Prospects good for all UK master graduates says new report

Graduate Prospects study highlights career destinations and employability of 2003 UK Masters graduates

Graduates contemplating postgraduate study will be greatly encouraged by figures out today that suggest that studying for a Masters will considerably enhance their career prospects.

Just under eight out of ten, 79.6 per cent, of all 2003 UK Masters students were in employment six months after graduation, according to the latest report by Graduate Prospects, the UKís official graduate recruitment and careers guidance provider, using data provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, HESA.

With eight per cent of the 2003 postgraduate cohort going on to further study or training in the UK, 2.7 per cent choosing to work overseas and 3.5 per cent not yet available for work or study, the number of postgraduates who hadnít yet found work stands just below the national average, 3.7 per cent compared to four per cent, highlighting that a Masters degrees can offer a worthwhile ticket into the workforce.

Women Masters graduates can expect even better employment prospects than their male counterparts, with eighty per cent of the 2003 cohort in work six months after graduation, compared to 78 per cent of males. This gap in employability between the sexes extends to eight per cent for Masters graduates in the biological sciences (84 per cent vs. 76 per cent) and six per cent in the arts and humanities (71 per cent vs. 65 per cent).

While reasons for postgraduate study vary ñ from students looking to gain a head-start in their careers to those pursuing their interest in a particular field ñ it seems women are also slightly more likely to study for a Masters degree than men, of the 40,170 Masters graduates in 2003, 51 per cent were female and 49 per cent male.

Good prospects for social sciences graduates

While courses studied at the Masters level span well over a hundred subjects, the most popular, those that fall into the social sciences (35% of all Masters graduates studied in this area), also have the distinction of offering the best early career prospects, with 83 per cent of social sciences postgraduate students in work six months after graduation.

This is closely followed by the biological sciences Masters, which also boast figures of just over eight out of ten, 81.8 per cent, in employment. Meanwhile, arts and humanities Masters graduates, who represent twenty per cent of all Masters graduates, are the most likely to embark on yet further study or training with 13.4 per cent opting for this path, compared to less than five per cent of those graduates in the social sciences.

The specific choice of subjects of the 2003 cohort points to a generation of students eager to enhance their career prospects, with the top two subjects, business studies (chosen by 11 per cent of all postgraduates) and computer sciences (chosen by 5.3 per cent), lending themselves well to the business environment.

Mike Hill, chief executive of Graduate Prospects, commented:

ìPostgraduate study is an increasingly valuable option for students looking to enhance their career prospects and the statistics support the employability of these well-qualified individuals. Savvy students are picking subjects that can offer them a clear route into the job market ahead of their peers.î

And these highly-qualified individuals are not just competing for entry-level jobs - almost a quarter, 24.3 per cent, of Masters graduates who are working go straight into management, with a further 16.9 per cent taking up professional occupations such as law and social work and 13.2 per cent going into teaching.

Masters graduates in the social sciences are the most likely to go into management (39 per cent), followed by those in the physical sciences (18.3 per cent), while arts and humanities graduates favour teaching (20.2 per cent) and those with masters degrees in the biological sciences migrate towards professions like psychology (23.3 per cent) and health (21.9 per cent).

The biggest two employment sectors for Masters graduates are education, with nearly one in five entering this field (19.2 per cent), and health (18.6 per cent). Public administration comes in third, with 14 per cent of Masters graduates pursuing careers in this field