News South Asia

Report confirms 60% of international students have secured a UK job though work visa

International education news site The Pie News have shared research looking at how the UK’s graduate via route has affected international graduate outcomes and how the work visa scheme has supported international employment in the UK. They confirmed that after graduation “students reported a competitive jobs market with the majority (42%) applying for more than 50 jobs in their search. However, the status of employment nine months after graduation was largely positive: full time (60%), part time (7%), unemployed (26%) and other (7%)”. Today we’re going to look at what this means for international students studying and how they can use current schemes to further their employment opportunities.

The report confirms the competitive nature of recruitment in the UK, which is experienced in many sought after countries globally. What’s interesting here is that the majority of international graduates were able to find a role within 9 months of graduation. Graduate careers advisors AGCAS conducted their own survey working alongside universities to look deeper into international graduate outcomes. “Unsurprisingly the majority of respondents had graduated from a postgraduate course (77%) which now offers the most economical route to access the UK education system by providing a total visa window of three-years for one year of university fees”. They found that of graduates who had secured a role, 72% of these were in graduate level roles.

While many students have accessed help and support alongside the new routes including the new High Potential Individual visa route and have been able to secure graduate roles, there is still more that can be done to support international students on their student and employability journey. Most notably in clarity with employers on the graduate route. Some graduates have reported that had difficulty explaining their country status to employers.

Graduate careers advisors AGCAS said “We’ve only scratched the surface in terms of this research and we know there’s a lot more work to be done to really analyse the data in more detail to try to understand whether there are clear patterns that maybe impact international graduate success…From our standpoint, we must celebrate and champion the graduate route. It is fantastic news, but equally we can’t gloss over the fact that international graduates are clearly having difficulties explaining their country status to employers during the recruitment processes.”

With this knowledge, our suggestion to graduates would be to ensure you understand your rights to work in the UK through the graduate scheme. Then, when faced with an employer who may be unfamiliar with the fine details you will have the tools to confirm your status to those without the full information.- During this interim period while more widespread information is being filtered to employers, we suggest speaking to the immigration team at your university or finding information through their website and using this to provide yourself with the key facts. For more news for international students and a global jobs board with employers looking for international talent, register with GradLink today!