What a tangled web we weave!

By the end of play on Tuesday, universities intending to charge more than £6,000 had to submit their plans to the government’s watchdog, the Office of Fair Access. To date almost 75% have set their fees at the maximum £9,000 much to the disappointment of the coalition government which had previously declared that fees in excess of £6,000 would only be issued in exceptional circumstances.

It seems that on this occasion exceptional has become the norm as the average stands at £8,679.20. Not unexpectedly Russell Group institutions are charging the maximum. Only a few universities intend to charge variable fees depending on the course despite courses being more or less expensive than others to deliver.

A couple of vice-chancellors have indicated that one consideration in setting fees at or near the maximum is status. As one put it, imposing fees ‘at the bottom of the spectrum’ would make undergraduates feel substandard. The outgoing president of the NUS pointed out that students will not only have to judge where to study on the based on costs but will also have to take into account the prospect of their course being judged externally, presumably by employers, by what they pay. All of which reminds me of the curious phenomenon that higher prices increase desirability among consumers.

A bizarre prospect of the new fees regime, highlighted by Sky News this week, is of students studying the same course at the same institution being changed different fees with those with lesser grades being able to haggle on price.

How have we arrived at this perplexing state of affairs? It seems the government is pursuing two different ideologies at the same time. It is keen to create a ‘market’ in higher education in the hope that it will increase student purchasing power and in turn drive up standards. At the same time it is anxious to drive forward a social mobility agenda. Add to this the need to reduce expenditure on the costs of teaching and learning and  on government subsidies for student loans and we end up where we are – in a muddle.

It may all work out in the end but, according to the lead news item in today’s Daily Telegraph, university places could be cut by as much as a tenth as the Coalition attempts to plug a multi-million pound black hole because of the cost of bigger student loans than expected – the assessment was based on average fees of £7,500. A fear for recruiters is that the graduate talent pool will contract and at the same time quality will be sacrificed in an attempt to balance the books.

In AGR’s submission to the Browne Review we called for the cap on tuition fees to be removed completely but staggered over a number of years to allow (i) universities to adapt to a commercial market and (ii) the introduction of a  new and much needed culture as to who pays for higher education. In our view, removing the cap would not have automatically led to fees rocketing – the market would have seen to that. Additionally, we could have avoided the scramble of universities to charge maximum permitted fees.

Home from home 

The fallout from increased tuition fees could result in some unexpected consequences. One I heard of recently was a trend for more and more students to study at their local university or not go to university at all. This could, it is suggested, have a negative impact on the local economies of cities with one or more institutions. You only have to visit an urban learning centres to see how much impact students have on the local economy – housing, council tax, entertainment, public transport, shops, restaurants and take-aways for starters; and that’s before we take into account the impact on the local workforce with large numbers of students employed on low rates of pay in casual jobs.

To brighter news…..

We said our fond farewells toGary Argent last week. I am delighted to report that we have secured the services of Linda Graham (ex-M&S and Teach First) to work with us as a project manager on a part-time basis until such time as we appoint Gary’s successor. Linda has a wealth of experience in graduate recruitment and we are fortunate indeed to have her on board at this particularly busy time. Linda will be taking over the running of the sector focus groups and helping me organise the annual conference.

Talking of which, the final programme for the conference is coming together nicely. You can view the content by visiting www.cceventslive.com/agrdel2011.

Bookings are looking good and if you want to take advantage of the early bird discount and guarantee your accommodation at the Celtic Manor Resort you should not delay your registration. The final, final closing date for early bird bookings is 30 April.

As I get more involved in the planning of the event I can see the prospect, set up by our erstwhile conference planning team under the admirable leadership of Karen Martin, of this year’s conference being a cracking event. The team have listened, noted and acted upon the feedback from last year’s event which, incidentally was overwhelmingly good, so this year’s event should be even better.

Happy Easter!

Reflections on Graduate Development in an Age of Austerity

As the dust settles on another successful AGR graduate development conference I thought it useful to reflect on the event.

Firstly, I am so pleased that the association decided to hold a separate development event because each year we attract a sea of new faces as well as a number of more familiar ones. There is clearly an appetite for networking among those of our members responsible for developing graduate talent within the businesses.

Our opening keynote speaker, Jim Burrell, Vice President at Enterprise Rent-a-Car (a perfect case study in how a graduate can reach the top of an organisation) made a powerful statement when he said that the investment they made in training and development was a massive differentiator for the business and gave them a massive advantage over their competitors.

