26th July 1999

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According to statistics released by the University of Ulster, more than 93% of its students who graduated with a degree move almost immediately either into employment or into further education - less than 7% remain unemployed six months after graduation.

The University says that last year more than 3000 students graduated in a range of subjects and that 93.4% of them are recorded as being in employment or undertaking additional studies.

Careers adviser Thomas Patton says the real employment total may be even higher:

"We have gone to great lengths to get an accurate a picture as possible and not to create a false impression.

"Many of those we have not been able to reach may in fact be in employment, which would make the rate even higher."

The University says these latest figures are an improvement on previous years and feels a variety of factors may lie behind them:

"There are more graduate opportunities at the moment, particularly in growth areas such as Information Technology. Certainly the more peaceful environment in Northern Ireland has helped investment, which in turn helps job creation."

Mr Patton says another factor may be that the students seem to making a strong impression on prospective employers:

"We suspect this is because a high percentage of our students spend a year in work placement and become familiar with the needs of employers - indeed many of them go on to get full-time employment in the organisations where they spent their time out."

He says the University is pleased with its success but is not resting on its laurels:

"We still have a rate of almost 7% of our students who seem to have some initial difficulty in finding employment. That figure is smaller than in recent years but we will continue in our efforts to reduce it even further."

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk