Higher tuition fees for university students could be the catalyst for earlier engagement of graduate employers with potential young recruits. This key theme emerged from a Graduate Recruitment Roundtable supported by Michael Page, the Employers Forum on Age (EFA) and Recruiter, which was held in London last week.

The delegates heard a prediction that after tuition fees as high as £9,000 a year come in from next year, it will take even the top 10% of graduate earners 15 years to repay their debts.

Denise Keating, chief executive at EFA, suggested that higher tuition fees would stop some “good people” from going to university and to an increase in those
Elizabeth Ewen, head of talent at Michael Page International, said that schemes such as Michael Page’s Work and Learn could help address the issue by providing young people with the best of both worlds: the opportunity to earn a salary while continuing to study.

The scheme is for second, third or final-year university students, who are prepared to work for Michael Page for a minimum of eight hours a week, ideally in four-hour blocks.

Ceri Fuller, an employment lawyer at Beachcroft, cited the example of the Singapore government that paid for top students, identified as early as age 15, to go through Oxbridge. “It may only be for the elite, but the point is it starts very early,” she said.

Faith Marchal, HR manager - diversity at Anglia Ruskin University, agreed that engagement with young people should start earlier than university, in secondary schools.

Dennis Gissing, head of diversity practice at BT, asked whether university delivered what employers were looking for. For instance, BT looks for academic excellence, tenacity, problem-solving ability, ambition and leadership potential, he said.

While he said universities “may well” produce candidates with such qualities, employers needed to look wider for other skills, such as the ability to work in teams, to work virtually, as well as showing adaptability.

Gissing added that 20% of the company’s apprentices go on to study at graduate level. “University is important, but it’s not the only thing,” he said.

“Young people are looking for alternatives to university and for opportunities to be qualified in a different way,” agreed Ewen.

Chaired by DeeDee Doke, editor of Recruiter magazine, last week’s roundtable was the first in a series of discussions that will focus on the future for young people in the workplace.

The topics for the remaining roundtables are: internships; apprenticeships; skills; NEETS (not in employment, training or study); young offenders; and inter-generational tensions.

The organisations that attended the first roundtable were:
- Anglia Ruskin University
- Beachcroft
- BT
- Employers Forum on Age
- HSBC
- McDonalds
- Michael Page International
- Santander