Life After Higher Education

While looking into the courses you are interested in, considering your application and the personal profile, you need to also think about what happens after your course has ended. Knowing what you want to do when you finish can also help you decide what course to take.

After graduation there are 4 main options:

  • Get a job
  • Study some more
  • Have a gap year
  • Become self employed/start own business

Sponsorship

If you were sponsored to complete your course by an organisation or company, this could have an effect on your future plans, for example, you may be expected to work for your sponsor for a certain length of time or you would have to pay back the money they used to sponsor your course. That said, being sponsored doesn’t always mean your future is sorted, you may have to apply the same as any other graduate, you then may not be accepted. In the current economic climate the organisational structure of the company may even change.

Work

There are many degrees that are the basis to a careers, e.g. dentistry, law, teaching, medicine etc. If you do take a course that follows a particular career path you obviously have a career in mind. This means it is very likely you will have to undertake specific further education, post-graduate training or approved employment.

While completing your course you may decide that your chosen career is no longer for you, and you may find that you want to use your education and experiences, along with the skills that you have gained for a totally new career path.

There are other courses that will let you go into many different careers, which is why it is important to think about what job you are interested in doing when you finish higher education. You can usually get help and advice for the university careers service, but they can’t decide for you. They may offer support to improve your employability. Making the most of your time while at University will enable you to develop your critical and analytical skills, cultivate your imagination and creativity and help with your ability to understand observations, actions and events. This will help you to think less narrowly, and help you to express yourself well.

When considering the unemployment rates in the UK it is good to know that the undergraduate unemployment rate is much lower than the national average, and the pay rates are higher too. Even with the recession this has remained the case. Being a graduate may also lead to you being promoted much more quickly than those without a higher education qualification due to the skills gained from managing your own career.

To get more help on getting a job go to our World of Work page, and a getting a job page. You an also go to:

Help with Graduate Jobs

Further Studies

If you decide that you want to continue with your studies once you have gained your higher education qualification, then you are likely to complete a postgraduate course.

A postgraduate course needs a more in-depth understanding of the chosen subject, and can be very intensive courses to follow. If you do decide this is the route for you, you will need to ensure you have a great deal of self-discipline and motivation. This is not the easy option and needs to be considered carefully, you need to weigh up what the advantages and disadvantages are to your future. As with university courses it could be very costly with course fees and living costs to consider. The main reasons people choose to take a postgraduate course include:

  • Get a professional qualification to enter chosen career.
  • To turn degree into a something vocational—non law students may decide to take the CPE (Common Professional Examination) in law to become a solicitor/barrister.
  • Study a subject in more depth.
  • Personal achievement
  • Open the door to more career opportunities
  • Stand out from the crowd

Qualifications

There are over 500.000 postgraduates in the UK Higher Education institutions, and over 50,0000 post graduate courses to choose from, whether looking to study part time or full time. Some will involve being taught by a lecturer and others may be research courses. Some of the courses you can take include:

  • Masters Degree - (MA, MBA, MSc) normally a one year course, full time or two year part time.
  • Postgraduate Diploma’s and Certificates - this could be teaching and usually lasts nine months full time.
  • Research Degree - (Phd, MPhil etc) normally taken after the completion of a Masters Degree or equivalent, and is a three year full time course with another year to write up the findings of the research.

The UCAS website under Postgraduate section and GOV.UK also has information about funding for post graduate studies, under the webpage Funding for postgraduate study.

Graduate Job Trends

When deciding on the Higher Education Course you are going to apply for, you should make a point of researching the careers that the previous years graduates have moved into.

Some graduates will be fortunate to move straight into graduate level employment when they complete their higher education qualifications, others may try out a variety of different jobs in order to gain experience.

Surveys show that 40% of graduate vacancies are not specific about the degree subject the graduate must have. A recent survey showed that 64% of company directors said having a specific degree was less important than the employability skills the graduate has, such as communication, customer service and team work.

Information on graduate job trends can be found at the following websites:

Earnings for Graduates

The Prospects 2013 survey on "What do Graduates do?" demonstrates that the average full time salary for graduates between 2011 and 2012 earned between £18,345—£22,535 per annum depending on the occupation. The following websites gives the information on salary and other information in relation to particular degree courses for individual universities, www.unistats.direct.gov.uk

There are a wide variety of jobs available for graduates to apply for, with a wide range of starting rates. If you go for a job that doesn’t require a degree it is expected that the salary will be lower. With the economic climate being a difficult one, more and more graduates have to consider non graduate roles to help them to put their foot in the door of the labour market.

That said, even during recession there are still graduate opportunities that are available, and graduates will on average earn more than those without a degree, they will also progress much more quickly into higher paid jobs later in their careers.