A growing number of graduates are embarking on postgraduate degrees even when such qualifications are not a requirement for work in their chosen industry. Increasingly, people are pursuing a master’s degree not to stand out from the pack but simply to keep up with it. In fact, the expectation of postgraduate study is now such that in November, London Zoo advertised a job vacancy for an unpaid intern with a master’s degree.
According to a Higher Education Careers Service Unit (HECSU) report published in October, What Do Graduates Do?, 46.2 per cent of first-degree graduates from 2013-14 who went on to further study took a taught master’s qualification. Another 18.6 per cent went into teacher training, and 11.9 per cent embarked on a doctorate.
A Universities UK (UUK) report, Patterns and Trends in UK Higher Education 2015, showed that over the 10 years from 2004-05 to 2013-14, the number of postgraduate research students rose by 27.2 per cent and postgraduate taught students by 8.4 per cent.
Full article in Times Higher Education