Employability is the new buzzword in higher education marketing, and no wonder. Faced with fee increases and graduate unemployment levels of 10%, today's students are looking for courses that offer the best value for money in the long term by enhancing their future job prospects. Some UK universities are even considering awarding undergraduates academic credit for workplace skills and experience.
For the University of Surrey in Guildford, this is nothing new. Currently ranked number one for graduate employability in the UK by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Surrey credits its success in part to the fact that 65% of students undertake a "sandwich year" during their first degree.
Nor does it view employability solely as an undergraduate issue. Surrey postgraduate students are also more employable than most, with just 3.9% unemployed six months after graduation compared with 4.7% nationally. Proof, says Russ Clark, head of Surrey's Careers Service, that work experience should be just one element of a university's wider careers strategy.
"The sandwich year is a key plank in our employability story," says Clark, "but add to that our relationships with employers and the fact that the vast majority of our degree programmes are vocationally orientated and you can see why we tend to attract students with one eye on their future. The University of Surrey doesn't just talk about employability, we deliver it."
Surrey's strength is rooted in its origins as Battersea Polytechnic College, founded in 1891 to widen access to higher education and, like other polytechnics of the time, partially funded by business and enterprise. By the second world war, it was common practice for Battersea students to undertake a year out in industry, a programme formalised when the college became Battersea Technology College in 1956 and maintained when it moved to its Guildford campus and became the University of Surrey in the late 1960s. "So it goes back 100 years," says Clark with pride. "The placement has always been part and parcel of the Surrey experience."
What has changed is the number and range of degree subjects on offer. As well as its undergraduate programmes, Surrey now offers 130 taught postgraduate courses and a range of research-based degrees in fields as diverse as dance and clinical practice. HESA statistics show the percentage of graduates pursuing further study nationally rose from 14.5% in 2007-8 to 16% in 2008-9. Some point to recession-based recruitment freezes to explain this take-up, but in Clark's experience, prospective postgraduates view further study less as a delaying tactic, more a positive step toward career enhancement, whether that career is inside or outside the world of academia.
"We find Surrey postgraduates are thinking even more seriously about jobs than undergraduates," he says. "Because of the additional financial investment, they have to take it more seriously. They are looking at our courses, asking: 'Where is this going to lead me?' And having invested all that time and money, they have higher expectations at the end. The attitude being: 'I expect this to deliver what I want it to deliver.'"
For nutritionist Richard Gannon, a PhD from the University of Surrey was a passport to his dream job at Nestlé Research Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland. Gannon, 42, worked in supermarket retailing for a decade before he re-entered higher education, first reading a BSc in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Cork and then a master's in public health nutrition at the University of Glasgow.
"I decided to study nutrition as I wanted to educate the customer," he said. "Looking back, I was interested in food and nutrition from a very early age. I remember reading the nutrient contents on food packaging and estimating if I was reaching my RDA. I used to cook with my sister and from then became interested in home economics."
He chose Surrey for his PhD based on the reputation not only of its Department of Food Science - ranked number one in the country last year by The Times Good University Guide - but that of his supervisor, Dr Susan Lanham-New.
"I knew she was a key opinion leader, particularly in the field of fruit and vegetables as a source of calcium, which really interested me. But at the time, I was mainly choosing a mentor. Sue has her ear close to the grapevine. She's listening to what's out there and has a very good network to other scientists. So the great thing about her as a supervisor is that she doesn't just get you through your PhD, she wants you to get a job at the end of it. We began talking through my options long before I finished."
This conversation continued at the university careers service, where Gannon made full use of resources, from jobs databases to one-on-one interview training with Russ Clark. And it worked. His PhD research into skeletal health now directly informs his role as bone specialist in the physical performance and mobility group of Nestlé's department of health and nutrition.
The transferable skills he acquired during his time at Surrey are equally important, Gannon says. "A PhD teaches you how to conduct research, prepares you to become an independent scientist and, because the focus is on original contributions to that science, an original thinker, too." Lessons learned, stresses Clark, from a research-led university with an interest in the practical application of that research.
Clark believes the approach of students like Gannon is key. "Because of its reputation, the University of Surrey is a magnet for students whose attitude is: 'I want to be employed. I want a degree that gets me a job.' We tend to attract people who are well-rounded, which is why employers like us so much." Last year, more than 200 companies visited Surrey, 94 exhibiting at the Careers Fair and 108 delivering presentations or workshops where students and employers met face to face. "The fact that all these companies are prepared to come shows they want to meet our students." says Clark. "It's worth their while."
Get careers provision right, then, and success is self-perpetuating. Not for nothing do Surrey graduates have the lowest average unemployment rate in the country over the last 15 years. "While there can be no guarantees of a job," says Clark, "Surrey's track record speaks for itself."
This article has been sponsored by the University of Surrey
