Harper Adams achieves 96.2 per cent graduate employment rate - and salaries are growing

Posted 3 July 2014

New graduate employment figures released today reveal a series of successes for Harper Adams University and its students. 

The overall employment rate of graduates who completed full-time first degrees in 2013 is up to 96.2 per cent, postgraduate employment is at 96.61 per cent and graduate salaries have risen across many course areas. 

The figures are included in the results of the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education survey, which asked people who graduated in the 2012/13 academic year what their principal occupation was in January 2014. Graduates are counted as employed if they reported their main activity as work or further study.

“In addition to these impressive employment rates, we were also delighted to yet again secure a high response rate in the survey,” said University Careers Advisor Maria Simpson. “With 97.8 per cent of last year’s leavers letting us know what they are doing now, we have been able to build up a very clear picture of how successful our courses are at preparing students for prosperous careers.”  

The Harper Adams University undergraduate response rate was the highest of all UK universities, and the postgraduate response rate could not have been better, at 100 per cent. 

Asked how well their university had prepared them for entering work, 93 per cent of graduates who expressed an opinion said Harper Adams had done well or very well. 

The average graduate salary of Harper Adams engineers has risen to nearly £25,000, from just over £22,000 last year. The engineering employment rate is 94.6 per cent and of those in work, more than 94 per cent were in professional and managerial level jobs. 

“Harper Adams engineering graduates are in high demand,” said Mrs Simpson. “We continue to receive a lot of job advertisements seeking engineers and enquiries from engineering companies. In fact, so many of them want to attend our annual careers fair that we will be talking to industry about holding a dedicated engineering fair in addition to the university-wide event. 

“Some of the engineering firms, particularly those producing agricultural machinery, are also keen to employ our business students, because they graduate not just with business and marketing knowledge and experience, but also specialist knowledge of the land-based industries these companies are operating within.”

Indeed, 100 per cent of students completing first degrees in business subjects last summer were in employment by January 2014. Nearly two thirds of them were in professional and managerial roles.  Food students also performed strongly, with 90 per cent securing professional or managerial roles.  

In agriculture, the employment rate is 98.21 per cent, and earnings average £20,475. Some agriculture students return home to family farms, while others secure roles in farm management, consultancy or in the industries allied to agriculture.  

The employment rate for Countryside Management graduates leapt to 93.4 per cent up 10 per cent on the previous year. 

In veterinary nursing, 100 per cent of graduates were in work. “As the figure shows, we have had an increase in demand for veterinary nurses over the last year. The nature of VN work can vary hugely – registered veterinary nurses can be employed in companion animal practices, or work with farm animals, race horses, in zoos, or in wildlife rescue organisations – there are so many options! They can work in the middle of London or in the remote Outer Hebrides, as well as working abroad. There is currently huge interest in employing vet nurses trained in the UK in Australia and New Zealand. It’s a great time to be a vet nurse.”

In rural enterprise and land management, more than 97 per cent of graduates were employed, earning more than £20,500 on average, with nearly 80 per cent in professional and managerial roles. 

“These are excellent achievements for REALM graduates, especially as most of them will go on to complete their Assessment of Professional Competence to become members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and secure associated promotions and salary increases, within 18 months of completing their degrees.”

At postgraduate level, 92.06 per cent of graduates were in professional roles and salaries averaged around £26,000. “Just one year of additional study can take a graduate into a company at a higher level, fast-tracking their career,” Mrs Simpson concluded.