European Mobility of United Kingdom Educated Graduates. Who Stays, Who Goes?

Abstract

Official figures from the Home Office show an increase in mobility of the highly-skilled from the United Kingdom (UK) to other European countries. This paper analyses the social composition of intra-European mobile graduates from the UK in the context of recent political developments (Bologna-Process, European Higher Education Area). Using quantitative and qualitative data from a longitudinal study of students and its follow-up study, the paper compares the social composition and current activity of intra-European mobile graduates with those remaining in the UK. Personal and higher education-related variables together with the current type of employment were significant for the distinction between intra-European mobile graduates and 'UK stayers'. UK-educated mobile graduates were identified as 'Eurostars', who come from high social classes or studied at high tariff higher education institutions. Mobility was identified as one way for UK-educated graduates to avoid employment in non-graduate jobs and add further value to their undergraduate degrees.

The early career paths of UK-educated intra-European mobile graduates

“…Currently, mobility within Europe is characterised by a high proportion of highly skilled workers (Recchi and Favell, 2009); its possible re-occurrences (Ackers and Gill, 2009), and the value it adds to previously acquired skills and knowledge (Murphy-Lejeune, 2002, Behle 2014. Mobility fulfils different functions for individual graduates and in the process of creating a joint European Higher Education Area.…”

“…The authors found that extensiveness of multicultural experiences is positively related to creative performance (in terms of insight learning, remote association, and idea generation) and creativity-supporting cognitive processes (i.e. retrieval of unconventional knowledge, recruitment of ideas from unfamiliar cultures for creative idea expansion) (Leung et al, 2008 (BEHLE, 2014).…”

“…Free movement of workers is at the heart of the vision of Europe as a free-trade area in order to create a joint flexible and more efficient European labour market, to match labour supply to demand, to iron out inefficiencies in national markets, and to reduce unemployment (Bosswell and Geddes, 2011). Mobile graduates are more likely to understand the chances and opportunities of a joined European labour market (BEHLE 2014). Thus, mobility acts as an accelerator in the process of Europeanization which is why the mobility of young professionals is explicitly promoted in the Europe 2020 agenda flagship initiative 'Youth on the move'.…”

“…This figure represents a slight increase in the proportion of UK-educated graduates from 7 per cent ten years ago. Even though mobility both during higher education and after graduation is highly desirable and many expect positive individual, social and economic outcomes of a more mobile qualified workforce, many previous studies (BEHLE, 2014, Wiers-Jenssen, 2011, Lianos and Asteriou, 2004 criticised the lack of knowledge as regards mobile graduates'…”

“…Having previously established the significant characteristics that differentiate stayers from leavers (Behle 2014), this paper addresses the early career paths of UK-educated graduates, both for those who entered further study and for those who started to work. It analyses the differences between different Intra-European mobile graduates and contrasts their pathways with those who remained in the UK after graduation.…”