Graduates from the University of Nottingham continue to be among the most sought-after by the UK’s top employers, a new study has found.
The Graduate Market is an independent annual review of graduate vacancies and starting salaries at the country’s 100 leading firms.
The University of Nottingham is named in third place in the latest report, which ranks the top 20 universities targeted by employers.
Stuart Marriott, Associate Director of the university’s Careers and Employability Service, said the ranking was a reflection of the work being done to give UoN students the edge over other graduates.
“We’ve got fantastic connections with the country’s top employers and we take the time and effort to understand exactly what they’re looking for.”
“Our students are really ambitious – and so are we. We know that 89% of them are in high-level graduate work or study 15 months after graduation. That’s one of the best outcomes in the country.
Among the thousands of graduates who have benefited from the university’s expert careers support and close ties to industry is Onder Bostanci.
Originally from Turkey, he came to the UK to pursue a career in financial services.
“When I was applying for jobs, everybody knew the University of Nottingham,” said Onder, who studied for an MSc in Banking and Finance that included a Chartered Banker Diploma.
Now a Senior Manager at PwC in London, he initially found it difficult to secure his dream job.
Onder Bostanci, University of Nottingham graduate, “That’s when I reached out to the university’s Careers and Employability Service,” he explained. “They gave me feedback on my CV, as well as helping with how I articulated things and presented myself at interviews. The important thing was that they invested time in me.
“Along with the Careers and Employability Service, my professors also had really good links with the industry – and not many universities have that. They knew the finance industry and that meant my dissertation was applicable to real-life banking problem-solving, which was so important.
“I would definitely recommend the university to anyone who wants to follow a similar path to me,” he said. “Only yesterday I was speaking to a former colleague whose son has offers from Nottingham and a few other places. I told him not to even debate it, choose Nottingham.”
Accessing the best candidates
Conducted by High Fliers Research, The Graduate Market report is based on two rounds of in-depth research with final year students graduating in the summer of 2024 and interviews with over 14,000 finalists.
It found that for the third year running graduate starting salaries at the UK’s leading graduate employers are set to increase this year, to a new median starting salary of £34,000.
Stuart Marriott said firms that work with the university’s Careers and Employability Service benefit from access to the best candidates.
“Whether it’s PwC or a start-up, we’re passionate about making sure they get the maximum return for their investment,” he said.
“Not only that, but the careers advice and support we provide isn’t just available while our students are at the university – we provide careers support for life.
“Graduates can come back to us at any time, whether it’s to use our jobs board, get help with a CV or anything else.”
The University of Nottingham has also been named one of the strongest in the country for work placements.
Strong industry partnerships
The Rate My Placement Best Universities for Work Experience poll ranked UoN second among Russell Group universities, ahead of the likes of Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Warwick.
Chris Colegate, Careers and Employability Consultant for Placements, said it was testament to the strong industry partnerships that have been forged by the university.
“We currently have around 600 students on placement who are gaining valuable experience from a year spent in industry,” he said. “The student feedback that informs this ranking tells us they feel they’re getting great support in finding placements and benefiting from the services we offer.”
Kameron Farnejad, a third year Financial Mathematics student, is currently spending a year’s placement as a Wealth and Personal Banking intern at HSBC.
He said: “There was so much help available from the Careers and Employability Service. I signed up for a CV workshop, had interview sessions and also got a lot of great advice around how to research companies. They helped with the whole application process.
“I’m really enjoying my placement. It’s incredibly useful in terms of the connections I’m building and the work I’m doing is helping me build technical and soft skills which will be invaluable for the future career I want to pursue. I feel so much more confident now about coming into the workplace once I graduate.”
Top performing subject areas
The university also continues to see success in a variety of subject areas, showcasing the breadth of talent and expertise across the university.
In the latest QS World University rankings by subject area, the University of Nottingham has 19 wide-ranging subjects ranked in the top 100 for their subject area.
Pharmacy and Pharmacology continues to perform strongly, ranked 12th on the global scale, with subjects like Law, Psychology, Engineering and Education also performing well.
The potential for students to study at a top institution extends to subject areas including Linguistics, Nursing and sports-related subjects, all receiving recognition in the 2024 QS World University rankings.
