Birmingham’s Newman Uni ranks as one the of UK’s worst universities for graduate prospects

This comes despite the institution’s vice-chancellor earning over £244,000 in 2024

2 days ago

Birmingham’s Newman University has been ranked as one of the UK’s worst higher education institutions for graduate prospects.

This comes as education secretary, Bridget Philipson, is proposing a league table for universities to be “named and shamed” for vice-chancellor pay packages if student outcomes are poor.

Ms Philipson raised this concern after many universities increased the salaries of vice-chancellors whilst many students struggle to fund their university experience.

Since this proposal, The Times has created a list of universities where vice-chancellor pay is high, whilst graduate prospects are low.

Birmingham Newman University was one of those on the list as it has only 64 per cent of students going onto to further education or graduate jobs, whilst the vice-chancellor, Jackie Dunne, earned £244,841 last year.

via James Nayler is real on Creative Commons

Another Birmingham university also made it onto the list, with UCB being ranked the second worst uni for value for money. This is because only 49 per cent of students go on to get jobs or go into further education. Yet, the university’s VC was paid £310,000 in 2024.

Comparing Newman University to Russell Group universities, students going onto graduate jobs or further education is 73 per cent or above compared to 64 per cent for Newman.

Furthermore, the UK’s two leading universities, the University of Cambridge and University of Oxford, have a vice-chancellor salary of over £500,000 but their graduate prospects were considerably higher.

Professor David Maguire, vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia, where 75 per cent of his students achieve a graduate job or further education, spoke about Ms Philipson’s proposal. He said: “There’s a pretty tenuous correlation between vice-chancellor pay and the outcomes students obtain.

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“These depend on many things, not least the quality of the students coming and the subjects they study and their interest in obtaining jobs.

“Is that really the way we want to run the sector, with crude metrics? It’s reducing and simplifying complexities to a single soundbite and trying to bully people in an argument doesn’t seem a satisfactory way of doing it.”

UCB’s Summer Row Campus via UCB01 on Creative Commons

Other university leaders have come forward to praise this approach by the Labour government, such as Professor Colin Bailey, the principal of Queen Mary University of London, who said: “I have no problems with league tables: I’m there to support students into employment. But not all universities are the same.

“Social mobility is really important, particularly students with talent who do not have family support and links.

“Any league table would have to be very carefully put together to reflect that. We don’t want them to be an incentive for universities to focus on students who already have family connections and ties to business.”

University College Birmingham declined to comment.

Newman University was approached for comment but has not yet responded.

Featured image via James Nayler is real on Creative Commons

Angel Lawson | News