Steve d’Aguiar
Returning from earning: UK graduates returning to postgraduate study, with particular respect to STEM subjects, gender and ethnicity
d’Aguiar, Steve; Harrison, Neil
Abstract
© 2015 Taylor & Francis. It has been argued by some (e.g. the Confederation of British Industry [CBI]) that graduates lack the skills that render them employable. In particular, graduates of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects are often portrayed as being unready for the world of work. This study uses three large-scale national data-sets from the UK to explore this assertion, including the results of the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education surveys. It reports analysis of 22,207 individuals who graduated from their first degree in 2007, and works from the hypothesis that those entering the workforce and then returning for taught postgraduate study are primarily doing so due to underemployment in the period following graduation. The study uses binary logistic regression and finds that a range of educational, demographic and employment-based variables have a significant relationship with the propensity to return for taught postgraduate study. Of particular note, those returning tend to be high achievers from elite universities in low-skill work after graduation, as well as women and those from minority ethnic communities; this suggests a mix of individual and structural factors at work. In addition, STEM graduates were significantly less likely to return, apparently challenging the argument advanced by the CBI.
Citation
d’Aguiar, S., & Harrison, N. (2016). Returning from earning: UK graduates returning to postgraduate study, with particular respect to STEM subjects, gender and ethnicity. Journal of Education and Work, 29(5), 584-613. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2014.1001332
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Dec 17, 2014 |
Online Publication Date | Feb 3, 2015 |
Publication Date | Jul 3, 2016 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 28, 2024 |
Journal | Journal of Education and Work |
Print ISSN | 1363-9080 |
Electronic ISSN | 1469-9435 |
Publisher | Taylor & Francis (Routledge) |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 29 |
Issue | 5 |
Pages | 584-613 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2014.1001332 |
Keywords | higher education, STEM, work-readiness, underemployment, DLHE |
Public URL | https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/914238 |
Publisher URL | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2014.1001332 |
Additional Information | Additional Information : This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Education and Work on 3 Feb 2015, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13639080.2014.1001332 |
Files
STEM paper - final.docx
(122 Kb)
Document
STEM paper - final.pdf
(882 Kb)
PDF
You might also like
Success and impact in widening participation policy: What works and how do we know?
(2017)
Journal Article
Downloadable Citations
About UWE Bristol Research Repository
Administrator e-mail: repository@uwe.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search