Deadline looms for the first step towards a rewarding career

Anyone who wants to study at the University of Northampton (UON) from September is urged to complete their UCAS application by Wednesday 31 January.

With the deadline looming the University’s Head of Careers and Employability, David Conway is reminding people of the advantage a University education can give them.

David said: “There were almost 1 million more graduate jobs than there were people with a degree or equivalent qualification in the workforce in 2020.

“A recent report from the National Foundation for Employment Research (NFER) analysed the future labour market. It found that almost all of the new jobs created by 2035 will be in ‘professional’ and ‘associate professional’ roles (2.2 million, or 85%, of a total of 2.6 million jobs).

“It also found that 100% of the top 20 roles in terms of fastest growth of opportunity are professional level jobs.

“Not only that, but we’ll need a staggering 6.6 million more graduates to fill these roles up to 2035!

The government’s Graduate labour market statistics for 2022 show that people who attend University earn more. 87% of graduates got jobs and the median salary rose to £38,500 – an Increase of £2,500 from 2021 and on average £11,500 more than people who never went to University. Working-age postgraduates earned an average of £45,000.

Surveys of graduates also show they are happy with the way their careers are progressing with 78% saying they are using what they learned at Uni in their jobs and 93% said they found their employment or further studies meaningful.

David added: “University also develops softer transferable life skills which build career resilience.

“Career resilience is the ability to respond to unexpected changes to an individuals circumstances or the external environment.

“Combining work with study, participating in extracurricular activities such as with the Student Union, living away from home for the first time and building life-long relationships, can be great ways to develop skills which can help you throughout your career and life.”

UON has an Access and Participation Plan which aims to broaden the diversity of people attending University and thanks to generous support from charities, partners and individuals, it can offer a range of scholarships and bursaries.

Full-time home students also have access to a benefits package when they begin their studies at UON which includes a laptop for most of the new students.