospects.</p>
<p>It is difficult to definitively measure the size of this new precariat. There were <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_414231.pdf">1.7m people working</a> in temporary jobs in the UK between May and July 2015, according to the Office of National Statistics, which also says <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34125544">744,000 people</a> were employed on zero-hours contracts between April and June. Figures it released in August show there are also <a href="https://theconversation.com/drafts/47391/edit">922,000 16-24 year olds</a> classified as not in education, employment or training (NEET). </p>
<p>Young people are particularly vulnerable to such circumstances, but <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Poverty_and_Insecurity.html?id=bgdbdjWNXskC&redir_esc=y">research also suggests</a> that labour market insecurity is not merely a phase confined to youth. Repeated periods of unemployment, often interspersed with repetitive training programmes and various dead-end jobs, is becoming the norm well into adulthood, especially for those from less affluent backgrounds.</p>
<h2>Cultural capital counts</h2>
<p>The precarious nature of the 21st century labour market is more serious for some than others. As <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Handbook_of_Theory_and_Research_for_the.html?id=OHclAQAAIAAJ">Bourdieu highlighted in 1986</a>, young people from different social class backgrounds have access to greater or lesser amounts of social, economic and cultural capital. Those from higher social classes are often able to mobilise these forms of capital in ways which provide significant advantages over others. </p>
<p>While economic capital can be used to pay course fees or limit student debt, it can also <a href="https://theconversation.com/unpaid-internships-just-the-job-if-your-parents-can-afford-it-14365">subsidise young people</a> through the low-paid internships which are increasingly necessary in order to break into desirable occupations such as law, advertising, fashion or the media. It can also allow young people to travel or take a “year out” to enrich their CV and build the cultural capital – attitudes, interests and dispositions – which <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Mismanagement_of_Talent.html?id=7QYpAQAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">employers often demand</a>, especially in the most prestigious forms of employment. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96981/original/image-20151001-23065-1bzgz3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96981/original/image-20151001-23065-1bzgz3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96981/original/image-20151001-23065-1bzgz3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96981/original/image-20151001-23065-1bzgz3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96981/original/image-20151001-23065-1bzgz3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96981/original/image-20151001-23065-1bzgz3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96981/original/image-20151001-23065-1bzgz3k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Give it to the intern.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photographee.eu/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cultural capital is, however, mainly associated with certain qualities accrued within the family, via the education system and other long-term forms of socialisation and cultural activity. It is evident in the different accents, dispositions, attitudes and expectations displayed by individuals from different backgrounds. Social capital is related to this and includes networks of family, friends and broader connections through which those from the higher social classes are able to secure interviews, negotiate work experience, and obtain employment. </p>
<p>Sadly, those who lack the social economic and cultural capital to be able “work” the harsh realities of the 21st century labour market are most likely to enter up the precariat – and stay there.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47391/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Simmons does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With secure jobs hard to find, it’s easier for people from higher social classes to be in temporary work.Robin Simmons, Professor of Education, University of HuddersfieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/467822015-09-18T05:40:18Z2015-09-18T05:40:18ZHave low-skill jobs really grown more than high-skill jobs in Britain?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94038/original/image-20150907-1996-12s836o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Using your degree. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Architect via Kaspars Grinvalds/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A recent <a href="http://www.cipd.co.uk/binaries/over-qualification-and-skills-mismatch-graduate-labour-market.pdf">report</a> by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) claimed that the UK is one of the very few EU countries which saw larger growth in low-skill jobs than in high-skill ones between 1996 and 2008. All this at a time when the share of graduates in the economy increased dramatically. The report received <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33983048">widespread attention</a> and makes other interesting points which were summarised by the authors in an article <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-non-graduate-jobs-upgrading-to-give-the-graduates-who-do-them-more-autonomy-46358">for The Conversation</a>. </p>
<p>But in our own ongoing research, we’ve concluded that the finding that low-skill jobs grew more than higher-skill ones is driven by a problem in the data used – the European Labour Force Survey. The issue (which was <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/bvqmza46uh3z9o0/EUPOL-20131216-Appendices-final.pdf?dl=0">already known</a> about) is that there was an implausible jump in the number of low-skill jobs in the UK in 2001 due to a change in the way occupations were classified in the survey. </p>
