Supporting STEM students into STEM careers: A practical introduction for academics

Abstract

Graduate employability is increasingly becoming a selection criteria used by students in their choice of university and discipline. It is also used as a metric for the quality assessment of institutions and the construction of the various league tables produced by newspapers and other media outlets. In addition to identifying levels of employment, further study and unemployment, graduates’ employment destinations are classified as “graduate” or “non-graduate” jobs. The distinction between “graduate” and “non-graduate” is also important for the various metrics that are produced from the destinations data.6 To evidence that a particular course or discipline supports graduate employability it is therefore important not only that graduates are able to find work, but also that they can find work of an appropriate level. A STEM degree should be a clear asset in achieving this aim of finding graduate level employment.