Graduate unemployment levels on a par with school leavers

Latest data shows 25% of 21-year-olds who left university with a degree in 2011 were unemployed compared with 26% of 16-year-olds with GCSEs

Graduates leaving university found it harder to get jobs in 2011 than students finishing A-level courses, as youth unemployment hit its highest level since the 1980s, official data shows.

In 2011, 20% of 18-year-olds who left school with A-levels were unemployed compared with 25% of 21-year-olds who left university with a degree, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. Graduate unemployment rates were almost on a par with those for people leaving school with just GCSEs, with 26% of 16-year-olds with these qualifications out of work.

But the ONS figures show it was easier for older graduates to find work: at age 24 only 5% of degree holders were unemployed compared with 7% of those who finished their education after A-levels and 13% of those with only GCSEs.

Charlie Ball, deputy director of research at the Higher Education Careers Services Unit, said the figures were "absolutely correct, but give a misleading impression", as the cohort of people leaving with A-levels was smaller than the number graduating.

He said the graduate jobs market had "hardly returned to its state pre-recession", but most of those leaving university were likely to get jobs within six months.

"Although the number of young people out of work is historically high, the graduate unemployment rate in this recession has not reached the levels it did in the 1980s or 1990s," he said.

Research by investment firm Skandia suggests graduates still earn a high premium over the course of their career once they do find work. It says a graduate leaving university today should earn an average of £1.6m over a working career of 45 years compared to £1m for an 18-year-old entering the workforce and retiring 48 years later. A 16-year-old working 49.5 years will typically earn £783,964 over their career.

Although the prospects for graduates may not be as gloomy as they first appear, the ONS figures make grim reading for young job seekers.

The ONS said unemployment for those aged 16 to 24 stood at just over 1m in the last quarter of 2011, the highest number since 1986/87. This represented one in seven (or 14.2%) of this age group and is the highest rate of youth unemployment since 1984/85. Of these, 307,000 were full-time students actively looking for work alongside their studies.

London was the region with the highest youth unemployment rate, with 24% of economically active 16- to 24-year-olds unemployed from July 2010 to June 2011. However, the ONS said this was a result of the number of students in the capital, some of who were looking to work. When students are discounted, the highest proportion of youth unemployment was in the north-east at 15%.

The TUC's general secretary, Brendan Barber, said the figures showed the importance of higher qualifications in helping young people into work. But he added: "With ministers putting up fresh barriers to higher education by hiking tuition fees and scrapping the EMA, the scar of mass joblessness that is hitting today's youngsters could follow some of them into their late 20s or even 30s.

"The government's cut-price work experience scheme is woefully ill-equipped to deal with the scale of our jobs crisis. Young people need tailored support and experience of proper paid jobs to give them the best possible chance of moving into work."

Recently, some large firms have stepped up their recruitment of school leavers to attract bright students put off by the cost of going to university.

All of the UK's "big four" accountancy firms, which between them recruit several thousand graduates each year, have established degree-equivalent school-leaver training programmes, including Ernst & Young which launches its programme in the autumn.

Stephen Isherwood, head of graduate recruitment at Ernst & Young, said the company had already recruited 30 of the 60 school leavers it planned to take on from hundreds of applications.

"There is a sense that the mantra of the last few years that everything is about university is not necessarily right, and that A-level students should really be thinking about what they want to do and whether that means going to university, and making sure they get the best deal for themselves."

NEWS BY:http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/feb/22/graduates-unemployment-levels-school-leavers

David Miliband backs bid for university 'living wage'

One of the architects of New Labour has thrown his weight behind a student campaign to give Cambridge University and college staff a ‘living wage’.

About 1,000 staff at the university and its colleges are paid less than the ‘living wage’, judged by the Living Wage Foundation to be £7.20 an hour outside London. The National Minimum Wage is currently £6.08 for workers aged over 21.

Former Foreign Secretary David Miliband held a breakfast meeting with Labour students, who want the university to pay cleaners, waiters and other low-paid staff at least £7.20 an hour.

The Labour MP told the News: “It’s significant that Labour students should vote to run their number one campaign this year about the living and working conditions of others and not themselves.”

Student Richard Johnson, chairman of Cambridge Universities Labour Club, said: “A lot of the colleges are aware of being perceived as exploiting workers, although we are not saying they are doing that.

“They put on enormous banquets for students, which of course are great for them, but at the same time are paying these staff low wages. The colleges are conscious of that and the way they are seen.”

The 20-year-old added: “My hope is that by the end of this term there will be at least one college which will to commit to it.

“I do not think that is unreasonable. The colleges know it will be great publicity to be the first.”

Cambridge University itself, with a top pay grade of £131,395 a year, has 112 staff paid less than the ‘living wage’, according to a Freedom of Information request by the campaign last year.

A spokesman for the university would not comment directly on whether it would sign up to the living wage pledge, saying its pay scales were “derived from national pay bargaining” for universities across the country.

