Guardian rates us less employable

According to _The Guardian_, Warwick graduates have become less employable than previous years.

In a range of subject areas, _The Guardian_ showed Warwick to have dropped by around 5-10 per cent in employability rates since last year’s league tables.

Overall, Warwick has dropped from 75 per cent to 69 per cent of graduates employed 6 months after graduation.

However, the University has stayed consistent in its overall position in many league tables such as _The Times_ and _The Sunday Times_, it has dropped in only one table – _The Guardian_ – from third to sixth place.

The University this year ranked 157th in the Times Higher Education international league tables, a notable improvement after being excluded from last year’s tables due to a change in ranking criteria.

The concerns for the employability of Warwick students, however, can be because of a variety of reasons: namely the nature of the current economic climate. Similar patterns can be seen in other university tables across the board.

Peter Dunn, the University of Warwick’s Press Officer, noted that Warwick students are renowned in the business world.

They are seen “as coming from one of the UK’s top 10 universities, being global citizens with a truly international viewpoint and skill set, [and featuring] Warwick’s reputation as having staff and students working and studying areas relevant to real world issues and problems.”

Warwick is one of the most recruited universities in the country, partly due to its links with business and industry.

It has often been said, however, that the league tables themselves are unable to be relied upon as an accurate representation of a university.

Sean Ruston, Education Officer at Warwick Students’ Union agreed with this opinion, adding that “The survey is misleading as it is done only 6 months after leaving.”

Many graduates, including those from Warwick, tend to take a few years to move on and get a job. Some take a gap year, or engage in temporary work until they find an opportunity in the career they want to go into.

“[The] University has long advocated for it to be done after 2 years because it is a much more accurate representation of actual employability,” he said.

In addition, Ruston added that it is easier for London and other city university graduates to get straight into a job, but for Warwick students who are living in the middle of the country, it is much harder to secure immediate employment.

Both Ruston and Dunn agreed that students need to start thinking about their career during their degree, and pointed to the careers and skills pages for help and advice.

“They should be thinking about employability from day one, not term three final year. The problem is that they leave it until the last moment… then they find themselves, then they find a career,” Ruston concluded.

Warwick graduates, coming from a university consistently in the top ten universities in the country, will still be employable.

However, it is clear to see that the economic climate has played a part in student employability, in addition to the variety in ranking criteria for each of the league tables.