How do employers opinions differ from the academics?
As the response levels for both surveys improve over time the correlation between the two sets of responses is strengthening. Apart from in certain industry sectors, employers tend to be less directly interested in the research strength of an institution, yet that still seems to correlate strongly with graduate employability. In general, the highest potential university applicants are attracted to traditional, established universities that have built their reputation on excellent research. As a result, there tends to be a strong correlation between opinions of academics when being questioned about the quality of research output and those of employers when asked about the quality of graduates. There have been many surveys carried out at a domestic level, however, that seem to suggest that many graduates, even from top universities, lack certain expected skills – certainly general work skills such as presentation skills, teamwork and time management – but in some areas numeracy and liter
