New employability report published

President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Boyle (pictured) has highlighted concerns relating to employment among students from disadvantaged communities.

He has contributed an essay on employability in a new publication: Laying the Foundations: Examining the Relationships between Universities, Students and Society.

Professor Boyle discusses why and how employability has become a key issue for universities to tackle in ‘A Lifetime of Career Success’. He highlights the concern, first raised by HEFCE, that lower professional employment rates among disadvantaged students persist across their early careers and concludes that partnerships are critical to delivering outcomes that graduates, employers and government all seek.

Professor Boyle says: “The White Paper speaks of universities fulfilling their ‘potential as engines of social mobility’. But this cannot be done alone. These findings - along with those of the Institute for Fiscal Studies more recently - highlight the complex web of factors that influence graduates’ employment. And whilst personal choices and economic factors play a significant role in employment success, so too it seems do individuals’ social and cultural capital. Addressing these micro-inequities does require more action. But the key question is what ‘more action’ could look like. It is here that there is real potential for new and innovative collaborations between universities, employers and policy makers. Collaborations that can make a lasting and tangible impact on students’ life chances.”

You can access the essays here: Laying the Foundations