<p>But if you look at either the period before or after 2001, then the growth in high-skill jobs is higher than that in low-skill jobs in most years. After implementing a simple correction for the 2001 anomaly (and for similar problems affecting other countries), the following picture of the changes in occupations across Europe emerges.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94019/original/image-20150907-1977-1234xfs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94019/original/image-20150907-1977-1234xfs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94019/original/image-20150907-1977-1234xfs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94019/original/image-20150907-1977-1234xfs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94019/original/image-20150907-1977-1234xfs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94019/original/image-20150907-1977-1234xfs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94019/original/image-20150907-1977-1234xfs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94019/original/image-20150907-1977-1234xfs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=542&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">High-skill jobs on the rise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This confirms the finding of the CIPD report that many countries have seen their labour market “polarised”, with the share of middle skill jobs declining relative to that of low and high skill jobs. However, it is also clear that the UK has seen much stronger growth in high-skill occupations than in low-skill ones. So managerial, professional and technical jobs have expanded more than personal services and sales ones. This result is in line with those obtained independently by other <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.104.8.2509">academic</a> and <a href="http://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/looking-through-the-hourglass-hollowing-out-of-the-uk-jobs-market-pre-and-post-crisis/">non-academic</a> researchers.</p>
<h2>The role of graduates</h2>
<p>In a <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/econsalvatori/polarisation">related research project</a>, we’ve found that the UK has experienced job polarisation in each of the past three decades – with growth in high-pay occupations always exceeding that in the bottom ones. Overall, between 1979 and 2012, the employment share of middling occupations declined by about 19 percentage points – 16 of which were explained by more people doing high-paid occupations. </p>
<p>The graph below highlights the role that the increase in education of the labour force has played in bringing about these changes. The grey bars show the contribution of graduates and non-graduates to the changes in the employment shares of occupations at the bottom, middle and top of the pay distribution. For example, the growth at the top is almost entirely accounted for by graduates: of the 16 additional workers out of 100 found in managerial, professional and technical occupations in 2012, 15 were graduates. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94490/original/image-20150911-1581-1ausvva.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94490/original/image-20150911-1581-1ausvva.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/94490/original/image-20150911-1581-1ausvva.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94490/original/image-20150911-1581-1ausvva.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94490/original/image-20150911-1581-1ausvva.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94490/original/image-20150911-1581-1ausvva.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94490/original/image-20150911-1581-1ausvva.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/94490/original/image-20150911-1581-1ausvva.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The contribution of each education group is then split into two components. To understand what these are, consider the example of graduates. When their numbers increase, we can expect the occupations in which they tend to work to grow more. This contribution, arising from the change in size of an educational group, is captured by the blue bars in the picture. </p>
<p>In addition, and even if their numbers do not change at all, graduates might move down the occupational ladder – in the sense that a higher proportion of them can end up in middle or low-skill occupations than in the past. The red bars capture this contribution to the change in the size of an occupation, arising from the reallocation of an education group across occupations. </p>
<p>The blue bars in the bottom part of the figure show that the increase in the number of graduates effectively accounts for all the growth in top-level jobs – but has made positive contributions to middle and low-skill occupations as well. The red bars show that graduates have moved slightly down the occupational ladder – but they also make clear that this accounts for only a small fraction of the overall changes observed in the UK labour market.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, the increase in education of the workforce has pushed down the employment share of low-skilled occupations, such as personal service and sales occupations. Yet the employment share of these occupations has not declined thanks to a large influx of non-graduates from middling occupations. So not only has the relative number of non-graduates decreased, but their employment has become much more concentrated in low-skill occupations. </p>
<h2>Graduates fuelled growth in top occupations</h2>
<p>By breaking down the results by decade, we’ve also found that the shift in graduate employment towards middle and low pay occupations has mostly occurred in the 2000s. In addition, in the past decade, wage growth has been weaker in top occupations than in middle or low-pay ones, suggesting that the relative supply of workers to these occupations might have started to outpace demand.</p>
<p>However, even in the 2000s, the increase in the number of graduates continued to account for the entire growth in top-pay jobs. This remains the main contribution of highly educated workers to changes in the occupational structure of the UK. </p>
<p>This is a particularly striking result in light of the fact that, over the same period of time, <a href="http://economics.mit.edu/files/9835">the US</a> has instead seen its employment gradually shift towards low-pay low-skill occupations. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/ashe/annual-survey-of-hours-and-earnings/2014-provisional-results/stb-ashe-statistical-bulletin-2014.html#tab-Earnings-by-occupation">Median earnings</a> in high-skill occupations remain higher than in middle or low-skill occupations and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9442.2008.00557.x/abstract">researchers</a> have not found evidence of a decline in the average wage premium for graduates in recent times. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/458101/BIS-15-484-graduate-labour-market-statistics-Q2-2015.pdf">Data for 2015</a> puts the median salary for young (21-30-year-old) postgraduates at £28,500, that for graduates at £25,000 – the highest since records begun in 2006 – and that for non-graduates at £18,000.</p>
