Developing a Graduate Careers Ecosystem: Insights from the AGCAS Graduate Transitions Task Group
Over the past few years, HE careers services across the UK have started to change shape somewhat, with the introduction of new roles and teams with a particular focus: graduate careers support. Precipitated by an increased institutional focus on metrics like Graduate Outcomes and the OfS Progression indicator, coupled with greater recognition of the diffuse career development needs of graduates, the past two years in particular have seen many new roles appear within HE careers services, from Alumni Career Consultants to Graduate Success Coaches.
With this expansion has come increased collaboration in the graduate careers space. 2022 saw the rapid growth of the Graduate Careers Support Network, an informal community of HE careers professionals working in roles with a responsibility for supporting the career development of graduates, leading to the creation of the formal AGCAS Graduate Transitions Task Group in 2023, with a remit to build knowledge and resources in this area of practice for all AGCAS members.
In this article, penned by three members of the Graduate Transitions Task Group, we will break down how different universities have been responding to the increased focus on Graduate Outcomes, surface some of the challenges currently facing the sector which could impact progress in this area, and introduce a toolkit that we hope will add value for any HE careers practitioners/services working with or supporting graduates with their career development.
Meeting demand with supply
When responding to increased focus on graduate careers, there are an array of factors for institutions to consider, from the demographics and career aspirations of their graduates, to graduate geographic preferences and the state of the university’s local labour market.
As well as dedicated staff specialising in the provision of graduate careers support, UK universities have introduced a variety of support services and provisions for graduates, including:
In-house exit careers surveys for graduates before their Graduate Outcomes contact period.
Targeted graduate calling campaigns.
Graduate-specific coaching and guidance 121 appointments.
Graduate-specific careers events and professional development programmes.
Enhanced online resources covering topics that are of particular interest to graduates such as professional etiquette, project management, early career planning, and upskilling.
Adaptation of careers fairs and events to include hybrid or virtual participation, increasing accessibility for graduates who have moved away from their university’s location.
Establishment of employer partnerships with the specific aim of sourcing practical work experience for graduates, such as graduate internship programmes.
Making better use of alumni networks via increased networking events and mentorship programmes for graduates.
Targeted careers support initiatives for specific groups of graduates, including international and neurodivergent graduates.
Financial limitations and constraints
There’s lots of dynamic, proactive and innovative work happening within the HE graduate careers space, against a backdrop of significant challenges and financial constraints. Budgetary cuts due to loss in funding have resulted in the loss of tailored graduate support initiatives and a redistribution or total loss of staff expertise.
One example of this was the Graduate Support Fund (GSF) via the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) which was announced by the Welsh Government as part of the £40m investment to support employment and training to help Wales’ Covid-19 recovery between 2020-23. All nine universities in Wales benefitted from the GSF, which aimed to support graduates to access work experience, work tasters and paid work placements, particularly for those who were unemployed or in low-skilled roles, and who were socially disadvantaged or from groups underrepresented in HE. However, with changes in funding structures and uncertainty after the pandemic, the funding was discontinued. The lack of financial investment led to fewer dedicated graduate support staff across all the Welsh universities and a loss of tailored graduate employability support for Welsh graduates, as a result.
A further example is the Graduate Career Advantage Scotland (GCAS) which ran from November 2021 to February 2024 and was funded by the Scottish Government through the Scottish Funding Council as part of the Young Person’s Guarantee. With £5.5 million in funding, GCAS aimed to support recent graduates in Scotland facing barriers to employment, particularly graduates with disabilities, those from non-white ethnicities, or those from widening participation backgrounds. The programme provided specialist career support and paid internships through collaboration with employers, universities, and other agencies. A special focus was on connecting graduates with employers operating in industries they were most interested in, such as the arts and creative sectors. However, with the programme's conclusion, there is now a gap in the provision of high-quality, paid internships in competitive sectors for graduates.
