THE UK’s top 100 graduate employers are set to focus their search for graduate recruits on a small handful of Universities, with York not making the top 20.
The study, carried out by High Flier Research, shows how the country’s top investment banks, law firms and consultancies will target their recruitment efforts on a more selected group of universities, with one-in-five firms having scaled back funding for their graduate recruitment programmes compared with last year.
The news will come as a major blow to the University, with traditional problems regarding employability rearing their head again, despite assurances that the situation was improving
YUSU Academic Officer Graeme Osborn told Vision: “It is disappointing to see that York is not on the list, especially as it contains virtually all of the institutions regarded as our competitors by both students and the university.
“There are, however, some other notable exceptions, such as St. Andrews. The university needs to continue the work it has done to raise its profile (such as joining the Russell Group), improve relations with major employers and ensure that York graduates have all the skills and knowledge that graduate employers expect coupled with the ability to articulate them.”
Meanwhile, Professor John A Robinson, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Teaching, Learning and Information, commented: “This year we are number 21 on the list of ‘Universities targeted by the largest number of top employers in 2012-13’, up from 24 last year. As you point out, the report says that most recruiters are focusing on an average of 20 Universities. We are in that top 20 for a large number of employers, but for many we are not. So our strategy is to change that. Last summer Careers restructed to have dedicated employer liaison support. We saw a 300% increase in the number of employer presentations hosted on campus during the 2012 Autumn Term (compared
with Autumn Term 2011). And we have a new list of target employers that the Careers team are working through – phase one is Times Top 100 and Association of Graduate Recruiters members, phase two will be based on SMEs, emerging industries etc.. This is all aimed at continuing our move up the table.”