Data digest: June 2020

Welcome to Luminate's monthly summary of the key data and developments in higher education, careers services, graduate recruitment and the labour market

This month on Luminate

• Building blocks for a successful skills award - skills awards are a great way to support a student's development and increase their opportunity for future success by setting them apart from their peers. This guide suggests key themes to consider when developing a skills award, as it is important to think over the activities students need to undertake while partaking in your institutions award process - ensuring that they get the most out of the experience. [Luminate]
• 6 reasons graduates accept job offers - although a high salary is attractive when graduates are seeking employment, employers that offer opportunities to progress and the chance to achieve their career goals are actually more attractive to first-degree graduates. With just 4% of graduates citing high pay as the main reason for taking their job, it is vital that employers provide an appropriate environment for new hires to succeed and progress within the workplace. [Luminate]
• Will postgraduate enrolments surge post COVID-19? - with economists suggesting that the UK is heading toward its sharpest recession on record, many of this year's graduates have indicated that they plan to remain in higher education due to the impact of the pandemic. Following the financial crisis, between 2007/08 and 2010/11, there was an 18% increase postgraduate numbers and early indicators suggests that the same may be happening today. [Luminate]
• The UK's STEM skills shortage - the UK's STEM skills shortage is very costly to British employers, however, when compared to OECD and partner countries the UK's shortage is less severe than that of the majority. Moreover, because the issue doesn't present uniformly across the whole of the UK, in order to be effective, any solutions proposed to address it must be based on regional and industry-specific needs rather than a one-size-fits-all national approach [Luminate]

What's on Charlie's mind?

Graduate labour market expert and Prospects' head of higher education intelligence, Charlie Ball, tells us what's caught his eye this month.

"The IES have updated their ongoing analysis of Adzuna data on job vacancies from the government's Find a Job site, to 14 June. 105,000 new vacancies were notified in the week to 14 June, well up on the previous week. There were 367,000 notified vacancies, again a healthy increase on the previous week and the best since the mid-April surge after Easter - but still running well below the levels of last year. The IES remain cautious but suggest that the data shows tentative signs of recovery in the labour market, particularly in areas such as legal, IT, sales, accounting/finance, and engineering. Notably, these are all areas where the workforce are predominantly graduate."

News in summary

• The future of education is getting personal: how to engage with Generation Z - in a time where the majority of institutions are grappling with new delivery modes - moving their courses online where possible - how to keep students engaged is more relevant than ever before, and given that the behaviours of Generation Z will drive this change, it is vital that institutions be aware of key trends when transforming the learning experience. [fenews.co.uk]
• UK university applicants: What you should know about the student visa process this summer - like all aspects of higher education, the application process for the UK student visa has been disrupted by the pandemic. With application centres being closed for the time being, students applying for the visa can expect delays, and with social distancing still in place, it is possible that the process may go virtual. [Study International]            
• Student deferrals dip in UK despite coronavirus fears - much has been said about an expected spike in university deferrals because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, UCAS data suggests that such a spike has yet to materialise. In fact, the number of students opting to defer has fallen by 0.7%, while the number confirming a place for immediate start was up by 1.2%. [Times Higher Education]
• UK universities to provide 'significant' in-person teaching in autumn - with many students expressing concern about how teaching will resume if social distancing is still in place, 97% of institutions said they are planning to provide some in-person teaching at the start of the next academic year. [Times Higher Education]

Research from the Luminate library

How Generation Z thinks about careers - this HECSU-funded research uses focus groups to examine how Generation Z students at Coventry University think about the notion of a career, including their concerns and expectations. Of course these findings are representative of the sample examined and therefore, shouldn't be seen as broadly representative of the whole of Generation Z. However, researchers found that such students generally held positive expectations for their future careers.

Written by

Micha-Shannon Smith

Assistant information analyst

Prospects