Scottish Government

16th December 2004

HIGHER EDUCATION GRADUATES AND GRADUATE DESTINATIONS 2002/03

A Scottish Executive National Statistics Publication

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Statistics on higher education graduates from Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs) and further education colleges (FECs) for 2002/03 are released today along with survey information on the first destinations of full-time, EU domiciled graduates in the same year. This updates the two separate publications on graduates and their first destinations published on 20 ^th November 2003 and 11 ^th December 2003.

The main points are as follows:

• In 2002/03, 62,309 students successfully completed a higher education course in Scotland. Of these, 42 per cent obtained a first degree, 36 per cent obtained a sub degree qualification and 22 per cent obtained a postgraduate qualification.
• 22 per cent of graduates in 2002/03 studied business administration. In terms of subject area the next highest shares were in social studies (11 per cent) and allied to medicine (11 per cent).
• Of those graduates who responded to the first destination survey, over half (58 per cent) had obtained permanent or temporary employment in the UK at the time of the survey with a further 3 per cent obtaining employment overseas. 25 per cent of responding graduates continued in study/training while 7 per cent were unemployed.
• Of those gaining permanent UK employment after qualifying in 2002/03, 36 per cent gained employment in the Health Social and Community Work sector, with 21 per cent gaining employment in the Finance sector.
• 80 per cent of respondents who gained permanent employment after qualifying in 2002/03 gained employment in Scotland. 90 per cent of the Scots-domiciled respondents in permanent employment were employed in Scotland.

The following tables are available on the Scottish Executive Statistics Website: www.scotland.gov.uk/about/ASD/ELL-EAS6/00017875/page830054467.aspx

Graduate Tables

Table 1: Graduates from higher education courses in Scotland by institution type: 1996/97 to 2002/03
Table 2: Graduates from higher education courses in Scotland by qualification achieved and gender: 1996/97 to 2002/03
Table 3: Graduates from higher education courses in Scotland by qualification achieved, gender and age group: 2002/03
Table 4: Graduates from higher education courses in Scotland by subject of study: 1996/97 to 2002/03
Table 5: Examination results of graduates from first degree courses in Scotland: 1996/97 to 2002/03
Table 6: Graduates from higher education courses by domicile 1996/97 to 2002/03

First Destination Tables

Table 7: First destination of graduates from higher education by gender and level of qualification obtained: 2002/03
Table 8: First destination of graduates from higher education by level of qualification obtained: 1996/97 to 2002/03
Table 9: First destination of graduates from higher education by subject and level of qualification obtained: 2002/03
Table 10: Graduates gaining permanent UK employment by type of work and level of qualification obtained: 1996/97 to 2002/03
Table 11: Graduates gaining permanent UK employment by industry of employer and level of qualification obtained: 1996/97 to 2002/03
Table 12: Graduates gaining permanent UK or overseas employment by domicile and location of employment: 1996/97 to 2002/03
Table 13: Graduates gaining permanent UK or overseas employment by subject studied and location of employment: 2002/03
Table 14: Response rate to first destination survey: 1996/97 to 2002/03