This study contributes theoretically and empirically to our understanding of students' transition from work placement to the graduate labour market, by exploring earning differentials due to heterogeneous job transitions. We developed a theoretical framework that underpins the relationships between work placement, job transition and graduate…

Secondary analysis of the UK's 2011/12 Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey reveals that many existing assumptions about graduate internships are questionable. This article proposes a reliable way of estimating the true extent of internships including those reported as 'voluntary' jobs: hidden internships. In doing so the article…

This brief analyzes the latest higher education data and government wage statistics to examine the number of unpaid graduate interns in the United Kingdom and the cost to an individual of doing an unpaid internship. It also includes newly published Ipsos Mori polling on attitudes to unpaid internships. Key findings in this brief include: (1) 31%…

This report looks at the scale of the gender pay gap between male and female graduates and the factors that may influence this. It finds the overall graduate gender pay gap is not wholly accounted for by subject of study, type of university attended, prior attainment, social background or ethnicity. It also explores differences in approaches and…

Exploiting information on foreign qualifications for the first time, we estimate the returns to obtaining UK higher degrees for foreign graduates who migrated to the UK in their 20s. Accounting for direct measures of foreign and UK qualifications and country-of-origin fixed effects, we find substantial returns to obtaining UK (higher) degrees on…

Recent research on economic returns to higher education in the United States suggests that those with the highest wage returns to a college degree are least likely to obtain one. We extend the study of heterogeneous returns to tertiary education across multiple institutional contexts, investigating how the relationship between wage returns and the…

Mass expansion of the UK Higher Education (HE) sector is eroding its well-documented benefits -- leading many to question whether HE remains worthwhile. Avoiding the traditional approach of estimating the returns to HE, we investigate why many now feel that attending university will not yield any financial benefits. Using BSA data from 2010 we…

This article assesses the chances of entering the top 5% of earners for a British cohort currently in their 40s. We assess the difference made by a university degree from an elite (Russell Group) or non-elite university, and from different undergraduate fields of study. Our study uses rich longitudinal data from the 1970 British Cohort Study…

Despite increasing numbers of young people going on to higher education, a university degree still confers a substantial advantage in the labour market. However, not all degrees are created equal. This report examines how graduate career outcomes differ depending on the subject they studied and the university they attended. Key findings include:…

While the issue of access to the professions is relatively well understood, there is limited understanding of the impact of entrants' backgrounds on success once in graduate employment. The research looks at the way social background continues to influence graduate pay and career progression once in professional employment. Key findings include:…

Using a survey of a cohort of UK graduates, linked to administrative data on higher education participation, this paper investigates the labour market attainment of recent graduates by subject of study. We document a large heterogeneity in the mean wages of graduates from different subjects and a considerably larger one within subject with…

Education--and in particular higher education--is often regarded as a route to social mobility. For this to be the case, however, the link between family background and adult outcomes must be broken (or at least reduced) once we take account of an individual's education history. This paper provides new evidence on differences in graduates'…

We examine the links between various measures of university quality and graduate earnings in the United Kingdom. We explore the implications of using different measures of quality and combining them into an aggregate measure. Our findings suggest a positive return to university quality with an average earnings differential of about 6 percent for a…

Proposes a measure of value added in (British) higher education, based on earning differentials between graduates and nongraduates. Calculates a monetary measurement of value for each different class of degree. This enables researchers to estimate the social-return rate of different degree classes and provides a performance indicator for resource…

Part 1 identifies the far-reaching changes to higher education (HE) in Great Britain during the 1990s. It shows that HE has settled into a new status quo, with a market for new graduates in 2001-02. Findings indicate that around 37 percent of 18-year-olds take part in full-time, further, or higher education; the participation rate at age 19 is now…