In brief

New study on HE part-time students
Children's cognitive skills and parental education
Graduate jobs attract highest premia
The 50% HE participation target - how far are we?
Quality and standards in HE - how much do employers care?
Employment in business services sector to hit 4.9 million by 2010
Scots more likely than English to reach university, though background still counts
Youth swap cap and gown for bricks and mortar
Fresh Talent extended

New study on HE part-time students

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) has commissioned a new four-year study on the career decision-making and career development of part-time higher education students, as part of their longitudinal programme, Career Making.

The research will contribute to a better understanding of the implications for the support of part-time students’ career decision-making and will make a major contribution to informing institutional strategies and broader higher education policy making.

The study, which will run from 2007 to 2011, will also investigate employers’ views of part-time students. This strand of the research is to be funded by the Department for Education and Skills.

The study will be undertaken by a team of researchers from London South Bank University (LSBU) and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, led by Prof Claire Callender from LSBU. For more information, please contact Pearl Mok at gmt@prospects.ac.uk.

Children's cognitive skills and parental education

Children of the most highly educated parents were on average up to 12 months ahead in cognitive development than those whose parents had no qualifications, according to a study of 15,500 children born in the Millennium.

Comparing children whose parents have degree-level or above qualifications with those whose parents have no qualifications, the Institute of Education research found that by age three, graduates’ children were on average about 10 months ahead in expressive language skills (vocabulary naming) and about 12 months ahead in their ‘readiness’ for formal education (knowledge of colours, letters, numbers/counting, sizes, comparisons and shapes).

Increasing levels of parental education were also found to be associated with less problem behaviour in children.

A series of briefing documents from the Millennium Cohort Study is available at The Institute of Education.

Graduate jobs attract highest premia

Analysis of data collected for the 2006 Skills Survey reveals that graduate-level jobs attract by far the highest premia: 56% for females and 48% for males, compared with jobs requiring no qualifications on entry.

The study found that the proportion of jobs requiring degree-level qualifications and above has risen from 20% in 1986 to 30% in 2006. During this period, there has also been an increase in the numbers of people holding qualifications at a higher level than those required for getting their job, with the greatest increase being for those with degree-level or above qualification. The study, however, pointed out that differences between the qualification level a person has attained and the level needed to get the job do not necessarily imply that the skills of a person are too high or low for the job. Moreover, some qualifications tend to be helpful in getting a job even if they are not formally required.

See Skills at Work, 1986 to 2006 for further details.

The 50% HE participation target - how far are we?

Figures released by the Department for Education and Skills show that the provisional figure for the Higher Education Initial Participation Rate (HEIPR) for 2005/06 has increased by two percentage points since 2004/05 to 43%.

The HEIPR is published on an annual basis to track progress on the government target to increase participation in higher education towards 50% of those aged 18 to 30 by 2010.

The figures also show that actual numbers of initial participants have increased by 44,000 since 1999, an increase of more than 18%.

For more information, see DfES press release, 27 March 2007.

Quality and standards in HE - how much do employers care?

Information on quality and standards in higher education was being used by some employers in a way that could undermine equity and widening participation initiatives, according to research from the University of Sussex.

Whereas employers reported that, in initial recruitment, they placed least emphasis on information about quality and standards and most emphasis on graduates’ interpersonal and communication skills, over a quarter used league tables/top 20 lists in their decision-making processes and 80% cited the importance of the reputation of the higher education institution in their decision making about marketing and individual recruitment of graduates. Reputation was based on real or imagined league tables, ‘grapevine’ knowledge, personal, regional and professional networks, performance of past graduates and prejudice against new universities.

More information can be found in Higher Education Quarterly 61 (3), 229-249.

Employment in business services sector to hit 4.9 million by 2010

The number of people working in the UK's business services sector is predicted to reach 4.9 million by 2010, up from 4.5 million in 2006, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research briefing, Forecasting Eye.

The CEBR study predicted that within business services:

Employment growth in the real estate sector will be slower over the coming years, owing to a cooler property market in 2007 and 2008. However, a robust construction industry is expected to help to sustain jobs growth in the architecture and engineering sectors.
Employment growth in the IT sector is set to rise rapidly in 2007 due to robust business investment and a buoyant financial services sector.
The advertising sector is likely to gain nearly 9,000 jobs over the coming four years.
By 2010, employment in the legal sector could be 8.5% higher than in 2006.

Scots more likely than English to reach university, though background still counts

The proportion of young people gaining qualifications and going to college and university over the past 20 years has been 'consistently and substantially' greater in Scotland than in England, according to research from the University of Edinburgh.

The study, however, found that while the Scottish system encouraged young people to study beyond the age of 16, middle class students took most advantage. In England, inequalities in attainment at age 16 have changed little over the past 20 years, but at A-level and entry to higher education, they have narrowed slightly over the period. In Scotland, the picture was different. Inequalities at age 16 were similar to England, though with more evidence of the gap closing north of the border. But inequalities in attainment at 18 and in entry to higher education were considerably wider north of the border, and showed fewer signs of narrowing over the period.

Even so, according to the study, overall levels of attainment and participation were higher in Scotland. And despite wider inequalities, Scottish working-class youngsters consistently outperformed their English peers.

More information about the study can be found on the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) website.

Youth swap cap and gown for bricks and mortar

One in ten 18-24 year olds has sacrificed university in order to save money towards their first home, and a further third are calling for a cut in university tuition fees to help them get on the property ladder, according to the Next Generation of Homeowners report from Lloyds TSB.

The study of 500 18-24 year olds reveals that three-quarters of respondents name owning a home as the goal they most want to achieve by the age of 30. Career aspirations are ranked far lower; gaining a management level role is named by just 32% and starting a business is cited by 30% as a pressing ambition.

More information can be found at Lloyds TSB Media Centre.

Fresh Talent extended

The Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme is to be extended to include postgraduate diplomas and certificates, the Home Office has announced.

Originally for international students from non-EEA countries looking to complete an undergraduate degree, HND, Masters, or PhD, since June 2005, the scheme has attracted more than 4,300 students from over 150 countries to apply to stay on in Scotland after graduation. Under the extension, students with a post-graduate diploma or certificate can also apply to stay and work in Scotland for two years following their studies.

More information about the scheme can be found at Scotland is the Place.

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