Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education in the United Kingdom for the academic year 2002/03

Introduction

This Statistical First Release (SFR) has been produced by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), in collaboration with Department for Education and Skills (DfES) statisticians. It provides details of the destinations of leavers from higher education (HE) who obtained qualifications in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Kingdom (UK), during the academic year 2002/03.

The data presented draws on the new Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) record introduced in 2002/03, which replaced the previous First Destination Supplement (FDS). DLHE is a more comprehensive record, expanded to cover leavers from part-time programmes and from additional postgraduate programmes.

The new DLHE survey is designed to collect richer information from leavers than the FDS, particularly regarding work and study. Leavers separately report such activity, thereby providing a matrix of circumstances, unlike the FDS, which collected more limited information.

Consequently the DLHE survey has different definitions for the destination categories reported, for example those employed and unemployed. Comparisons should not therefore be made with corresponding figures presented in previous years.

Key Points

Note: definition changes

It is important to note that as leavers report separately what they are doing in relation to 'employment' and 'study', this enables the following destination categories to be detailed:

• Employment only
• Combination of work and study
• Further study only
• Assumed to be unemployed.

In addition, the destination category 'combination of work and study' can be aggregated with the explicit 'employment only' and 'further study only' categories as follows:

• In employment only or a combination of work and study
• In study only or a combination of work and study.

For further details see Definitions 8, 9 and 10.

First degrees

• In 2002/03, of the 182,300 full-time first degree graduates whose destination was known, 62.8% (114,400) were in employment only, 8.0% (14,500) were in a combination of work and study, 16.0% (29,100) were involved in further study only and 7.1% (12,900) were assumed to be unemployed (Reference Table 1).
• Of the full-time first degree graduates whose destination was known and reported as employment, 95.9% (123,600) did so in the UK (this includes the UK element of the combination of work and study figure reported in Table 1).
• In 2002/03, 26.3% of these posts were classified as "Associate Professional and Technical Occupations", 24.6% as "Professional Occupations", 18.3% as "Administrative and Secretarial Occupations" and 11.1% as "Sales and Customer Service Occupations" (Reference Table 4).
• Subjects of study. Unemployment rates for full-time first degree graduates varied between subjects, ranging from those which have traditionally low rates of unemployment, such as Medicine & dentistry (0.2%), Subjects allied to medicine (2.8%) and Veterinary science (2.9%), to 10.5% for Creative arts and design and 12.4% for Computer Science (Reference Table 3).
• Salary. Although salary information is not available in the SFR tables, it can be noted that, of those first degree graduates (both full-time and part-time) whose destination was known, and reported as being in full-time employment only in the UK in 2002/03, 48.4% disclosed their salary. The average salary reported (to the nearest thousand) was £17,000. Such destinations include all jobs reported by leavers from HE.
• Part-time. In 2002/03, of the 20,200 part-time first degree graduates whose destination was known, 65.6% (13,200) were in employment only, 16.5% (3,300) were in a combination of work and study, 5.9% (1,200) were involved in further study only and 3.7% (700) were assumed to be unemployed (Reference Table 2).
• Further study. Of those first degree graduates (both full time and part time) whose destination was known and reported as further study (including those in a combination of work and study) in 2002/03, 31.7% were undertaking a higher degree by taught course, 22.3% were undertaking a postgraduate diploma or certificate, 15.4% were undertaking a professional qualification and 8.4% were undertaking a higher degree by research (Note: this detail is not available in the SFR tables).

Other undergraduates

• In 2002/03, of the 32,800 leavers (both full-time and part-time) who obtained undergraduate diplomas and certificates (including foundation degrees) and whose destination was known, 53.1% (17,400) were in employment only, 19.2% (6,300) were in a combination of work and study, 21.6% (7,100) were in further study only and 2.9% (900) were assumed to be unemployed (Reference Tables 1 and 2).
• Foundation degrees. In 2002/03, of the 800 foundation degree graduates (both full-time and part-time) whose destination was known, 30.5% (200) reported their first destination as employment only, 23.5% (200) were in a combination of work and study, 40.1% (300) were involved in further study only and 4.2% (35) were assumed to be unemployed (See Definition 4).

Postgraduates

• Of the 72,300 former postgraduate students (both full-time and part-time) whose destination was known, 75.6% (54,600) were in employment only, 11.7% (8,500) were in a combination of work and study, 6.1% (4,400) were involved in further study only and 3.1% (2,300) were assumed to be unemployed (Reference Tables 1 and 2).

