Biomedical : Types of work

Unsurprisingly, the majority of graduates from these subject areas were employed as health professionals or associate professionals. Here is a further breakdown of the kinds of occupations graduates from these subjects went into.

Anatomy, physiology and pathology

Whilst the cuts in public spending have only had a slight affect on the ability of the graduates working in front line occupations to find work in the public sector in 2009/10, supporting roles in physiotherapy and social work have seen a dramatic fall in the number of graduates going into the occupations in the public sector. Last year, in 2008/09, just over half (54.5%) of anatomy, physiology and pathology graduates were working as physiotherapists. There was a significant drop in the proportion (from 54.5% to 46.3%) and the number (840) of these graduates going into physiotherapy as an occupation. Whilst fewer anatomy, physiology and pathology graduates entered health professions and associate professional occupations, more graduates (12%) went into other occupations which includes, care home assistants, nursing auxiliaries and occupation therapy and physiotherapy assistants.

Medicine

The majority of graduates with medicine degrees (99.7%) go on to work as health professionals and associate professionals. 88.4% were working as pre-registration house officers, 7.5% as specialist registrars, consultants and general practitioners and 3.7% were working as medical practitioners.

Nursing

Whilst there was an increase of over 1000 graduates in nursing, the proportion of those in employment six months after graduation remained the same at 85.4% meaning that the new graduates were effectively absorbed by the labour market. Those finding work as health professionals and associate professionals increased by 0.1 percentage point to 93.8%, with 48.3% finding work as nurses, 12.7% as staff nurses (adult) and 11.9% as midwives. There was a drop in the proportion of graduates working as hospital matrons and nurse administrators. This is similar to the types of occupation that have had a drop in the number of graduates finding work within the public sector. Although nursing graduates did not have as much difficulty in finding work in their related profession in 2010 as other public sector occupations, the affects of the cuts in public spending will need to be monitored to determine if they will go as far as affecting the 2010/11 graduates looking for work as nurses in the public sector.

Pharmacology, toxicology and pharmacy

The majority of graduates with a pharmacology, toxicology and pharmacy degree found work as pharmacists (85.3%), pharmaceutical dispensers (0.8%) or Pharmacologists (0.3%) in 2009/10.

Salaries

The salary figures are taken from the Destinations of leavers from higher education survey 2009/10 and only include those graduates who are domiciled in the UK and working full-time in the UK. The average salary of graduates employed full time in the UK six months after graduation is £19,794. Medicine graduates earned a higher range of salaries across the UK, from £26,350 in East Midlands to £31,800 in Northern Ireland. Anatomy, physiology and pathology graduate salaries have a lower range from £16,250 in Northern Ireland to £21,050 in Yorkshire and the Humber. The UK average salary for nursing graduates was £22,400 and for Pharmacology, toxicology and pharmacy graduates the salary was £20,100.