Staying local: understanding the value of graduate retention for social equality

This report finds that graduate retention benefits local economies and communities – and the 51% of graduates who stay in the region of study. However, the report also finds that the current narrative of success, which emphasises high salaries as the most important measure, is neither accurate nor inclusive. Nor does it help graduate retention: with most regions unable to compete with London on graduate pay, there is an assumption that graduates will ‘move out, to move up’.

Yet this report shows that graduates who do stay on in the region of study are equally likely to be employed and on track with their career plans. The report explores their stories and what they value, alongside Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data from the Graduate Outcomes Survey – and concludes that our assumptions and metrics need to change, if they are to be appropriate to students from all socio-economic backgrounds in all parts of the UK. University careers services need to support progression to local employment, including in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME)s, while employers themselves need to realise that there is demand for graduate jobs in the regions. The report also identifies universities’ contributions to levelling-up in their regions and recommends that government better utilise this in policy.