December 7, 2024

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Unemployment rates of new graduates are highest among law and computer science students, data shows

Nearly one in ten graduates of some universities are still unemployed 15 months after leaving higher education
Nearly one in ten graduates of some universities are still unemployed 15 months after leaving higher education

Unemployment rates of new graduates are highest among law and computer science students, official data shows.

Just five per cent of British graduates of the two subjects were unemployed 15 months after graduating, according to figures published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa).

Overall, nearly one in ten graduates of some universities are still unemployed 15 months after leaving higher education.

Of young people leaving full-time undergraduate courses in the summer of 2018, around 4 per cent were out of work more than a year after leaving university which rises to ten per cent at some institutions.

London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas) had the highest proportion (9 per cent) of graduates out of work after leaving full-time courses, once significant interim study was excluded.

The survey, which looked at data of 361,215 graduates, also found that the proportion was also high at the University of East London and London Metropolitan University where it was eight per cent.

Rachel Hewitt, director of policy and advocacy at the Higher Education Policy Institute said that the one in ten graduates who remain unemployed might be down to the fact that some will have just completed a Masters course. “This may particularly explain higher levels of unemployment among law graduates, who are likely to have taken up additional qualifications,” she said.

Yesterday the universities minister confirmed that students from the European Union (EU) will have to start paying higher tuition fees from 2021.

Currently EU students can take out loans from the Student Loans Company and pay the same amount as their British peers, which is written off after 30 years if it has not been paid in full. But from August 2021, they will have to pay the higher tuition fees for international students due to Brexit.