<p>This evidence shows that the state of the graduate labour market is less gloomy than suggested in some parts of the CIPD report – and certainly in the coverage it has received in the media.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46782/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Salvatori receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and has previously received funding from the Department of Work and Pensions and the Low Pay Commission.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Seetha Menon receives funding from the Institute for Social & Economic Research at the University of Essex.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wouter Zwysen receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council.</span></em></p>Graduates aren’t all working in coffee shops – they have fuelled growth in top jobs.Andrea Salvatori, Research Fellow, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of EssexSeetha Menon, PhD candidate, University of EssexWouter Zwysen, PhD candidate, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/463582015-08-21T17:16:54Z2015-08-21T17:16:54ZAre non-graduate jobs ‘upgrading’ to give the graduates who do them more autonomy?<p>In an ideal world, everyone investing in their skills through education and training would enter the labour market and find a job which took full advantage of those skills. Concerns that this has not been the case for successive cohorts of university graduates are long-standing, particularly in the UK following the rapid expansion of the higher education sector in the early 1990s. However, there is wide disagreement about the extent of the problem, or how much it has changed over the past couple of decades.</p>
<p>It is commonplace to hear people refer, often interchangeably, to “<a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/is-there-really-a-problem-of-graduate-over-education/100716.article">over-education</a>”, “under-employment”, “over-qualification”, “over-skilling” and “under-utilisation”. But ultimately these terms apply to two aspects of graduate work: whether a person needs to possess a degree to get a job, and whether they need the skills learned through studying for a degree to actually do the job. </p>
<p>Given the increase in the number of graduate applicants for jobs, it should not be surprising to find that more and more jobs require a degree in order to get through the recruitment process. As the Higher Education Funding Council for England <a href="http://www.hefce.ac.uk/news/newsarchive/2015/Name,105042,en.html">has pointed out</a>, 65% of recent graduates report that having a degree was either a formal requirement or an advantage in securing employment once out of university. The more substantial issue is whether the job, once secured, requires skills learned at university, or if the degree was simply a way for employers to screen candidates. All too frequently, the two points are conflated (although there are <a href="https://www.kent.ac.uk/economics/documents/research/papers/2008/0803.pdf">notable exceptions</a>).</p>
<h2>How the UK compares to the rest of Europe</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.cipd.co.uk/binaries/over-qualification-and-skills-mismatch-graduate-labour-market.pdf">In a report</a> we produced for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, we used two European surveys to indicate how different countries compare when it comes to producing jobs that require “graduate-level” skills. In both surveys, the UK does appear to have a relatively high proportion of its graduate workforce in jobs that don’t require such skills. By one <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33983048">widely</a> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/19/uk-failed-create-enough-high-skilled-jobs-graduates-student-debt-report">reported</a> measure, nearly 60% of UK graduates – of all ages – working in 2010 were in jobs which did not require the completion of a degree, as the graph below shows.</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0lmJN/1/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="438"></iframe>
<p>However, as we argued in the report, these types of self-reported survey data have some real problems. It is hard, for example, to work out when skills were actually developed during the long course of education, and almost impossible to say whether they would have been produced anyway if individuals had taken a different route into the labour market.</p>
<p>We could, <a href="http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/EA026.pdf">as many labour economists have done</a>, look at the wage differences between graduates and non-graduates. The large and persistent gap between the two even as graduate numbers increase suggests demand for them has also risen, but this could equally be due to rising demand for graduate skills or changes in employer screening and recruitment practices. Through recruitment, graduates out-compete non-graduates for the available better paying jobs, pushing the average wages of non-graduates downwards.</p>
<h2>What is a graduate job?</h2>
<p>It is therefore important to look at the work graduates are actually doing. Of course, the notion of a “graduate job” is difficult to define. The most recent data on the destination of university leavers <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/stats-dlhe">show that 75%</a> of recent graduates are working in professional, managerial, associate professional and technical occupations, which implies one in four have started their working life in lower-skilled jobs. </p>
<p>The bigger point, frequently missed, is that it is not correct to equate the higher skilled occupational groups with graduate jobs – a point which <a href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ier/futuretrack/findings/elias_purcell_soche_final.pdf">recent work by Peter Elias and Kate Purcell</a> at Warwick has made very clear. In the mid-1990s, only around 20-25% of workers in managerial, associate professional and technical occupations were graduates – this rose to around 40-45% by 2014. For the graduates entering into occupations where once there were largely non-graduates, we need to see evidence that something is changing to the content of the job – that it is upgrading and requiring more skill – in order to argue that their graduate skills are being utilised and that the existing routes into these jobs were not just as effective (as well as being cheaper).</p>
