Newcastle University has one of the best graduate employment rates in the country according to Government statistics released today.

The figures, from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), which look at the number of full time, first degree students in further study or employment six months after they graduate, put Newcastle in fifth place in the UK among its peer group of comparator universities, and best in the North East, with a rate of 95.2%.

The HESA stats look at 166 institutions across the UK, from specialist arts and music colleges, to large universities.

Suzanne Cholerton, Pro Vice Chancellor for Learning and Teaching at Newcastle University, said: “This is a really outstanding achievement given the current economic climate and job situation. Our very strong performance in these tables reflects the hard work that the University puts into giving our graduates the best possible start to their careers, and shows that getting a degree from Newcastle University provides students with excellent employability prospects.”

Encouragingly, the proportion of all leavers finding graduate level jobs has also risen, to 80.4% from 78.7% in 2011.  Of those graduates in employment from full-time undergraduate courses, 84.9% were in professional or managerial occupations

And the region’s economy is also being boosted, as the number of students staying in the North East to work has increased from 1145 to 1239, meaning over 44% of all graduates in UK employment are providing key skills for sectors such as engineering and marine technology across the region.

Andrew Haxell, assistant director of the careers service said: “We have created a range of innovative and exciting schemes and programmes to bring our students and graduate employers together and these have proved to be successful.

“From careers advice and support, paid work placement schemes in regional SMEs, to big employer events which bring top graduate recruiters on campus, we offer services to students right the way through their university career and beyond, which gives them a head start in the jobs market. And our Rise Up team and resources offer advice and support to young entrepreneurs who have a great idea that they want to turn into a business of their own.”

Newcastle graduates get jobs with some of the biggest multi-national companies, but they are also increasingly setting up their own businesses as well, again helping the regional economy. In fact last year there was a 47% increase in the number of students who were self employed.

Rise Up, which is part of the Careers Service, provides enterprise support to budding student entrepreneurs, who can get advice and mentoring from some of the region’s top experts, as well as a dedicated space to develop their business idea.

Cut Out Girls, set up by fine art graduates Carla Bromhead and Libby Chilton, is just one of the many start-up businesses that the Rise Up team has helped to start in the past 12 months. Together, Carla and Libby design and produce fashion bags, satchels and rucksacks. They have been so successful selling their unique, quirky designs through small stockists and online that they have started to branch out overseas.

Libby said: “We create two different collections each year, made out of rope or leather or other natural materials. It was going really well and then we got an agent in Japan. We are actually bigger in Japan now than we are in the UK, but we would love to expand and take on more staff.

“This was the first time either of us had set up a business, so the advice we got from the Rise Up team in the Careers Service was wonderful. They were so useful - providing general advice on setting up a business such as places to go for funding and how to get established and then helping us to focus and fine tune the business so we could get out of it exactly what we wanted. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.”

published on: 4 July 2013