Jim’s remarks tie in with a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers global survey of some 1200 CEOs which found that talent management was now top of their business agendas, overtaking risk management and investment. A large majority of chief officers plan to change their management strategies over the next year. A number of challenges were identified including improving skills, greater use of non-financial incentives and the recruitment and development of younger staff.

A major challenge and opportunity for graduate developers in the current climate is to convince senior managers that training and development is indeed a key differentiator in building the competitive edge. To be convincing requires three requirements – being bold, being persuasive and providing evidence. As someone who has in the past had to convince head teachers to change their practice, I found that pointing to examples of good practice at other schools generally did the trick. Hopefully, our delegates were able to collect ammunition in best practice to leverage change back at the ranch.

There was more evidence of businesses struggling to find ways of measuring the return on investment in graduate development. This has been a long standing issue. We have tried various approaches to assist our members which proved to be too sophisticated or too expensive. Looking through the feedback forms on last Friday’s event it seems we have still to find a satisfactory solution so we are plan to return to the challenge by forming a small working group of members to explore the feasibility of developing a simple ROI toolkit that members can adapt for use in their own organisations. Whatever the team come up with, it will require businesses to collect accurate key information sets and I suspect that that will in itself be quite a challenge for some of us.

A late change to our programme turned out to be master stroke. Peter Hawkins of Windmills fame, spent 30 all action minutes to help us review what we want from our lives and how we can achieve it. Pete reminds us that life is finite and we only get one shot at it. The theme of ‘No Regrets on Sunday’ says it all. The session can easily be applied to graduate development programmes but the main reason for including it on our agenda was to help graduate developers think about their own development – now there’s a novelty!

The final learning point for me was around the retention of graduate talent. With signs that the jobs market is improving, businesses will be holding their breath that they can keep the graduates they have invested so much time, effort and money in. The truth is that if you don’t invest in your graduates you will surely lose them and if you do, you might! Jim Burrell made a telling point when he emphasised that developing graduate talent during austere times was crucial to ensure businesses retained their talent when the economy improves.

I end by congratulating the three winners of the AGR Graduate Development Awards for their outstanding submissions: They are:

Graduate Induction: Grant Thornton

Strategic Alignment: Baker & McKenzie

Graduate Development Preparation in Higher Education: University of Nottingham

The judging panel took the brave decision not to make awards in a couple of categories – Career Management and Supplier Contribution – as they felt there were too few entries of the required standard to select winners. The AGR Awards are a recognition, above all else, of excellence, and the judges were correct not to make awards for the sake of it. Hopefully, in 2012 there will be more interest in making submissions for these two important categories. I also hope that we will be able to showcase the winners at future master classes.

Carl Gilleard, Chief Executive

31 March 2011

 

Jim Burrell - Enterprise Rent-A-Car

 

Simon Reichwald presenting award to Baker & McKenzie

Pete Hawkins

THE WEEK AHEAD

Are your Sunday evenings like mine? Ever since I was a spotty schoolboy, I have spent Sunday evenings getting back into the zone for the forthcoming week’s commitments. In those far off days at school the trigger was the  signature song of ‘Sing Something Simple’ on the wireless which had an ever present slot at six o’clock. I grew to hate the song and even now, when I hear it I am back there, checking I had completed my homework, polished my shoes and sorted out dinner monies.

That I was more often depressed than exhilarated by the thought of what was to come was irrelevant. It proved to be an excellent rehearsal for the real world (of work) I was eventually to enter. So much so, that I still spend time on Sunday evening checking my diary and preparing for the week ahead.

Tell me I am not alone in this obsession – I always felt it was untrendy but I justified it to on the basis that most other people would be going through exactly the same ritual!

So, what has this week got in store for me? Dominating the diary is the AGR graduate development conference on Friday. Last minute preparations are taking place to ensure the 140 delegates, exhibitors and presenters have their expectations met. This is our third event at the INMARSAT conference venue in London and the theme this time around is GRADUATE DEVELOPMENT IN AN AGE OF AUSTERITY. The programme has been designed to allow plenty of time for delegates to network with each other and it ends with a drinks reception which, if everything should go to plan, will be an opportunity for me to enjoy a glass of wine by way of celebration – along with the winners of the 2011 AGR graduate development awards winners.