<h2>‘Upgrading’ jobs with more autonomy</h2>
<p>To do this, we use data from the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/workplace-employment-relations-study-wers">Workplace Employment Relations Survey</a> on one aspect of jobs – the amount of autonomy, discretion and influence employees have over their work – to capture the skill requirements of a particular occupation. We looked at how this has changed over time (from 1998 to 2011), and crucially, how it differs for graduates and non-graduates in the same types of jobs.</p>
<p>What we found is that graduates’ use of skills across the labour market was mixed, leading to a range of different outcomes. There are a number of occupations which we could characterise as “upgrading” to accommodate extra graduates – these were where autonomy was increasing and was greater for graduates compared to non-graduates. </p>
<p>As the table below shows, many other occupations where the share of graduates had increased significantly – as shown in the final column – did not fit this description. For some occupations, graduate autonomy was falling relative to the occupation as a whole – indicating graduates were taking on lesser skilled jobs as a consequence of increased competition. For others, decreases were in line with absolute falls in autonomy across the occupation – which we call deskilling. There are also a number of types of work where graduates had less autonomy than non-graduates, suggesting graduate skills might actually be mismatched to the requirements of those occupations.</p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/VXE8k/2/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="681"></iframe>
<p>The next question for research is to look at why occupations have evolved differently as graduate recruitment has grown. This would help us understand how employers and policy-makers can work together with graduates to improve skill use where possible. Where it is not possible, we should be asking questions about the size of the higher education sector in relation to our labour market needs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46358/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Holmes received funding from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. In the past, he received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council for work at Oxford's Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charoula Tzanakou received funding from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She has also received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council for work at Oxford's Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daria Luchinskaya received funding from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She has also received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council for work at Oxford's Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ken Mayhew received funding from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. In the past, he received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council for work at Oxford's Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE). </span></em></p>As debates rage on whether graduates are ‘over-educated’, researchers have looked at what’s actually happening to their jobs.Craig Holmes, Lecturer in Economics at Pembroke College, University of OxfordCharoula Tzanakou, Research Fellow, Warwick Institute for Employment Research, University of WarwickDaria Luchinskaya, IAS Early Career Fellow, University of WarwickKen Mayhew, Emeritus Professor of Education and Economic Performance, Department of Education and Founding Director, Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/409412015-05-27T05:47:18Z2015-05-27T05:47:18ZExplainer: what is credentialism and is a degree more than just a piece of paper?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82718/original/image-20150522-32562-w7lfhw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Worth what it's written on?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Students graduating by michaeljung/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gaining that required qualification to put on your CV is what counts to win a job in today’s “graduate economy”. On current trends, perhaps everyone will have a degree by the end of this century. Already in Finland, a remarkable <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11438140">80% of young people</a> are now going to university.</p>
<p>With so many people obtaining degree qualifications there are concerns that academic credentials are losing meaning and value. “Credentialism”, a <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Credentialism.aspx">concept coined by social scientists in the 1970s</a>, is the reduction of qualifications to status conferring pieces of paper. It’s an ideology which puts formal educational credentials above other ways of understanding human potential and ability. </p>
<p>Credentialism is <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-deans-plea-let-students-discover-knowledge-without-pressure-to-impress-40682">creeping back</a> into the higher education debate as academics and the wider public attempt to make sense of the university system we now have. Students <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/tuition-fees-four-fifths-of-students-believe-their-degree-isnt-worth-the-money-9928635.html">are asking</a> if their degrees are worth the tuition fees they are expected to pay back as long-term loans. University academics bemoan the pressures of grade inflation and systems of teaching which resemble factories. Meanwhile, online learning and the growth of accredited university certificates through massive open online courses (MOOCs) on website like <a href="https://www.coursera.org/">Coursera</a> offer an alternative to traditional university enrolment.</p>
<p>These are all important issues to debate for the future of our universities. But they ignore the fundamental value of credentials in the workplace.</p>
