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How important is the Graduate prospects measure?

Graduate prospects is one of the many measures we use when calculating the rankings in our league tables. Find out how we do it and why this measure is important to you

How important is the Graduate prospects measure?

Our league tables are here to help you find the best university for you. They don’t just allow you look at the overall top universities, by region or by subject, you can filter by other elements that are important to you. If your future career is a part of your uni choice, then you may want to filter the tables by Graduate outcomes. 

Why do we include Graduate prospects in our league tables? 

Graduate prospects (outcomes) measure how successful students are when they leave a university, that is, whether they go on to a graduate-level job or further study. 

How are graduate prospects calculated? 

Graduate prospects (outcomes) are defined as a measure of the success in employability or further study of graduates completing their first degree.  

The data is from the Graduate Outcomes survey which takes place fifteen months after the graduation of students in Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data for 2019–20.  

To calculate this, our league tables compilers take the number of graduates who take up employment or further study and divide it by the total number of graduates with a known destination, this is then expressed as a percentage. Only highly skilled employment is included in the calculations and the results are adjusted to take account of the subject mix at the university.  

Find out more about how we calculate the rankings

Why are Graduate prospects important to students when deciding on a university?  

A good Graduate outcome score shows that previous students have been successful after graduation, which in turn shows that their study has helped to prepare them successfully for their career or further study. 

However, a low score on this measure doesn't mean that many graduates were unemployed. It may mean that some graduates went on to take jobs that don’t normally recruit graduates or that some universities recruit a high proportion of local students, so if they live in an area that has a low level of graduate jobs, this can reflect in the Graduate prospects (outcomes) score. 

Try filtering by Graduate prospects on one of our tables for yourself  

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