Who gets the jobs? Factors influencing the employability of property and construction graduates in the UK

Steven Devaney, Deb Roberts

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    14 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Against a background of a strongly performing property market, the last decade saw a significant rise in entrants to undergraduate and postgraduate built environment programmes in the UK. The growth in postgraduate numbers reflected the emergence of conversion programmes with the result that, across a range of built environment pathways, employers can choose between different types of graduates: those straight from an undergraduate degree, those who have completed an additional postgraduate course or those who have taken, following a first degree in another discipline, a conversion programme in property or construction at postgraduate level. The paper uses a bivariate probit modelling approach to explore whether having a postgraduate taught (PGT) qualification systematically improves the probability of finding graduate level employment. It considers different built environment programmes while controlling for other factors that may influence employment outcomes, including university type, mode of study, gender, ethnicity and age. The results suggest that a postgraduate degree in land and property management significantly increases the probability of gaining graduate level employment, but this is not so for construction, quantity surveying or building surveying. The paper concludes by relating the findings to the wider discussion on changes in UK Higher Education.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)233-246
    Number of pages14
    JournalConstruction Management and Economics
    Volume30
    Issue number3
    Early online date27 Feb 2012
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

    Keywords

    • Bivariate probit
    • Graduates
    • Higher education
    • Labour markets
    • Postgraduate degrees

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