<p>Let’s take the appalling story of Victorino Chua, a Filipino nurse working at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, who on May 19 received <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-32795255">25 life sentences</a> for poisoning and murdering multiple patients. Investigations by police and journalists have raised questions about the <a href="http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-32493830">validity of Chua’s nursing qualifications</a> and his academic record when studying in the Philippines. There have been suspicions that someone may have sat exams in the place of Chua and his academic transcript may have been tampered with. Fake nursing degrees have been found on sale in the Philippines for as little as £20.</p>
<p>In a BBC interview, the director of nursing and midwifery for the hospital <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-32791609">defended the range of recruitment “checks”</a> that take place, but also admitted they rely on the credentials provided by universities and professional bodies, such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and cannot undertake their own detailed investigation into every employee.</p>
<p>The Stepping Hill case tells us that many people across the world are eager to obtain a university education as a passport to employment – and some go to desperate lengths to obtain the required certificate.</p>
<h2>A basic requirement</h2>
<p>A <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21647285-more-and-more-money-being-spent-higher-education-too-little-known-about-whether-it">recent report</a> by The Economist on the higher education system argued that a university degree is now the ultimate status symbol for entry into the middle classes across the world. It is the basic requirement for any professional occupation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82723/original/image-20150522-32555-1yw9pbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82723/original/image-20150522-32555-1yw9pbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82723/original/image-20150522-32555-1yw9pbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82723/original/image-20150522-32555-1yw9pbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82723/original/image-20150522-32555-1yw9pbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82723/original/image-20150522-32555-1yw9pbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82723/original/image-20150522-32555-1yw9pbb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Difficult to choose between.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Job candidates via BlueSkyImage/www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the world of education is still rife with corruption. Tampering with educational records is unlikely to benefit anyone – and producing cheap forgeries of degree certificates is clearly a pathetic way to attempt to make a living. </p>
<p>This does not mean that certificates represent meaningless qualifications. There is still a so-called <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/10246785/Graduate-premium-no-matter-what-you-study.html">graduate premium</a> in economic terms because employers value the added skills and abilities that graduates can demonstrate. In wider social terms, research suggests a university degree provides many non-market <a href="http://www.smf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Publication-Robbins-Revisited-Bigger-and-Better-Higher-Education-David-Willetts.pdf#page=22">benefits to individuals and society</a>, including longer life expectancy, more leisure time, greater social mobility, and a lower propensity to commit crime. These effects are difficult to measure but they change society for the better, and they matter more than almost anything else.</p>
<h2>Beware of class prejudice</h2>
<p>There is a danger that the concept of credentialism is a form of class prejudice in the way that it devalues the qualifications of those parts of the population, both at home and internationally, participating in higher education for the first time.</p>
<p>Personally, I welcome the growth of higher education. I would not want us to return to the elitist world of the early 20th century when less than 1% of the population had the opportunity to get a degree.</p>
<p>So we need to ensure that university is more than a rite of passage culminating in a piece of paper. It is the role of the academic profession and higher education institutions to create worthwhile learning experiences. No one should discourage young people for wanting to better their life chances. If students have unrealistic expectations about education they need more education – not less.</p>
<p>Formal qualifications and paper degree certificates are bureaucratic artefacts, but they are not to blame for credentialism. They are simple and convenient representations of something much bigger and more important.</p>
<p>The fact that education is a global status symbol shows how effective education has become at giving people opportunities in life. However, education needs to be shaped as a public good, not a private commodity, and it therefore needs to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/unregulated-expansion-of-higher-education-costing-millions-38070">carefully regulated</a> by governments and professional associations. Without regulation education is vulnerable to abuse, and this can lead to tragic outcomes.</p>
<p>We need to celebrate the value of higher education and look to its possibilities before prematurely dismissing its growth as crude credentialism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/40941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Gatenby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gaining that required qualification to put on your CV is what counts to win a job in today’s “graduate economy”. On current trends, perhaps everyone will have a degree by the end of this century. Already…Mark Gatenby, Lecturer in Organisation Studies, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/420152015-05-26T06:16:35Z2015-05-26T06:16:35ZWe can’t blame the loss of mid-level jobs purely on robots<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82094/original/image-20150518-25422-sa1qtn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Friend or foe to the job-seeker?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robot with pencils by Kirill__M/www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Several developed countries including the US, UK and Germany have seen their labour markets polarised in recent decades as the number of middle-skilled jobs has declined relative to that of low and high-skilled ones. Technology has been singled out as the main culprit: computers and automation have reduced the demand for mid-level skilled workers in production lines as well as offices, increasing that for high-skilled managers, professionals and technicians. But there has been little or no impact on the demand for low-skilled service occupations. </p>
