Recruiters have welcomed government measures aimed at making universities provide greater value for money for students but say more needs to be done for employability and social mobility.

Among the measures announced in a government statement this morning were:

• A commitment for a new Office for Students to promote value for money for students.

• Reforms to increase the numbers of disadvantaged and black and minority ethnic (BME) students.

James Callander, managing director at graduate recruiter Freshminds, welcomed this “professionalisation” of the university space but added more needed to be done by university career services to prepare undergraduates for the world of work.

“While education is the primary aim of what they are trying to deliver, I do think they should also ensure more young people are work-ready. That’s our biggest issue from our side. 

“Some universities are not preparing young people for the world of work whether it’s how to behave in an office or how to use basic software.”

Government also announced a new social mobility advisory group that will report to the universities minister, with the remit to meet the prime minister’s ambitions to double the proportion of disadvantaged students entering higher education and increase the number of BME students by 20% by 2020.

But Raphael Mokades, founder and managing director of Rare Recruitment, told Recruiter it is not enough just to try and increase the numbers of BME students at university but more importantly grow their number at elite institutions.

“Unfortunately not all universities are the same. We already see a disproportionate clustering of people from minority backgrounds in the lower-end universities. We are particularly keen to see people from the most underrepresented groups get into the most selective universities.”

Tom Freeman, managing director at graduate staffing specialist Sanctuary Graduates, called for a redirection of university expenditure to encourage greater social mobility.

“Redirecting some of the sector’s spending on financial assistance to such programmes would have multiple benefits: helping to raise attainment in schools with a high proportion of low socio-economic status pupils, increasing the visibility of HE [higher education] at school level and giving school pupils an appreciation of the graduate career trajectory pre university entry.”

Freeman also recommends universities work more with employers to ensure employability is sufficiently built into more vocational courses, so students can benefit from placements and some employer-led learning to increase the likelihood of relevant employment at the end of their course.

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