Before then, I am attending the NCWE Awards luncheon at Merchant Taylors’ House on Tuesday. As one of the sponsors I have a duty to be there but frankly I would want to be there anyway as it is always uplifting to celebrate the achievements of businesses, large and small, that treat work experience so seriously and focus on the quality of the provision. This year’s awards presenter is businesswoman Ruth Badger, who was the runner-up in the 2006 series of The Apprentice and has since set up her own consultancy. Should be another good do!

On Wednesday I am taking a trip to the seaside – well, Bournemouth University to be precise. I am speaking at the School of Tourism’s Careers Forum on the hot topic of the graduate marketplace and what employers look for in graduates. This is a new venture and a response by the university to pressure from students for an event that goes beyond the usual careers fair and provides a deeper insight into graduate opportunities and challenges. Each year I am only able to respond positively to a proportion of the invites I get to speak to students and academic staff. I regret ever having to say no as I want to encourage universities to build more and more ‘employability’ type activities into the student experience. This request caught my eye for a number of reasons; how it came about; that I had never before visited the campus before; and that Bournemouth is one of 60 universities in membership of AGR. The weather forecast for the week is decent enough for March but I fear the bucket and spade will be left at home.

On the return leg from Bournemouth to Leamington Spa I hope to be able to tune into the Chancellor’s budget speech in the hope that I will hear some good news. No, not a reduction in alcohol duty – what will put a smile on my face and many others I suspect will be a budget for jobs. It is widely reported that George Osborne is planning a budget to make Britain a more attractive place to do business. There are also strong rumours that he will announce 50,000 extra apprenticeships and 100,000 work experience places in Engineering, IT and Manufacturing.  With youth unemployment spiralling out of control – its estimated that in 5 years there will be 1.2 million unemployed 16-24 year olds – something dramatic has to be done. Hopefully every line of the budget will be designed to create real jobs and training opportunities. There are disagreements about the true percentage levels of youth unemployment. I am not sure which calculations are the most accurate but I do recall my dad once pointing out that when you are unemployed you are ‘100% unemployed’.

On Thursday I plan to be back in the AGR office to finalise arrangements for the graduate development conference along with my PA, Louise.

No doubt some of you will have heard by now that our Business Operations Manager, Gary Argent, has secured a post at City University as Director of Careers and Skills Development. Our loss will be their gain!

Gary has been on the AGR payroll for two and a half years. His last day at AGR is 15 April and it goes without saying he will be missed. Gary was our first ever BOM and the Board of Directors and I will be taking the opportunity to review the role in the light of changes to both our operational structures and the environment in which we find ourselves. In the meantime, we wish Gary well in his new role.

Carl Gilleard

A blog of two halves!

First half:
A week or so again I met my son for a quick drink near St Pauls after our working days had finished. Nothing unusual in that I hear you say. Well, normally no but this was the first time we had got together since he started working after graduating last summer.

He was in fine form. Self-confident, full of enthusiasm, enjoying life – that’s what working and earning does for us! He didn’t pay for the round but that didn’t spoil my delight at seeing this young man transformed from the uncertain and unemployed graduate I recalled from last autumn.

Many graduates are not so lucky if figured released by the Office for National Statistics are anything to go by. One in five graduates from 2009 and 2010 have yet to find work. The worst figures for 16 years

This is not good news for anyone least of all the graduates themselves. The question is will job prospects improve and if so, when?

Latest figures from the AGR survey shows that the graduate job market is on the up. But let’s be honest. The growth of graduate level jobs with AGR employers will not soak up the masses of graduates out there. The latest unemployment figures, released earlier this week, support this with youth unemployment crashing through the one million mark.

Without wanting to be drawn into the murky world of party politics, it is clear to me that the cutbacks in public expenditure will result in fewer jobs and in turn, fewer vacancies in the public sector. This has been a very significant route into the world of work for graduates over the past two decades. Many thousands have kick-started their careers undertaking clerical, admin and technical jobs with local authorities, civil service departments, NHS etc. and gone on to build excellent careers. A report published by the highly respected Work Foundation on Tuesday drew the same conclusions. The report goes on to say that the impact will be disproportionate with the North and Midlands being hit hardest. Now where have we heard that before? With the South East experiencing more growth in jobs, we may witness a brain drain of graduate talent from the worst affected regions.

