With increasing pressure on universities to show return on investment from degree courses, understanding value to students has never been more important. The latest independent analysis of Higher Education statistics provides a clear answer: industry-accredited degrees improve results and lead to higher pay.
Graduates of employer-backed Tech Industry Gold degrees outperform computing overall and almost every individual subject area on key measures of employment, academic outcomes and diversity. Computing overall has the worst unemployment rate of all subject areas, despite the huge demand for talent into tech across all sectors of the economy. Yet Tech Industry Gold computing degrees have employment rates which are bettered only by veterinary sciences and medicine / dentistry. In addition, 84% of students on Tech Industry Gold degrees achieve 1sts or 2:1s, compared to 76% for computing overall.
Tech Industry Gold graduates are also far more diverse than computing overall, with nearly double the proportion of females (28% to 16%), a higher proportion of graduates from an ethnic minority (48% to 33%) and more graduates from families where parents do not have a higher education qualification.
Tech Industry Gold degrees are the result of a unique collaboration between employers and universities to create programmes which deliver a highly valuable blend of business, technology, project and professional skills. They benefit from the active support of leading employers such as Amazon, BT, Capgemini, Cisco, Cynergy Bank, IBM and SAS.
This successful partnership isn’t restricted to traditional degrees. Tech Industry Gold apprentices perform even better, with average salaries of £35,000 p.a.15 months after graduation, and 92% being awarded 1sts or 2:1s.
Margaret Sambell, Offerings Director for TechSkills makes the point that “Students – and their parents – are more concerned than ever about the value of Higher Education. Choosing an industry-accredited Tech Industry Gold degree or degree apprenticeship is one of the best ways to ensure a good return on investment”.
Wendy James Leadership, Learning, Talent and Diversity Director, BT explains: “With Tech Industry Gold programmes, employers and universities work together to create courses which give the best possible foundation for successful careers. Whether traditional degrees or degree apprenticeships, these programmes give graduates the skills to both be productive immediately and to constantly learn and adapt to a very changing world. They provide an excellent recruitment pool for employers”.
Adds Andy Cripps, MD of software services company Quicksilva “The degree apprenticeship results are notable not only for the quality of these industry accredited programmes, but also the comparison with traditional degrees. Degree apprenticeship graduates gain higher degree classifications and earn substantially more due to the value they are adding to their employers – plus the apprentices graduate with no student debt.”
Read the full Tech Industry Gold Learner Outcomes report.