<p>There is a perception that the range of tasks that can be automated is rapidly expanding thanks to fast technological development. This has exacerbated concerns on the impact of technology on <a href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n05/john-lanchester/the-robots-are-coming">the quantity and quality of jobs</a>. But does the evidence support the view that the future of the labour market is entirely in the hands of the robots?</p>
<p>In the simplest version of this story, as advancements in technology lead firms to demand fewer workers in mid-skill occupations, these jobs should see both employment and wages decline relative to low and high-skill jobs. This should show up in economic data as what we might call “double polarisation”: when both employment and wages grow more in high and low-skill occupations than they do in middling ones. This double polarisation was indeed what happened in the US in the 1990s, but it <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/technology-inequality-dont-blame-the-robots/">did not continue into the 2000s</a>. More broadly, wage polarisation has generally not been detected in <a href="http://qje.oxfordjournals.org/content/124/2/843.short">other countries</a> that have experienced job polarisation, such as Germany and the UK. </p>
<p>The simple story blaming technology alone for taking mid-skilled jobs cannot explain what we see in the data. Other factors are likely to have played an important role, as I have explored in my <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/econsalvatori/polarisation">ongoing research</a> on the situation in the UK.</p>
<h2>UK boom in high-skilled jobs</h2>
<p>The UK has seen a steady decline in middling occupations since at least 1980. As the graph below shows, growth in top occupations exceeded that in bottom ones in each of the last three decades. This has resulted in a substantial shift of employment from middling to top occupations: out of 100 employees, 19 fewer could be found in middle-skill occupations in 2012 than in 1979. Of these, 16 had moved to higher-skill occupations and only three into lower-skill ones.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82550/original/image-20150521-1001-15viou9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82550/original/image-20150521-1001-15viou9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82550/original/image-20150521-1001-15viou9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82550/original/image-20150521-1001-15viou9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82550/original/image-20150521-1001-15viou9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82550/original/image-20150521-1001-15viou9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82550/original/image-20150521-1001-15viou9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82550/original/image-20150521-1001-15viou9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=355&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Job polarisation in the UK.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is noticeably different from the US experience, where growth at the bottom has progressively outpaced that at the top, culminating in the 2000s when <a href="http://dept.econ.yorku.ca/%7Ebmsand/Great-Reversal_v6b.pdf">employment growth was concentrated in</a> low-skill occupations. </p>
<p>A distinctive change that took place in the UK since the early 1990s is the expansion in university education which led to a threefold increase in the share of graduates among employees. The expansion of graduates in this way is different to the US, which saw no comparable increase in the share of graduates over the past 20 years. This increase in the educational attainment of the UK workforce accounts for the entire growth in top-skilled occupations and a third of the decline in middling occupations. </p>
<p>There is no indication that wages in middling occupations have been decreasing in the UK, as one would expect if demand was declining due to the spread of automation. It is instead the performance of wages in high-skill occupations that has deteriorated over time relative to middling ones. It was the worst in the 2000s when wages in the 10% highest-paid occupations grew 10% less than those in median occupations. </p>
<p>During this period, the supply of graduates in the UK continued to grow at the same time as the growth of top occupations in other similarly developed countries such as <a href="http://dept.econ.yorku.ca/%7Ebmsand/CanadianPolarization-v10.pdf">the US and Canada</a> stalled. This stalling elsewhere suggests that there may have been a wider <a href="http://dept.econ.yorku.ca/%7Ebmsand/Great-Reversal_v6b.pdf">slow down</a> in the (technology-led) demand for high-skill occupations in the 2000s. </p>
<p>These facts are highly suggestive that the improvement in the education of the workforce has contributed significantly to the reallocation of employment from mid- to high-skill occupations in the UK.</p>
<h2>Clerical wages going up</h2>
<p>But the evidence from the UK also highlights another possible limitation of the story in which technology simply replaces mid-skilled workers. Since the 1990s, the share of mid-level, clerical jobs in the UK has indeed slowly declined, consistent with the idea that technology reduces the need for people in these occupations.</p>
<p>However, over the same period the wages of clerical workers have grown at a rate similar to that of professional occupations, such as lawyers and doctors, a fast-growing group whose real wages increased by about 64%. Similarly, other studies have also found that <a href="http://economics.mit.edu/files/1474">in the US</a>, clerical occupations have seen their wages increase in spite of the decline in their relative number.</p>
<p>One of the early proponents of the idea that computers displace mid-skilled workers, MIT scholar <a href="http://economics.mit.edu/files/9835">David Autor</a>, has argued that, within the same occupation, technology might replace workers in certain tasks while complementing them in others which are more cognitive and difficult to automate – or even expand the range of tasks they can perform. So, while much of the filing work once done by secretaries might now be done by computers, the remaining secretaries are supported by computers in their other tasks and perform a range of new organisational ones that were once the domain of managerial staff.</p>
