Final year students regret degree choice

One in twelve final-year university students are less confident in their degree choice because of the recession, a survey has showed. And nearly half think that the crisis would endanger their future career.

The survey was conducted by the market research firm ‘Opinionpanel’ and involved 1,041 undergraduates from freshers to final-year students.

They were asked if they felt their future prospects were being affected by the financial crisis, conducting by Market research firm last week.

The survey spoke to students at 133 UK universities and specialist higher education institutes.

Some 8% of the 357 final-year students revealed they wished they had chosen a different degree because of the current situation.

In terms of the how much the recession will influence their careers, 46% said “a bit”, another nine per cent thought it would “a lot” and ten per cent were “unsure”.

One student who took part said: “It’s going to change everything. I was planning on taking my time to get a job and I’ll have to take whatever job is available, even if it’s something like waitressing.”

The results showed those at post-1992 universities were worried more about recession: 12% of these students feared a downturn would harm their job prospects “a lot”, compared with only eight per cent of students at Oxford, Cambridge and redbrick universities such as Bristol and Leeds.

Students at the newest universities, such as the University of Winchester, and the specialist institutes were the least worried – 7%

Femi Bola, associate director of student services and head of employability at the University of East London, said it was important for graduates to think less negatively: “By the end of their degrees, students will have developed transferable skills for the workplace,” she said. “It shouldn’t be forgotten that graduates are the cheaper end of the employment chain. Their jobs may not be the ones that will be cut.”

Source: gairrhydd.com