Graduate employers hand in their end of term report

Recruiters cast doubt on the value of a university education

If you're a graduate job-hunter and think you have suffered more than your fair share of knockbacks over the past few months, you might be wondering what the point of a university degree is. Rather worryingly, graduate employers are beginning to ask themselves the same question.

In the latest Graduates in the Eyes of Employers survey conducted by The Guardian and Park Human Resources, 40% of graduate recruiters agreed with the statement that "degrees in themselves have become devalued as a means of measuring employability".

With 70% agreeing that "degree results alone are not the best measure of employment potential", only 17% think "graduates are better equipped for the workplace than non graduates of the same age", and only 20% disagree that "21-year-old graduates are not necessarily better employees than A-level school leavers with three years' work experience".

So why do they bother? Just a little over three-quarters of the graduate employers surveyed believe they do so for the graduates' future potential - within three years' time 63% of recruiters say at least half of their graduate recruits have moved to a senior position.

Concerned about improving the quality of their graduate intake, more than 60% of employers are now engaged in targeting particular universities.

As in previous years, recruiters say they've been focusing their campaigns and activities on traditional redbrick universities, with Bristol, Cambridge, Imperial, Leeds, Loughborough, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield and Warwick the usual suspects. In fact, of the 104 employers who took part in the survey, not one mentioned a "new" university in their list of recruitment targets.

The most regularly cited reason is the courses offered by the more traditional universities, followed closely by the success recruiters have enjoyed in the past and the strong working relationships they have established with these universities.

But more than a quarter still hold the view that "new" universities turn out lower quality graduates. Of equal cause for concern is the view expressed by 10% of recruiters that pressure from senior management is their primary motive for selecting one university over another.

Some concede that targeting carries with it a danger of discrimination against ethnic or minority groups. For example, only 40% of employers disagree with the statement that employment prospects are less good for mature students and 45% that they are not so rosy for disabled students. At least 71% disagreed that there was discrimination on ethnic grounds.

Much has been written about diversity programmes, but it seems very few graduate recruiters have formal targets for recruiting students from minority groups. Less than a third employ any formal media strategy for attracting ethnic/minority candidates.

There's better news for overseas students. Two-thirds of graduate employers say they regularly recruit from European countries other than the UK - European students' more diverse skills and better linguistic abilities are the main reasons given.

More than a third of recruiters expect to see a return on their investment in graduates within 12 months. A further 20% expect to see a return within a year to 18 months.

The most common measure seems to be an increase in a graduate's ability to take on responsibility and to work independently. However, 43% expect a measurable increase in revenues or output.

Do employers understand what motivates today's graduates? The survey suggests recruiters believe that the single most popular factor which attracts students to work for them are the career prospects that they offer, followed by the prospect of early responsibility, reputation and a good graduate training scheme.

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