York outperforms Oxford on employability

The University of York achieved an employability rating of 93.8% for students graduating in 2012, figures announced today reveal.

York, as a university, has often been criticised for its poor employability figures in the past, but today’s announcement by the Higher Education Statistics Agency sees York students as more likely to find work within six months of leaving university than counterparts at the University of Oxford.

In fact, of the universities that placed above York in The Guardian’s league tables last month, only Cambridge achieved a higher level of employability, with 94.9% of graduates finding jobs. In comparison to figures published in 2010, York’s employability has risen by 17.8%, although those figures were calculated differently at the time.

Third-year Maths student Vish Nithy told Vision: “To see York doing so well for employability compared to other top universities is a relief. For a lot of us who are worried about getting a job in the current climate, and when York is notoriously poor for its graduate employment, figures like these give everyone a bit of hope.

“I’m surprised it hasn’t pushed us into the top ten of league tables overall though, considering it’s something that York frequently does poorly on.”

The table was topped by The Royal Academy of Music, which saw 100% of its class of 2012 find jobs within six months of graduating.

The University have introduced a number of efforts to improve the employability of York students in recent years, following league table slumps that many put down to the lack of graduate level jobs obtained by students from the University.

YUSU President Kallum Taylor said: “The University are making an active effort, alongside YUSU, to improve our students prospects beyond graduation – and it’s good to see it starting to pay off. Still, there’s more work to do so we should push further on this improvement rather than rest on our laurels.”