<p>While there is no doubt that technology is a major force at play in the labour market, the differences in experiences across countries suggests other factors play an important role as well. For the UK, several pieces of evidence indicate that the expansion in university education has contributed to changing the occupational structure of the labour market. </p>
<p>Across countries, there is generally little evidence to support the idea that automation has been dramatically disrupting the labour market in recent times. Instead, there are clear indications that the story is likely to be a nuanced one, where the complex interaction between changes in the skills of the workforce, technology and the way different tasks are bundled into jobs means that the fate of those occupations that might appear most at risk might not be quite sealed yet.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/42015/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Salvatori receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council and has previously received funding from the Department of Work and Pensions and the Low Pay Commission. </span></em></p>An increasing number of high-skilled graduates, rather than technology, could be to blame for a decline in the UK’s mid-paying jobs.Andrea Salvatori, Research Fellow, Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/374922015-03-03T10:59:17Z2015-03-03T10:59:17ZMaybe the hardest nut for a new scientist to crack: finding a job<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73482/original/image-20150302-15953-215g2q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A love of science and a lifetime of work don't guarantee a successful job hunt.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-95950105/stock-photo-new-career-ahead-concept-road-surface-marking-with-arrow.html">Woman image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The typical biography of a scientist might look something like this.</p>
<p>At a young age, a boy or girl <a href="http://physics4u.info/?p=169">discovers a love for science</a>. Their dream is to become perhaps a <a href="http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/geology.html">geologist</a>, a <a href="http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/adventures-in-chemistry.html">chemist</a>, or a <a href="http://www.seaurchinsmag.com/">marine biologist</a>.</p>
<p>At school they work hard at math and science, and they supplement this with everything else they can get their hands on: books, documentaries, public talks and visits to museums. They take <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2010/08/02/advice-for-young-aspiring-scie/">all the right courses at college</a> and then <a href="http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1286">embark on a PhD</a> in their chosen field.</p>
<p>After many years of hard effort (including chunks of time <a href="http://phdtalk.blogspot.ca/2013/09/20-tips-for-surviving-your-phd.html">racked with doubt and frustration</a>), they complete a solid body of work that contains <a href="http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/">some genuinely new discoveries</a>. They’ve had the chance <a href="http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/just-met-my-science-hero.453953473/">to meet some of the big names</a> they read about as a kid, and now actually know some of them on a first-name basis.</p>
<p>The day a young graduate receives his or her science diploma is the most thrilling and satisfying day of their life. They are finally, officially, a scientist.</p>
<p>But there’s one thing that all those years of study and research has not prepared them for: <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/the-phd-bust-americas-awful-market-for-young-scientists-in-7-charts/273339/">the job market</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73484/original/image-20150302-15960-tottx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73484/original/image-20150302-15960-tottx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73484/original/image-20150302-15960-tottx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73484/original/image-20150302-15960-tottx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73484/original/image-20150302-15960-tottx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73484/original/image-20150302-15960-tottx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73484/original/image-20150302-15960-tottx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73484/original/image-20150302-15960-tottx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There must be a job out there somewhere….</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/tripletlads/2611648015">Michael Salerno</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Pounding the pavement as a scientist</h2>
<p>No matter what your profession, job hunting is not fun. But for scientists and other researchers, it’s a weird world of intense competition, painfully long time scales, and uncertain outcomes.</p>
<p>The strangest thing about a scientific career is that the application deadlines are often <a href="https://diracseashore.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/postdoc-season-officially-open/">ridiculously early</a>. Hoping to find a university position starting in September? If you wait until February or March to begin your job search, you’ve likely left it way too late. The application deadlines for some of the juiciest positions were <a href="http://jobregister.aas.org/archives/issue?year=2014&month=11">way back in November and December</a>.</p>
<p>Because of this advanced schedule, only the things that someone accomplishes a year or more before actually needing a new job will matter for their career prospects. Any amazing discoveries made after the application deadline are largely irrelevant.</p>
<p>The problem is that this is not always how science works.</p>
<p>For many important research topics, <a href="http://www.researchgate.net/post/Paper_writing_before_or_after_thesis_writing">all the headline results emerge only at the very end</a>. Students whose research is part of a massive longitudinal study or who are members of a big project team suddenly find themselves at a huge disadvantage, because they often can’t provide instant evidence of the quality of their work a whole year before needing a job.</p>
