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HESA: Degree classification can affect employability

20 Sep 2007

HESA: Degree classification can affect employability Students who leave university with firsts in their degrees are more likely to find employment than those graduating with the lowest classifications.

A study by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) published in August, found that unemployment is highest among graduates with low classifications.

It further revealed that graduates with a first are around two-and-a-half times more likely to be employed six months after graduation, than those getting the lowest grades.

The figures, based on the HESA's Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) 2005/6, show that 4.4 per cent and 5.7 per cent of students achieving firsts and upper seconds we shown to be "assumed to be unemployed".

This compares to those obtaining a lower second, of which 8.1 per cent were considered unemployed, increasing to 11.5 per cent to those with thirds.

The results, based on a study of 188,000 people from Britain and the European Union, showed an average of 6.4 per cent unemployment among graduates.

Recent research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows that getting a degree of any classification can help career earning power.

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