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Many computing graduates are getting taken on after university by companies they did work placements with while they were students.

This trend is particularly noticeable in the south-east. Here, several investment banks and certain pharmaceutical firms are taking on graduates from nearby universities who have already had completed work experience placements with the companies.

Roger Peel, senior lecturer in computing at the University of Surrey, told Computerweekly.com: "About 30 per cent to 40 per cent of our graduate-year students return to the companies that they worked with during their placement year."

Both HSBC and Lloyds TSB now offer one-year placements to students taking computer science degrees.

These schemes are an initiative in collaboration with local universities and they seem to be working - many of the students involved have been offered full-time positions with the banks after graduation.

According to Mr Peel, central government departments and major technology suppliers in the south-east also regularly took on former work-placement students.

Further good news for students is that these placements do not use students as unpaid labour - each participant can expect to be paid between £14,000 and £19,000 for the year.

Recent research suggests that students on technical and job-specific courses such as computing expect to be paid more than their counterparts in the arts.

They are also more likely to have career plans set up before they leave university.