Another concern is whether the growth of new jobs in the private sector which we all hope for, will be of the level that graduates seek. Part-time, temporary and unskilled roles may show up as new opportunities but they are unlikely to satisfy the ambitions of graduate job seekers.

Can the country afford to neglect the skills and ambitions of highly educated young people? What consequences will there be if we do?

If there was a magic wand solution to this growing problem then I am sure our leaders would have waved it. The truth is there isn’t. Yet something must be done and done soon to avoid the claim of a ‘lost generation’ who will slowly but surely lose the motivation, confidence and desire to work. What would you do? Post your comments. I look forward to hearing from you.

Second half:

The programme for our graduate development conference on the 25 March is now published and can be found at www.agr.org.uk . We are already receiving applications from people who want to take advantage of our early booking discount. This was due to end today but a decision has been made to extend it for another 7 days, so do hurry to get your application in.

The theme is GRADUATE DEVELOPMENT IN AN AGE OF AUSTERITY and we have contributions from a number of leading employers. Responding to feedback from last year’s successful event, we have also built in a lot more time for delegates to contribute and network. In addition we are also presenting the unique AGR graduate development awards and getting the judges to feedback on the overall standard of entries. That’s another first for AGR I suspect! The closing date for entries for the awards was next Friday but again we have extended the deadline to 4 March so still plenty of time to get down to action if you have not already done so. And don’t be put off by thinking your scheme is not good enough. Our first year award winners demonstrated that the usual suspects don’t always win.

Staying with graduate development I spent a fascinating day with a hardy group of AGR members at Sundial’s Woodside centre in Kenilworth. Courtesy of founder of Teamscapes, Lucy McGibben, we participated in a series of experiential learning exercises, indoors and outdoors. Any trepidation I felt beforehand was quickly banished as the six of us worked together to solve a series of seemingly impossible tasks. From being a naïve, nervous and hesitant set of individuals we quickly developed into an effective team of achievers despite never having worked together before.

The group did reflect on why the take-up was so small. One idea put forward was that people are often uncomfortable volunteering for such activities and I can see why. But it is exactly people who feel like that who stand to benefit the most – me included!

Thanks Lucy and your team at Sundial for being such excellent hosts.

Don't give up the day job Mr G!!

The Week Ahead

Another Monday, another week. What does the week ahead have in store?

Today I meet up with co-funders to plan a research project into ‘The Global Graduate’. With so much emphasis on the global market these days it seems sensible to investigate what makes a truly effective global worker in the 21st century. The project is being funded by the Centre for Industry & Higher education, CFE and AGR and we hope to publish our findings during the summer, perhaps at the AGR annual conference. I visited the Celtic manor incidentally last week and heard about a number of improvements to the facilities including an ape walk, an adventure golf course and, importantly for us considering the uncertain climate in South Wales, an extended waterproof area on the rooftop garden where we hold our Sunday BBQ. This year, whatever the weather, the festivities will not have to be moved inside.

On Tuesday I am chairing an AIA event at the offices of the Financial Times with the intriguing title of “Unrest and Uncertainty – the knock-on effect for Graduate Recruiters”. An invited audience will be treated to perspectives on what is happening in the troubled world of higher education from speakers from the FT, Universities UK and the NUS. This will be followed by a panel led discussion with contributions from senior graduate recruiters.

The event is scheduled to take three hours but with so much happening in the sector it will be a challenge to cover every angle in the time allowed. I have been allocated 10 minutes to set the scene and I am going to have to be extremely well disciplined to keep to the time limit. Every day in the media it seems another higher education story breaks. There was enough material in last week’s papers alone to keep the debate going. One item that stood out for me was the revelation from the Higher education Policy Institute that two-fifths of students from England accepted on to university degree courses last year achieved lower that two E’s at A level. That’s fewer than 80 UCAS tariff points. Seven years ago the proportion was 24% of students and much of the growth has taken place in the past couple of years, almost certainly as a result of the economic downturn.

A part explanation is that HE is attracting more mature students returning to education to gain better qualifications. They may well have qualifications that fall outside the UCAS tariff system. However, the question must be asked as to whether a sixth-former who achieves just one A level at the bottom grade is suited to a three year academic degree course. AGR’s own research shows that in 2010 a third of AGR members used UCAS tariff point as a selection criterion.

