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

Abstract

Students and graduates alike are encouraged to enhance their skills and knowledge by moving to a different European country as both national governments and European institutions anticipate individual skill gains, closer European networks and a boost to national economies as a result. Using data from a longitudinal survey, this paper follows UK-educated Intra-European mobile graduates from undergraduate courses into employment, further study or other activities, and compares their early pathway with graduates who remained in the UK (UK stayer). UK-educated mobile graduates are divided into three groups according to their residency and location after their undergraduate course: UK nationals moving to a different European country (UK movers); nationals of other European countries returning to their home country (returners); and nationals of other European countries moving to a third European country (other mobile graduates). Empirical findings show that mobility for UK movers is mainly employment-driven whilst mobility of returners and other mobile graduates is educational-driven. However, if employed, UK-educated mobile graduates are more likely to work in skillappropriate occupations compared to UK stayers. The transition to either employment or further study of most UK-educated mobile graduates does not take longer compared to UK stayers.

Transition to work, mismatch and underemployment among graduates: an Australian longitudinal study

“…Berloffa et al 's (2019) longitudinal study of youth's labour market experience in Europe described females' career trajectories as “more fragmented” (p. 379), irrespective of whether they had borne children. There are also social class inequalities, with middle class graduates' reporting greater probabilities of securing better-quality, matched roles (Behle, 2016; HEFCE, 2015). Tomlinson (2017) attributes this to their superior social and cultural capital than less advantaged peers who are often less professionally connected, lack confidence and less familiar with graduate recruitment processes.…”

The intra-European transferability of graduates’ skills gained in the U.K.

“…Quantitative analysis of a longitudinal study of students and graduates from UK HEIswhere this sample was drawn fromdemonstrated that the majority of UK and EU graduates were employed in graduate occupations Tzanakou, 2014, Behle, 2016). UK graduates were less likely to pursue further studies compared to European graduates (Behle, 2016(Behle, , 2014. However, the quantitative analysis failed to provide information on graduates' skill use and the barriers they might have experienced when searching for employment and/or further study in a different European country.…”