Teacher training

• Although not shown in the SFR tables, of those leavers in 2002/03 who had completed an Initial Teacher Training (ITT) course leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) whose destinations were known, 89.8% were currently employed in a teaching post.

Gender

• Overall, in 2002/03 7.2% of males whose destinations were known were unemployed, compared to 4.2% of females. (Note: this level of detail is not available in the SFR tables).

Tables

Table 1 shows the Destinations of Full-time UK and Other EU Domiciled Leavers Obtaining Higher Education Qualifications by Level of Course and Gender, 2002/03.

Table 2 shows the Destinations of Part-time UK and Other EU Domiciled Leavers Obtaining Higher Education Qualifications by Level of Course, 2002/03.

Table 3 shows the Destinations of Full-time UK and Other EU Domiciled First Degree Graduates by Subject Area of Degree, 2002/03.

Table 4 shows the Occupation and Industry of Full-time UK and Other EU Domiciled First Degree Graduates Entering Employment in the UK by Subject Area of Degree, 2002/03.

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Notes to Editors

1. The statistics in this SFR are derived from data collected by HESA from publicly funded higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK. The statistics therefore exclude those relating to qualifications obtained at FE colleges, the University of Buckingham and at other private and independent HE colleges.

2. The 2002/03 Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) data includes all those students whose study was full-time or part-time (see Definition 5) and who obtained relevant qualifications (see Definition 3) reported to HESA for the reporting period 1 August 2002 to 31 July 2003.

3. The HESA DLHE target population contains all HE students for whom DLHE data is expected and sought (see Definitions 1 and 3 below). The known figures presented in this SFR are based on respondent information obtained by institutions and returned to HESA. Where the category 'unknown' appears, the data relates to those non-respondents to the survey and those leavers who have explicitly refused to answer the survey. Data for unknowns is obtained from the HESA 2002/03 student record. In 2002/03, 251,300 full-time qualifiers, including explicit refusals, responded from a target population of 325,400, which amounts to an overall response rate of 77.2% (79.1% in the previous First Destination Supplement (FDS) 2001/02). In 2002/03 60,900 part-time qualifiers, including explicit refusals, responded from a target population of 87,200, an overall response rate of 69.8%. The response rate figures referred to are calculated separately from the SFR and will be presented in a reference volume published by HESA (see Note 5). However it can be seen from Table 1 that the percentage of records returned for full-time HE students, for whom destinations are known but excluding explicit refusals for whom no other information is available, is 76.2%. It can be seen from Table 2 that the percentage of records returned for part-time HE students, for whom destinations are known but excluding explicit refusals for whom no other information is available, is 68.4%.

4. With reference to Notes to Editors 2 and 3 above, it can be seen that the figures published in this SFR might differ from those published elsewhere.

5. A reference volume Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education 2002/03, setting out more information about the destinations of students qualifying at HEIs in the UK, will be published by HESA in Autumn 2004.

6. With reference to all tables in this SFR, please note that the base data has been collected from the new Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) record, which replaces the First Destination Supplement (FDS) that was used in the collection of base data for previous years.

7. The Joint Academic Coding System (JACS) of subject classification replaced HESACODE as the basis for HESA returns from 2003 onwards. Although JACS and HESACODE look similar and are closely related, they are not by any means identical. Consequently new subject area definitions have been constructed afresh in terms of JACS. In parallel with this development a new procedure of apportionment for dealing with students on split programmes has also been introduced.

   Details of both the differences between HESACODE and JACS and the apportionment algorithm can be found here.

8. Occupational information collected via the First Destination Survey (FDS) was coded to a variant of the 1990 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC90), known as the SOC (FDS). In 2003 HESA adopted the new SOC 2000 Standard Occupational Classification, for comparability of sector data with other areas of the economy, this replaced SOC90. Therefore a variant of the SOC2000 was created for the coding of occupational information for use in the DLHE survey; this classification is termed SOC (DLHE).

Definitions

1. HE students are those students on programmes of study that are of a standard that is higher than the Advanced Level of the General Certificate of Education, the Higher Grade of the Scottish Certificate of Education, or the BTEC or SCOTVEC National Certificate/Diploma.

