press release
Published: 25 June 2020

University of Surrey graduates recognised as amongst the most employable in the UK

By Robert Blevin

With new graduates about to enter the jobs market, the University of Surrey’s graduates have received a boost from new official data published this week, ranking them as some of the most employable graduates in the country.

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Graduates facing into the future

The annual Graduate Outcomes survey, published by the UK’s Higher Education Standards Agency (HESA), ranks the University of Surrey’s graduates 12th in the country (against other higher education institutions), with 96 per cent finding work or going on to further study after graduating (UK domiciled, undergraduate full-time students).

Further analysis shows the proportion of Surrey’s UK resident, full-time student graduates finding higher-skilled work stands at 86 per cent, ranking our graduates 9th in the UK and 2nd in the South East, behind only the University of Oxford.

Other recent recognition of the University of Surrey’s work on employability includes winning the National Undergraduate Employability Award for the Best University Placement Service (Over 500 Placements) for the second year running, and ranking 1st in the UK and 7th in the world for work placements and research partnerships with employers, according to the globally respected QS World Employability Rankings 2019.

Graham Miller, Executive Dean and lead on employability matters at the University of Surrey, said:

“This year’s graduates are entering a challenging, Covid-19 affected world. But the University of Surrey’s graduates can take confidence in the knowledge that employers rate them as some of the most highly-prized hires on the jobs market. We place a high priority on employability – with a high proportion of our students completing a year in industry during their studies and much other work invested within and beyond the curriculum to develop their professional skills. We wish our 2020 graduates the very best of luck – but more than that, we continue to work hard to create opportunities for graduates from all years through our constantly growing relationships with local, national and international employers.”

Frances Gow, Head of Employability and Careers at Surrey, said:

“This result reflects the culture of collaboration at Surrey. Employability of our graduates is a collective responsibility that stretches across all subjects, departments and professional services. Our mission is to develop talented and highly sought-after global students and graduates. We achieve this by delivering excellence in employability, career management skills and entrepreneurship support through practice-centred learning, placements and creating opportunities with local, national and international organisations.”

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