Another statistic to put into the melting pot is contained in last week’s announcement from the Higher Education Funding Council for England which revealed that university budgets are to be cut by almost £1billion in the next academic year. This will impact on teaching and research as well as other spends. The teaching budget alone will be fall by £180million. Those of us attending the AIA event tomorrow may learn more about what these cuts may mean for the output from HE.

I have a very early start on Thursday when I fly up to Edinburgh to attend the quarterly meeting of AGR Scotland. My last trip was cancelled because of the weather so fingers crossed we avoid a repeat. I always look forward to attending these meetings and not just because of my love of Scotland. Establishing an AGR Scotland branch was one of my first achievements after my appointment as chief executive. I also advised that we should always have a representative for Scotland on the Board of Directors. The group is going from strength to strength and 30 people are booked into the event that is being hosted by Scottish Water.

I will be taking time to explain the operational and constitutional changes being proposed by the Board as part of our consultation exercise. (Readers can find the details on the AGR website and there is still time to make your views known incidentally). I will also be speaking about the findings in the latest AGR Graduate Recruitment Review with a special focus on graduate recruitment in Scotland.

This week I am also hoping to say my goodbyes to Tim Lotherington who is soon to move to New York to manage EuroRSCGRiley’s office in the big apple. Tim has long been a friend of AGR and we will miss his expertise, professionalism, support and humour. We wish Tim and his family bon voyage and every success in the States.

Insight into the Graduate Recruitment Market

The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) has published a bi-annual report on the state of the graduate recruitment market for many years. It is considered to be the most extensive and detailed insight into the graduate jobs market. In recent times, with a growing focus on higher education funding and output, its findings have been eagerly awaited by Government, media, universities and employers – not forgetting parents, many of whom see themselves as stakeholders in their off-springs’ futures.

The latest report was published at the end of January and showed that graduate vacancies in last year’s recruitment season rose for the first time since the recession started to bite. Welcome news indeed, especially when the predictions were for further cut-backs. Despite a slow start, employers reported a surge in vacancies in the closing months of the recruitment round, resulting in an 8.9% rise in vacancies on the previous year. More good news was contained in the predictions for 2011 with a further increase of 3.8% predicted.

It is, however, a little early to be popping the champagne corks. The state of the graduate market is closely linked to business confidence and while most sectors report job improvements for graduates, if the UK economy starts to deteriorate, growth could falter as quickly as it improved. It is also important to recognise that improved market conditions will not make life that much easier for this year’s crop of graduate job seekers. Last year AGR members received on average 69 applications for every vacancy. Figures released by the Office for National Statistics the day after the AGR report was launched showed that, as a consequence of the recession, unemployment rates for new graduates were the highest for over a decade with almost 1 in 5 recent graduates unable to find work.

This startling statistic goes some way towards explaining why our member organisations received a record number of applications in 2010. Despite the anticipated growth in vacancies this year, application numbers will rise again as Class of 2011 compete with those from earlier years who have yet to find a career opening.

Those graduates who are fortunate to land the job of their dreams in 2011 will find that the starting salary will probably be the same as last year and the year before. It is unprecedented in the UK for graduate starting salaries not to rise year on year but according to our data there has been no rise since 2008 and then only a rise of 1.8%. Having said that, the median average starting salary with an AGR employer is still a healthy £25,000. Not only have salaries stagnated but fewer employers are paying ‘golden hellos’ and those that do have reduced the amount they pay. None of which is good news for the Coalition Government at a time when there is so much focus on student debt and tuition fees.

On a more positive note, there is growing interest among employers in school leaver entry programmes (SLE). One in four respondents to the survey currently has a SLE programme and a significant minority of those that don’t are considering introducing one. The drivers behind this trend are worth noting. The most frequently quoted factor is a commitment to investing in young people followed by a concern that businesses might otherwise miss out on a pool of talent if they only operate graduate pipeline. Expect to see more corporate organisations running ‘A’ level entry programmes alongside their graduate intake. With a new funding regime emerging in higher education resulting in students having to invest significantly more in their HE experience if belatedly, interest among sixth-formers and parents is likely to grow. We should welcome a more varied menu of routes to higher level qualifications. One size does not fit all when it comes to learning and a model that enables a learner to also work and earn will certainly appeal to some.

Finally, the survey asked graduate recruiters to reflect on the Browne Review recommendations and the consensus was that the pool of graduates from which they recruit will include fewer people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. They also believe that salary expectations will increase due to higher tuition fees.