2. The reference date of this DLHE return was 15 January 2004.

3. Qualifications

   Relevant qualifications for the 2002/03 DLHE return include postgraduate degrees, postgraduate diplomas and certificates, Postgraduate Certificates in Education (PGCE), first degrees, Diplomas of Higher Education, Certificates of Higher Education, foundation degrees, Higher National Diplomas or Higher National Certificates.

   The 2002/03 DLHE survey does not cover students who have gained a number of other qualifications, examples of which include professional qualifications (for example, associate membership or membership of a body such as the Institute of Bankers), and undergraduate diplomas and certificates (other than foundation degrees, HND, Dip HE, HNC and Cert HE).

4. Level of study

   Doctorate degrees and PGCEs have been tabulated separately; masters degrees, higher bachelors degrees and postgraduate diplomas or certificates (not PGCE) have been combined to form the category "Other postgraduate degrees".

   Doctorate degrees, Other postgraduate degrees and PGCEs have been combined to form the category "Postgraduates".

   First degrees include first degrees, first degree with eligibility to register to practice (doctor/dentist/veterinary surgeon), first degrees with qualified teacher status, enhanced first degrees and first degrees obtained concurrently with a diploma.

   Undergraduate diplomas and certificates include foundation degrees and all other higher education qualifications not included above which are within the scope of the return. As this is the first year that destination data on foundation degree graduates is available, foundation degrees are not shown separately due to initial small graduate numbers. In all there were 1,100 qualifiers in this year. Foundation degrees were first introduced in September 2001 in prototype form and serve as a higher education qualification with a vocational focus.

5. Mode of study

   Full time (for the purposes of the DLHE return) includes full time and sandwich modes plus those students writing-up theses and previously full-time.

   Part time (for the purposes of the DLHE return) includes those studying part time, on block release, during the evenings only, full time for less than 24 weeks in the academic year and those writing-up theses and previously part time.

6. Domicile

   All tables include students who are normally resident in the United Kingdom, including those living in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man (UK), and those students who are normally resident in countries which were Other European Union (Other EU) members, or in their designated territories, as at 1 December in the relevant academic year.

7. Location of employment

   Respondents to the HESA DLHE survey were asked to supply the location of their employment or further study. Where this was unknown, a United Kingdom location has been assumed.

8. Employment

   For 2002/03 data, the category "Employment only" includes those students who gave their employment circumstances as "Employed full-time", "Employed part-time", "Self-employed/Freelance", "Voluntary work" or "Other unpaid work" and who are also "Not in study".

   For 2002/03 data, the category "Combination of work and study" includes those students who gave their employment circumstances as "Employed full-time", "Employed part-time", "Self-employed/Freelance", "Voluntary work" or "Other unpaid work" and who are also either in "Full-time study" or "Part-time study".

   For 2002/03 data, the category "Full-time employment only" includes those students who gave their employment circumstances as "Employed full-time" or "Self-employed/Freelance" and who are also "Not in study".

9. Further study

   For 2002/03 data, the category "Further study" includes those who gave their employment circumstances as temporarily sick or unable to work/looking after the home or family, not employed but not looking for employment, further study or training, or something else, and who were also either in full-time or part-time study, training or research. It also includes those who were due to start a job within the next month or unemployed and looking for employment, further study or training, and who were also in full-time study, training or research.

10. Unemployment

    For 2002/03 data, the category "Assumed to be unemployed" includes those students who gave their employment circumstances as "Unemployed and looking for a employment, further study or training" and who are also either in "Part-time study" or "Not in study", and those "Due to start a job within the next month" and who are also either in "Part-time study" or "Not in study".

    In Tables 1, 2 and 3, for 2002/03 data, the category "Others" includes those students who are "Not in study" and also either gave their employment circumstances as "Not employed but NOT looking for employment, further study or training" or "Something else".

11. Unknown

    Includes non-respondents and explicit refusals, used in Tables 1, 2 and 3.

12. In the text the figures presented are rounded to the nearest 100. However, where the population contains less than 50 individuals the figure presented is rounded to the nearest 5.

    In the tables, '2003' refers to the academic year 2002/03. The definitions of the symbols used are:

    '0.0' zero

    '-' non-zero, less than the least significant figure shown.

    The figures presented in the tables are shown in thousands, or percentages calculated on the base data.

13. Press enquiries should be directed to Press Officer at the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA); 95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ, Tel: 01242 211133. General enquiries about the data contained within this SFR should be addressed to Tania Cooke, Data Analyst, HESA (at the same address), Tel: 01242 255577.

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