An Overview
This section covers four professional fields. Their respective industries can be sensitive to global economic conditions and prospects for graduates reflect this. They are degree subjects which can be closely linked to each other, and graduates from these disciplines often work together professionally. Both the Engineering Council and the Construction Industry Training Board have consistently expressed concerns about skills shortages in the varied occupations within engineering and construction. Ironically, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) reports that the number of acceptances of UK students to engineering courses has fallen over recent years and in 2000 stood at 6% lower (15,548) than ten years before, in contrast to a significant increase in student numbers overall. Inevitably this means that for those who choose such a course of study employment opportunities will be manifold. Notably this is not the case for all subjects in this section; applications for certain courses, eg architecture, remain strong. Destinations
Employment rates six months after graduation for engineering and building management graduates are consistently well above average. In 2001, 72.4% of engineering and building management graduates were in employment within six months of graduation in comparison with 67.7% for all first degree subjects. This is slightly less than the 1998 figure of 76.2% (see Table 1). Further study or training was entered by 13.5% of engineering and building management graduates which was less than the overall average for first degrees of 18.4%. This is an indicator that graduates from these highly vocational subject areas may not need additional postgraduate qualifications to land their first job, unlike their peers studying more general degrees. Just under 7% of engineering and building management graduates from 2001 were recorded as unemployed compared with the national average of 6.3%. This slightly higher than average figure is connected in particular to the slowdown in the IT, software and telecommunications sectors. | | Table 1: The first destinations of engineering and building management graduates 1998-2001 | | Numbers graduating (survey respondents) | Entering employment [%] | Entering further study/ training [%] | Unemployed at time of survey [%] | Other [%] | | 2001 | 1998 | 2001 | 1998 | 2001 | 1998 | 2001 | 1998 | 2001 | 1998 | | All First Degree Subjects | 176,415 | 172,662 | 67.7 | 69.2 | 18.4 | 18.9 | 6.3 | 5.7 | 7.7 | 6.2 | | Building | 3,565 | 4,058 | 73.3 | 74.4 | 14.2 | 15.4 | 5.5 | 5.2 | 7.0 | 5.0 | | Civil Engineering | 1,190 | 1,901 | 79.2 | 78.1 | 10.9 | 12.6 | 2.9 | 4.6 | 7.1 | 4.7 | | Electrical & Electronic Engineering | 2,375 | 2,393 | 68.9 | 77.0 | 13.8 | 11.4 | 11.2 | 8.3 | 6.0 | 3.3 | | Mechanical Engineering | 1,945 | 2,120 | 70.8 | 77.0 | 13.5 | 12.6 | 6.6 | 5.9 | 9.1 | 4.5 | | All Engineering & Building Management | 9,075 | 10,472 | 72.4 | 76.2 | 13.5 | 13.4 | 6.9 | 5.9 | 7.2 | 4.5 |
It is interesting to compare differences between the four subject areas investigated in this section for 2001 graduates. Civil engineering leads the field in destinations, with a high employment rate at 79.2% and low unemployment rate of 2.9%. This is clear evidence of the continuing strength of the construction industry. In comparison, electrical and electronic engineering graduates have fared less well in 2001, with 68.9% recorded as employed and 11.2% as unemployed. This high figure for unemployment is a sign of the problems experienced in the IT, software and telecommunications industries recently. For these subjects, as with all disciplines in this section, graduates are subject to changes in the economy. Despite this, destination information for these highly vocational subjects still shows high numbers of graduates going straight into employment in comparison with peers, even in times of economic downturn. In comparison with other subjects, graduates from these disciplines are also more likely to go straight into types of work which use their graduate skills. This is in contrast to the transitional sub-graduate employment that some graduates experience, as highlighted in the report Moving On: graduate careers three years after graduation. The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) July 2002 Graduate Salaries & Vacancies Half-Yearly Review shows that many of the employers who recruit engineering and building graduates continue to experience problems in getting enough suitable candidates for the jobs they have on offer. Sectors reporting expected shortfalls include engineering and construction, energy & water industries, and chemical and allied industries. One notable sector which did not report a shortfall was IT, software and telecommunications which accords with higher unemployment levels amongst electrical and electronic engineering graduates. Types of work
The types of work that engineering and building management graduates go into is clustered around the career areas that are directly related to their degree subjects. However, there is also a significant number of graduates from these fields who go into a wide range of other careers in business and industry. The Digest of Engineering Statistics 2002 reports that engineers are employed in a wide range of industries: 38% in manufacturing, 8.5% in construction, and 54% spread through other sectors, ie, finance and business, transport and communications, electricity and gas and water supply. Graduate salaries
According to Prospects Today, the graduate vacancy magazine published by CSU, in the year to March 2002, the average salary offered to graduates of any engineering disciplines was £18,173 compared with an average of £17,515 for all subjects. Electronic engineering graduates attracted the highest average of £19,016. Full details of these figures can be seen in Fig 1. Research has also shown that in the long term, graduates from these kinds of vocational courses have higher earnings than those from non-vocational courses (Moving On: graduate careers three years after graduation). More specifically, according to the Digest of Engineering Statistics 2002, certain sectors, eg telecommunications, IT, chemical and electrical engineering, may attract higher wages in the longer term. 
References
Further Reading
Detailed information about types of work, written by AGCAS higher education careers advisers, can be found in explore types of jobs. Occupations especially relevant to engineering and building management graduates can be found under: AGCAS publications are also available in your local higher education careers service, or from CSU, Tel: 0161 277 5271. Useful Web Sites
On this site for a wealth of careers related information by exploring types of jobs and options with your subject. |