There have also been a number of regional projects delivered in England that have focused on providing graduate support tailored to the local context. One such example is the GradSkills project in West Yorkshire, which has been funded by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (under the Skills Connect umbrella) up until Autumn 2024 and delivered as a partnership between all thirteen HEIs in the region (with Leeds Trinity as the Lead Partner), providing a variety of free training and employment support courses for local graduates. Mary Macfarlane, Project Lead for GradSkills, explains what she feels the benefits are of regional cross-collaboration when it comes to supporting graduates with their career development:
“Delivering the GradSkills project has allowed us to draw on good practice across the sector and use it to focus support on groups where demand had risen so quickly, individual providers weren’t well-placed to keep up. In particular, we’ve been able to provide support for international graduates, whose numbers have grown substantially in the last five years. Working with graduates across institutions has made it easier to engage with a critical mass of participants, find out quickly what the common themes and barriers they were facing are, and to work with employers to make sure they are aware of the Graduate Visa route and dispel some of the myths around employing international graduates.”
What’s the Impact?
The reduction in specialist graduate support such as the examples above not only impacts the graduates (particularly those in most need of tailored interventions), but is also significant for HE business-critical surveys like Graduate Outcomes and league tables like QS.
For example, the Graduate Outcomes survey, which is of strategic importance to universities, uses the results of the survey to improve and tailor their courses, refine their careers support and understand actual graduate experiences.
However, a reduction in staff that are specifically linked to graduate careers support and the survey may mean that graduates do not respond to the survey. This means the universities face low response rates and the result they do have are not reflective of the activities and perspectives of their graduates. This less-than-reliable insight into graduate employability trends will make it harder for universities to provide meaningful support to graduates who need it most.
The departure of skilled graduate careers staff could also disrupt the continuity of careers services across the UK, weakening the institution’s ability to maintain strong industry connections, ultimately affecting the quality of careers support and employability opportunities, that are available to graduates. In light of this, a new AGCAS Task group was formed to help support the growing need for Graduate Transitions knowledge and good practice sharing among HEIs, particularly those that have seen a reduction in the staffing and budget resources.
The Graduate Transitions Toolkit
The Graduate Transitions Toolkit, developed by the AGCAS Graduate Transitions Task Group, aims to support career practitioners in aiding graduates to transition from student to professional. It focuses on key areas such as the Graduate Outcome Survey and communication strategies during the 15-month post-graduation period before the survey.
The toolkit addresses internal challenges faced by Higher Education Institutions, such as funding cuts, staffing reductions, and expanding workloads, issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing economic, political, and social uncertainties.
Key features of the Graduate Transitions Toolkit include:
Information Bank: Provides detailed case studies and good practice examples, enabling practitioners to learn from other universities and apply these insights to support graduates effectively within their own institutions.
Graduate Voice: Contains resources such as a communications guide for the Graduate Outcome Survey and a Graduate Transitions timeline, facilitating effective communication with graduates at key times to implement initiatives and provide necessary support.
The toolkit is designed as an evolving resource, continuously updated with new guides and strategies to support career professionals involved in graduate transitions or support. It aims to enhance knowledge sharing and collaboration among practitioners, improving support for graduates as they transition from students to professionals.
The toolkit can be viewed via the following Padlet link and will soon be accessible via the AGCAS website.
What next for the Graduate Careers Ecosystem?
As our article will hopefully have illustrated, while there remains significant interest in the graduate careers support space from HEIs across the UK, the current financial challenges facing the sector present a clear and present danger in terms of how this area of careers work is resourced moving forward, particularly if colleagues in specific roles related to supporting graduate transitions find their budgets reduced or the scope of their work limited due to funding considerations.
Against this backdrop, it is more important than ever that we continue to share good practice in the graduate careers support space, whether this is through the Graduate Careers Support Network (please contact Chris Webb on C.T.Webb@hud.ac.uk if you are interested in being involved in this community) or via high-quality, practitioner led resources like the Graduate Transitions Toolkit. The AGCAS Graduate Transitions Task Group are currently working on the next phase of the toolkit, which will involve the creation of bespoke resources related to supporting specific groups of graduates (such as international graduates or creative arts graduates), and are keen to hear from any HE professionals who are interested in contributing to or providing feedback on these resources, now or in the future.
About the authors
Chris Webb is a Career Consultant at The University of Huddersfield and Co-Chair of the AGCAS Graduate Transitions Task Group.
Laura Dutton is a Graduate Transitions Consultant at the University of South Wales and a member of the AGCAS Graduate Transitions Task Group.
Jenny Sloan is a Career Consultant (Graduate Transitions) at the University of Manchester and a member of the AGCAS Graduate Transitions Task Group.
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