UCL graduates are the 14th most targeted by top UK employers

UCL graduates are the 14th most targeted by top UK employers, according to market research company High Fliers Research.

The ranking is based on the number of top graduate recruiters visiting campus fairs, recruitment presentations or other local university promotions during 2016-2017.

According to High Fliers’s review, the top five universities currently most targeted by leading graduate employers are Warwick, Manchester, Bristol, Cambridge and Leeds. King’s doesn’t appear in the employers’ top twenty-five universities.

This compares to its ranking of eighth best British institution for employability in The Times’ Global University Employability Survey , where the University of Cambridge was ranked highest in Britain, with King’s College London coming in at 23rd and Imperial at 16th.

The review also details the latest graduate vacancies and starting salaries at the top one hundred UK employers.

While UK graduate recruitment rose by only 1.6 per cent in 2016, top employers plan to increase this by a further 4.3 per cent this year, meaning 2017 will be the fifth consecutive year that graduate vacancies have increased. The largest growth in vacancies is expected at public sector organisations and high street and online retailers, with accounting & professional services firms, engineering & industrial firms and investment banks being among the largest recruiters as well.

Interestingly, only eight of the UK’s leading employers are cutting their graduate recruitment targets for 2017 as a result of the uncertainty caused by Brexit.

Graduate starting salaries are expected to remain at a median of £30,000 at the UK’s top graduate employers, although at least a sixth of places on the top graduate programmes now offer starting salaries of over £40,000.

The highest salaries in 2017 will be provided by investment banks, law firms and oil & energy companies, while consultancy firm Newton Europe, retailer Aldi, and the European Commission are also offering some of the most generous graduate starting salaries.

Read the full report here.