It is always difficult choosing a university. There are a number of factors to take into consideration, which should include:
- The course
- The reputation of the university, both for the course you wish to study and the university as a whole
- City located vs campus
- The geographical location
- How attractive it is to potential employers
With over 130 universities now offering undergraduate courses in the UK, graduate employers only have the resource to target a limited number. Results (from High Fliers Research) show that the top graduate employers target between 10-25 universities each. Accounting & professional services, public sector, retail and law firms publicise their vacancies in the largest number of universities whilst media and consulting firms were represented at the fewest.
Here are the universities targeted by the largest numbers of employers in 2017-18:
- Manchester
- Birmingham
- Warwick
- Bristol
- London University College
- Cambridge
- Leeds
- Nottingham
- Oxford
- Durham
- Bath
- Exeter
- Edinburgh
14. London Imperial College
15. Sheffield
16. LSE
17. Southampton
18. Loughborough
19. London Kings College
20. Newcastle
21. York
22. Cardiff
23. Leicester
24. Glasgow
25. Liverpool
Interestingly, when compared to the rankings in The Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide, Oxford and Cambridge are ranked in 1st and 2nd place but Manchester and Birmingham are ranked 25 and 15 respectively, yet are ranked 1st and 2nd by employers. By contrast St Andrews and Lancaster, which are ranked in the top 15 in the University Guide, do not appear in the employers top 25 universities.
Universities with the best graduate employment records?
Here are the top 15 universities who have the top graduate employment rates:
- Cambridge
- Oxford
- Imperial
- Kings College, London
- Manchester
- Edinburgh
- UCL
- Bristol
- LSE
- London Business School
- Bath
- Birmingham
- Durham
- St Andrews
- Cardiff
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