Foundation degrees : Destinations and types of work

Destinations in this section of What Do Graduates Do? are based on those who responded to the 2009/10 Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey, which identifies destinations six months after graduation. Of the 22,085 UK-domiciled Foundation degree graduates in 2010, nearly 83.7% (18,495) responded to the survey.

Lower than average unemployment rate

Six months following graduation, only 2.5% of Fd graduates were unemployed, well below the average figure for all first degree graduates in 2010 (8.5%), and slightly down from the 2009 figure for Fd of 2.7%.

There are a number of reasons which may account for this:

• A large number of Fd students return to their employer on completion of their course.
• Progressing on to further study, particularly honours degrees, remains a popular option for a high percentage of Fd graduates.
• Fd courses are designed to prepare students for specific areas of employment. As well as including work experience, they also have employer input into their design ensuring students develop the knowledge and skills employers want.

Writing in the Times Higher Education, Rebecca Attwood states that as graduates struggle to find employment, universities have to think more creatively about how to prepare them for the workplace and that employers need graduates with relevant experience of the workplace. Fds were designed with these goals in mind, and provide extensive opportunities for work experience and networking. The high employment rates of Fd graduates may demonstrate the success of this approach.

Source: DLHE 2009/10

Popularity of further study as an option

HEFCE’s document Foundation degrees: Key statistics 2001-02 to 2009-10 found that in 2009:

“More than half of students who studied full-time for their Foundation degree (59 per cent) went on to study an honours degree in 2008-09. Among part-time qualifiers this proportion was 42 per cent.”

The story in 2009-10 is similar: 54.9% of Fd graduates who responded to the survey were engaged in some form of further study six months following graduation, either as a sole activity (30.6%) or combined with work (24.3%). The overwhelming majority (95.1%) of those studying were working towards a first degree in the UK. As in 2009, studying to first-degree level is slightly more popular amongst those who studied full-time than those who studied part-time: 60.8% of those who had studied full-time continued to study, compared to 44.6% of those who had studied part-time.

Employment destinations

Six months after graduation, 61.1% of Fd graduates had progressed into employment either as a primary activity (36.8%) or combined with study (24.3%).

The types of occupations that 2009/10 Fd graduates went into mirror the previous year’s survey. Graduates entered into a wide range of sectors, which demonstrates both the relevance of the Fd to the workplace and the diversity and breadth of Fd courses available. As Fds are vocational, Fd graduates usually seek to find employment related to their subject, although some may take the transferrable skills they have developed during their degree and move into new occupational areas.

The DLHE survey is conducted 6 months after graduation, but the evidence from longitudinal surveys also indicates that Fd graduates achieve excellent employment destinations and career progression. The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) coordinated a longitudinal Destinations survey of those who graduated during 2004/5, following-up graduates three and- a-half years after qualifying and included information on Foundation degree graduates. This showed that 91.2% of the Fd graduates who responded were in employment after three-and-a-half years. As a significant number of Fd graduates from 2004/5 progressed into further study it can be concluded that a high percentage of these progressed into employment on successful completion of their courses. The Longitudinal DLHE was carried out again in 2011, with a sample of those who graduated in 2006/07 being asked about their current circumstances. The results of this survey were published in September 2011.

Trends

FD graduates again completed courses in a wide range of subject areas including; Education, Design Studies, Social Work, Engineering, Materials Technology, Computer Science, Sports Science, Nursing, Agriculture and other subjects allied to medicine.

Among full-time entrants, academic studies in education was the most common subject area, studied by 16.3% of the cohort. Design studies was the second most popular choice for full-time students, but social work was the second most popular for part-time students and across the whole cohort.

In August 2010, a new study by the (QAA) noted that Foundation “programmes had been developed in new and innovative disciplines such as Sport Coaching Rugby, Child and Adolescent Mental Health, and Marine Operations Programmes”, and that “[t]he development of Foundation Degrees has strengthened links with employers, … demonstrated by nearly 50 cases of good practice in employer engagement and work-based learning reported”.