As I [Charlie Ball of HECSU] never tire of telling people, my PhD is in analytical chemistry. Therefore, in the great Arts vs Science debate, my sympathy naturally lies with the evidence.
So, should people stop opting for the arts en masse because they won't get jobs, and go for STEM, where they will?
Let’s have a look at the data. As usual, we'll take a look at DLHE. I am a creature of habit, and besides, it does the job perfectly well.
Just to get the methodology straight, we’re looking at UK domiciled first degree graduates from 2012/13. Arts and humanities are defined as JACS codes Q to W, so covering languages, classics, the humanities, the arts and the creative arts. It doesn't include law, media, business or the social sciences.
STEM is classed as JACS codes C to J. It covers the biological and physical sciences, maths, computing, engineering and the material sciences. It doesn’t cover building or medical subjects.
See the evidence for yourself and read the conclusions.
Showing posts with label HECSU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HECSU. Show all posts
Thursday, 4 December 2014
Monday, 12 August 2013
Graduates in media industries - degrees, institutions and grades
To use a cliché that would not I normally “does what it says on the tin”
Statistics and charts from HECSU
Statistics and charts from HECSU
Thursday, 25 April 2013
Apparently, better to have a degree than no qualification
via HECSU Blog by Charlie Ball
We are not, despite appearances, dead – merely a bit tied up with data. You may be able to appreciate what my visual sense made of that statement! Charlie tied up with data.
While we sift through Futuretrack stats to bring you pearls of wisdom, the 2012 Skills and Employment Survey has started releasing results.
The survey is the sixth in a series of surveys of individuals in employment - 3,200 this time around - aged 20-60 (this year's also sampled up to 65), and the series began in 1986. It's run by the Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies (LLAKES) based at the Institute of Education.
Continue reading
We are not, despite appearances, dead – merely a bit tied up with data. You may be able to appreciate what my visual sense made of that statement! Charlie tied up with data.
While we sift through Futuretrack stats to bring you pearls of wisdom, the 2012 Skills and Employment Survey has started releasing results.
The survey is the sixth in a series of surveys of individuals in employment - 3,200 this time around - aged 20-60 (this year's also sampled up to 65), and the series began in 1986. It's run by the Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies (LLAKES) based at the Institute of Education.
Continue reading
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Social benefits of higher education
via HECSU Blog by Charlie Ball
The OECD has just released a brief report on the social benefits of HE across their member nations. Much of the information comes from Education at a Glance, but presented in a neat way.
The UK is included, of course, and data shows that graduates are significantly more likely to vote in the UK, and more likely to report satisfaction with life in general than non-graduates (no life expectancy figures for the UK, oddly enough). Graduates in Greece seem pretty hacked off, though, and who can blame them?
This kind of information is always very welcome as we all want rather more metrics to demonstrate the value of HE than rather narrow measures of individual lifetime earnings.
More of this sort of thing, please!
With grateful thanks to Charlie – I missed this completely in the OECD postings.
The OECD has just released a brief report on the social benefits of HE across their member nations. Much of the information comes from Education at a Glance, but presented in a neat way.
The UK is included, of course, and data shows that graduates are significantly more likely to vote in the UK, and more likely to report satisfaction with life in general than non-graduates (no life expectancy figures for the UK, oddly enough). Graduates in Greece seem pretty hacked off, though, and who can blame them?
This kind of information is always very welcome as we all want rather more metrics to demonstrate the value of HE than rather narrow measures of individual lifetime earnings.
More of this sort of thing, please!
With grateful thanks to Charlie – I missed this completely in the OECD postings.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
HEFCE publish HE in FE data
via HECSU Blog by Charlie Ball
HEFCE have released their long-awaited (by me, at least) report into the outcome of graduates who took HE courses at English FE colleges.
These graduates are not included in standard DLHE data – franchised provision delivered by a college on behalf of a partner HEI is, but provision registered at FE colleges is not and is what is covered here.
There is a laudable volume of graphs and data in annexes, which means I won't do many but which are well worth reading if you like data (and if you don’t like data, then hello, let me introduce myself. I’m Charlie, and I do data. Sorry about that.)
Continue reading
But whether you are into data or not do please note Charlie’s final comment: Let’s see what we can do to improve their career prospects.
HEFCE have released their long-awaited (by me, at least) report into the outcome of graduates who took HE courses at English FE colleges.
These graduates are not included in standard DLHE data – franchised provision delivered by a college on behalf of a partner HEI is, but provision registered at FE colleges is not and is what is covered here.
There is a laudable volume of graphs and data in annexes, which means I won't do many but which are well worth reading if you like data (and if you don’t like data, then hello, let me introduce myself. I’m Charlie, and I do data. Sorry about that.)
Continue reading
But whether you are into data or not do please note Charlie’s final comment: Let’s see what we can do to improve their career prospects.
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
The number of graduates in basic jobs has doubled in five years
via HECSU Blog by Charlie Ball
No, it hasn’t. The number of graduates working in “menial jobs” has not doubled in the last five years.
This is going to be quite long, and a bit technical, but will also contain a rather important and interesting statistical point.
The DLHE release was (belatedly) accompanied by a piece or two making the claim above, which stems from two major statistical mistakes and one selective piece of historical editing.
The simplest part of this is that five years ago we weren’t in a recession and now we are. We’re not going to be in recession forever (we might be for a while, but that’s a different story), so just because some graduates are struggling now, doesn’t mean they’ll struggle for the rest of their careers, which will last for at least 45 more years. Also, it so happens that 2006/7 saw some of the best graduate employment figures for years, but that’s the comparison date, so it’s what we work with.
Now, the detailed stats stuff.
And for that you will have to go to Charlie’s blog post. It is a bit complicated but perfectly understandable.
No, it hasn’t. The number of graduates working in “menial jobs” has not doubled in the last five years.
This is going to be quite long, and a bit technical, but will also contain a rather important and interesting statistical point.
The DLHE release was (belatedly) accompanied by a piece or two making the claim above, which stems from two major statistical mistakes and one selective piece of historical editing.
The simplest part of this is that five years ago we weren’t in a recession and now we are. We’re not going to be in recession forever (we might be for a while, but that’s a different story), so just because some graduates are struggling now, doesn’t mean they’ll struggle for the rest of their careers, which will last for at least 45 more years. Also, it so happens that 2006/7 saw some of the best graduate employment figures for years, but that’s the comparison date, so it’s what we work with.
Now, the detailed stats stuff.
And for that you will have to go to Charlie’s blog post. It is a bit complicated but perfectly understandable.
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