<p>The other daunting thing is the intensity of the competition. For most specialized scientific topics, there are far more PhD degrees than job postings: across all of science, doctoral degrees outnumber faculty positions <a href="http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v31/n10/fig_tab/nbt.2706_F1.html">by a ratio of 12 to one</a>. An advertisement for a fellowship or junior faculty position will routinely draw <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/hundreds-of-phd-students-chasing-every-early-career-post/2016799.article">hundreds of applications</a>, and only 1%-2% of graduates will <a href="http://sciblogs.co.nz/code-for-life/2013/01/29/from-science-phd-to-careers-outside-academia-what-might-help/">eventually land a coveted professorship</a>.</p>
<p>How to proceed, when the odds are so stacked against you? Inevitably, the only way to counter the competition is to apply for lots of positions. A budding scientist is expected to apply for <a href="https://labandfield.wordpress.com/2013/10/01/the-long-and-winding-road-or-the-applicationinterview-ratio/">a dozen or more jobs</a>, spread all over the world.</p>
<p>This situation immediately creates some challenges and problems.</p>
<p>By increasing the quantity of applications, the quality suffers. In an ideal world, an applicant will provide <a href="http://www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday/asbmbtoday_article.aspx?id=48927">a carefully wrought narrative</a>, weaving a story as to how their skills and background perfectly dovetail with the interest of the department they hope will hire them. But there’s no time for that. Instead one typically sends out a generic CV and research plan, and then essentially just hopes for the best.</p>
<p>The process is also incredibly inefficient. Professors all over write <a href="http://science-professor.blogspot.ca/2010/03/wasted-time.html">endless careful letters</a> of recommendation, most of which <a href="http://www.newappsblog.com/2011/10/should-we-abolish-letters-of-recommendation.html">have little bearing on the outcome</a>. Selection panels spend hundreds of hours reading huge piles of applications, but can only afford a scant 10-15 minutes considering the merits of each candidate.</p>
<p>What’s more, not everyone can freely pursue jobs anywhere the market will take them. Young children, aging parents and other personal circumstances result in a large pool of outstanding scientists with strong geographic constraints, and hence <a href="http://www.uq.edu.au/research/research-management/uq-postdoctoral-research-fellowships-for-women">limited options</a>.</p>
<p>Overall, the harsh reality is that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-pushes-for-more-scientists-but-the-jobs-arent-there/2012/07/07/gJQAZJpQUW_story.html">many applicants will simply not get any offers</a>. A lifelong dream of being a scientist, combined with an advanced postgraduate degree, is tragically not a guarantee of a scientific career.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73479/original/image-20150302-15991-18m4m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/73479/original/image-20150302-15991-18m4m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73479/original/image-20150302-15991-18m4m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73479/original/image-20150302-15991-18m4m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73479/original/image-20150302-15991-18m4m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73479/original/image-20150302-15991-18m4m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/73479/original/image-20150302-15991-18m4m0o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even for bright, prepared scientists the road ahead is not clear.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-95950105/stock-photo-new-career-ahead-concept-road-surface-marking-with-arrow.html">Road image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Good scientists should be able to find jobs</h2>
<p>The frustration, disappointment and disillusionment grow every year. Things need to change.</p>
<p>First, employers need to make much more of an effort to tell applicants what sort of scientist they are looking for. Instead of reducing the job searching process to the scientific equivalent of speed dating, advertisements need to set out a <a href="http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/structure/hiring-and-training/job-descriptions/main">clear and detailed set of selection criteria</a>, with lots of context and background on the role and working environment. By properly telling the community what they’re looking for, labs and research institutes can focus their time on candidates with useful qualifications, and applicants can focus their energy on only those jobs for which they have a realistic chance.</p>
<p>Second, we need to create <a href="http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/Our-vision/Flexible-research-careers/index.htm">flexible career paths</a>. Part-time positions, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-body_problem_%28career%29">“two body” hires</a> for couples with both members in academia, and accommodation of career interruptions need to become <em>de rigueur</em>, rather than whispered legends we’ve all only ever heard about second- or third-hand.</p>
<p>And finally, a specialist science degree needs to move beyond the expectation that it offers training only in one particular type of science.</p>
<p>A good scientist graduates with passion, vision and brilliance, and also with persistence, organization, rigor, eloquence and clarity. A scientist can incisively separate out truth from falsehoods, and can solve complicated problems with precious little starting information. These are highly desired attributes. The scientific community needs not just accept but celebrate that the skills and values we cherish are the paths to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/513005a">a wide range of stimulating and satisfying careers</a> – both in and out of academia.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/37492/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bryan Gaensler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A lifetime of study and preparation are no guarantee of success for PhDs when they hit the job market. Things can and should be improved.Bryan Gaensler, Director, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics , University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.