David Draycott: Graduate Retention

Graduate Retention in the West of England David Draycott Director, Employment and Skills Board

1. West of England Loyals These are graduates who are domiciled in the West of England, went to study in the region, and remained to work in the West of England. 2. West of England Returners Returners were originally domiciled in the West of England, studied elsewhere, and then returned to the West of England to work. 3. West of England Stayers Stayers were originally from outside the West of England, but studied at an institution in the region and remained there to work. 4. West of England Incomers Incomers are those graduates who were working in the West of England, but had not been domiciled there and had not studied there. Graduate groupings

2005/6 3815 2006/7 3855 2007/8 4275 Working in the region six months after graduation WoE Loyals 2635 WoE Returners 2880 WoE Stayers 2710 WoE Incomers 3715 Number of graduates in each migration group

Graduate employment categories for each group

Key findings (1)
The region is an effective exporter of graduates to other regional economies, most notably to the rest of the South West, but also to neighbouring regions of Wales and the South East.
However the largest group of graduates employed in the region six months after graduating were those with no prior direct connection to the region

Key findings (2)
The incoming graduates were concentrated in roles in medicine, engineering and business and finance
West of England seems compelled, by lack of local provision, to import some of their best paid new graduates
There are exceptions e.g. civil engineering

Key findings (3)
Those graduates who did stay within the region after finishing their degree were often employed in the public sector, and particularly in nursing and to a lesser extent, social work.
This does mean this group may be vulnerable to expected forthcoming cuts in public sector employment

Recommendations
examine the motivations of these different groups for choosing their employment location
-try to encourage local growth in certain sectors, particularly IT and finance, both to help boost graduate retention and immigration, and to reduce the dependency of the local graduate labour market on nursing and related professions
examine why certain groups of graduates educated locally, and for whom there is local demand, nevertheless leave for opportunities elsewhere
encourage young people from the region to study subjects for which there is significant local demand that is currently not met by local institutions, particularly in medicine and in engineering

How far do graduates actually travel for work on leaving university, and how far are they willing to go? Why do some graduates seem to leave the West of England when there appear to be jobs locally for them? Could it be possible to convince more West of England young people to study subjects that are in demand by the local labour market, but which are not covered by local institutions? To what extent is it desirable to retain local graduates if a reasonable number of able graduates from elsewhere are coming in? Is this actually more healthy than a local labour market dominated by local graduates? Does the level of public sector employment pose a danger to graduate retention in the current economic climate? Questions

David Draycott: Graduate Retention

by South West Observatory on Feb 24, 2010

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