He added: “The minimum point of the university scale has just increased to £11,175 (a year). The university pay scales are above the national minimum wage.

“The impact of this year’s pay increase is that an individual on the lowest point of the scale would have enjoyed a higher percentage increase (1.3 per cent) than those on higher rates of pay.”

Homerton College had one of the highest numbers of staff paid below the ‘living wage’, according to the FOI request, with 65 on less than £7.20 an hour.

But college bursar Gale Bryan said these related to casual staff – all permanent employees were paid more than £7.20 an hour.

He said: “The unintended or intended objective (of this campaign) appears to be to increase the cost of casual labour, which meets the needs of many young people wishing to supplement their income.

NEWS BY:http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk

UK university plans Bangkok campus

Plans to unveil the UK's first private university campus in Bangkok have been unveiled.

The University of Central Lancashire has signed an agreement with Thai-based entrepreneur Sitichai Charoenkajonkul to create a full-scale campus.

Preston-based UCLan will invest £7.5 million in the Thailand venture which aims to open the doors to its first influx of students in June 2014.

The site will offer full-time and part-time undergraduate, postgraduate and foundation degree courses in subject areas such as business, built and natural environment, engineering, creative and performing arts, and languages. Located in the Bangkok metropolitan area and within easy reach of the city centre, the new facility will initially be home to 800 students with a planned capacity of 5,000 in 10 years.

UCLan vice chancellor Malcolm McVicar said: "UCLan has made huge strides in the last 10 years and the qualities of innovation, entrepreneurship and enterprise remain at the heart of everything we do.

"We have students from over 120 countries and some 125 partnerships across the globe but we are now entering a new phase of exciting development which will see us build campuses outside the UK.

"Our Thailand project is an ideal fit and will enable us to become the first UK university to build a campus in Thailand, thereby extending our international links and bringing world-class higher education and our view of a superlative student experience to south-east Asia."

UK-based students will also benefit with full-time undergraduate students given the opportunity to obtain global experience or a study period abroad as a standard part of their degree programme.

Mr McVicar added: "At an undergraduate level our market research shows that in Thailand nationally there is strong demand for all our proposed academic subject areas while the postgraduate market looks even more encouraging with UK MBA qualifications particularly sought-after. Drawing on the strength of some of our partnerships with global brands, we will deliver courses which are bespoke for the Asian market while providing the gold standard of a UK university experience."

All teaching will be carried out in English with some UCLan academics relocating from the UK, while the degrees awarded will be University of Central Lancashire qualifications.

NEWS BY:http://www.herald.ie/breaking-news/world-news/uk-university-plans-bangkok-campus-2987540.html

Brighton Hill Community College Is 'Satisfactory'

BASINGSTOKE’S largest secondary school has made progress since it was graded as “inadequate” by Ofsted in March – and there has been praise for the man who has now taken over as the permanent headteacher.

Charlie Currie has been leading Brighton Hill Community College as the interim headteacher after former head David Eyre retired months after the inspection result, which he publicly challenged Ofsted over.

Following the critical Ofsted report, Hampshire County Council, as local education authority, applied to the Education Secretary to replace the governing body with an interim executive board (IEB), which came into effect on September 1.

An Ofsted inspector, who visited the school in Brighton Way, in November, said the school is now making “satisfactory” progress in raising students’ achievement and addressing the issues for improvement.

Her Majesty’s Inspector John Daniell said in his report, published this month, that although attainment at the end of Key Stage 4 rose slightly in 2011, with 60 per cent of students gaining five or more A* to C grades at GCSE, including English and maths, this remains below the school’s target.

He said better progress has been made in music, drama and German, but the quality of teaching is variable, with some still inadequate.

The report said: “Where teaching is better, there is a correlation with good behaviour because students are challenged and therefore engaged in their learning.

“In some lessons, students’ good behaviour accelerated their rate of progress because they are enthused and motivated to succeed, whereas in others, inappropriate behaviour acts as a barrier to progress, which students say they find frustrating.”

Mr Daniell said the IEB had “set about making clear its high expectations in its mission to drive up standards.”

He added: “The interim headteacher and his team have accurately analysed the school’s existing strengths and areas for development, and have galvanised staff’s enthusiasm in tackling key issues head-on.”

Mr Currie said: “We were delighted with the outcome because it indicates that the school is making significant progress.

“We have been able to make outstanding headway in a very short time to put the school in the right place to progress. It (the grading) would never have been ‘good’. We were expecting, and hoping, it would be ‘satisfactory’. I was very pleased with it.

“It means we have been able to come a long way in a short time and that when we have our full inspection, which is scheduled to take place between March and the summer term, that we would expect by that time to have our ‘notice to improve’ removed.”

Basingstoke MP Maria Miller visited the school in November to find out how things were going.

She said: “I am delighted to hear about the progress that has been made at Brighton Hill Community College over a very short amount of time, and it is fantastic news that things are really getting back on track here.”


News By:

basingstokegazette.co.uk