Incentives being called for students to ‘stay local’

Incentives for students to ‘stay local’ are being called for following a think-tank report, published by the Royal Society for encouragement of Arts (RSA), which revealed that students are likely to move away from the cities in which they graduate.

The report found that there are “relatively low numbers of graduates that stay in the cities where they graduate”.

The RSA think-tank proposed numerous incentives including the implementation of a final-year “Refreshers Week” held and run by local authorities and agencies.

This would be designed to encourage final-year students to stay in the local areas of their university once they have graduated. The week long event would offer graduate advice, find appropriate employment and help graduates find housing in the local areas.

RSA think-tank also suggested developing a process of “graduate clearing”. According to the report, this would be similar to the UCAS clearing system and would involve unsuccessful graduate job applications being sent to local firms that are searching for jobs.

This would encourage those that cannot find work in areas around the UK to move back to the local area of their university.

Jim O’ Neill, an economist and the chairman of the City of Growth Commission, remarked: “Surely it would be sensible to consider pursuing a number of initiatives to either help or encourage graduates to stay in the metro areas where they graduate,

He added that such initiatives could become “a key ingredient to helping these cities prosper”.

Warwick students remain divided on the benefits of staying local. Many are aware that they do not want to stay in the West Midlands.

Claudia Williams, a first-year English Literature student, stated: “I applied to Warwick University knowing that I would not want to stay in the West Midlands after I graduate.”

Similarly, Adam Gayton, a fourth-year law student, remarked: “I considered staying in the local area after I graduate but considering that there aren’t as many career options in the West Midlands, it would be better to move to London instead.”

Such opinion is reflected by the fact that only 30 percent of Warwick graduates taking work in the UK stayed in the West Midlands.

By contrast, 30.6 percent went to London with the rest working in other areas in the UK.