This report provides a general analysis of the supply and demand for higher-level skills. It asks whether there are too many or too few graduates, whether their subject choice is suited to future labour market requirements, and to what extent they are lacking the general employability, practical and technical skills required by a modern knowledge economy.
Its findings include:
• Projecting to 2022, under most models, there will be an undersupply of graduates, relative to the number of jobs demanding them.
• There will be unmet demand for workers with higher, but not necessarily degree-level, qualifications, such as HNDs.
• There is no widely agreed-upon definition of a ‘graduate job’.
• There must be greater discussion between universities and employers about ‘employability skills’.
• There will be a need for greater collaboration between further and higher education to develop workers with higher level skills.
