Top UK universities preferred by leading employers for graduate recruitment in 2024
The Graduate Market in 2024 report
In March 2024, High Fliers released The Graduate Market in 2024 report, conducted during January 2024, is the largest and most authoritative annual detailed review of graduate vacancies and starting salaries at the UK’s 100 best-known and most successful employers featured in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2023-2024, such as PwC, Civil Service, NHS, Deloitte, Google, EY, BBC, KPMG, Aldi, Barclays and so on (see Table 1 below).
Table 1. The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2023-2024, by ranking
Aside from being a vital resource for graduates entering the job market, The Graduate Market in 2024 report is highly beneficial for prospective undergraduate and postgraduate students. It empowers prospective students to make informed decisions about their choices of universities, degree programmes and future career paths, increasing their chances of securing desirable and rewarding future graduate opportunities.
Top 20 universities in the UK favoured by the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers in 2024
The University of Birmingham is found to be the most popular and preferred UK university among the country’s leading graduate employers in 2024. The University of Manchester is ranked second, with the University of Nottingham coming in third. The top 20 UK universities that attracted top employers for university careers fairs, on-campus employer presentations, skill training events, university-specific virtual events, careers service promotions and initiatives, and other locally-run publicity during 2023–2024 are listed below.
1. Birmingham
2. Manchester
3. Nottingham
4. Leeds
5. Bristol
6. Warwick
8. Southampton
9. Durham
10. Exeter
11. Bath
12. Sheffield
13. Cambridge
15. Oxford
16. Edinburgh
17. Glasgow
19. Queen Mary
20. Liverpool
Source: High Fliers (2024).
The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2023-2024
The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2023-2024, published on 20 September 2023, is based on research with 13,309 graduates who left UK universities in 2023 (High Fliers, 2024). The rankings feature the UK’s most sought-after and prestigious graduate employers across 18 industries and business sectors (see Table 2 below). They are a valuable resource frequently utilised by students and recent graduates seeking their first graduate job.
Table 2. The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2023-2024, by industry
Expected graduate vacancies in 2024
The most recent recruitment targets for the featured UK leading employers remain cautious, with graduate vacancies expected to rise by only 1.5% in 2024 (High Fliers, 2024). While the accounting and professional services, consulting, media, property, and technology industries are projected to reduce the number of graduate recruits, there will be a significant increase in graduate vacancies in the engineering and industrial, oil and energy sectors. There will also be additional opportunities for graduates in the public sector and retail industry (see Table 3 below).
Table 3. Changes to graduate vacancies at the UK’s leading employers in 2024
Graduate starting median salaries in 2024
Graduate starting salaries at the UK’s top employers are set to increase for the third year in a row in 2024, reaching an unprecedented median starting salary of £34,000 per annum. Chart 4 below shows that the most lucrative median salaries in 2024 are those offered by investment banks (£55,000), law firms (£50,000), and consulting firms (£47,500). On the other hand, the media (£27,500), armed forces (£27,000), and public sector employers (£25,500) offer the least generous median salaries.
Chart 4. Graduate starting median salaries at the UK’s top employers in 2024, by industry
We have already covered most of the report’s key points in this blog post; if you want to learn more, please read the full report on the Graduate Market in 2024.
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References
High Fliers (2024) The Graduate Market in 2024. High Fliers report. Available at: https://online.flippingbook.com/view/747999993/#zoom=true (Accessed: 19 May 2024).
The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers (2023a) The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2023-2024. Available at: https://www.top100graduateemployers.com/employers/listings/rank (Accessed: 19 May 2024).
The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers (2023b) The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2023-2024. Available at: https://www.top100graduateemployers.com/employers/listings/industry (Accessed: 19 May 2024).
