Análisis y Conclusiones Legales

As highlighted above, minority ethnic degree graduates are more likely to take further study or training, and some minority ethnic male and female groups more likely than others. The pattern of further study seems to be a continuation of the ‘drive for qualification’ highlighted earlier. The further study or training category comprises a range of postgraduate courses and programmes:

z Overall, the most commonly taken postgraduate qualification is taught higher degrees, ie mainly masters programmes and various diplomas and certificates, including PGCE and professional training (taken by 37 and 41 per cent respectively). Much smaller numbers go on to higher degrees by research, or take another first degree, or do private study or training.

z Differences in choice of further study are evident between males and females, with a higher proportion of men than women (42 compared with 33 per cent) taking taught higher degrees, and the reverse for other diplomas or certificates (29 per cent of men versus 49 per cent of women). This reflects general differences in careers of men and women, and also subject differences, eg there is a higher proportion of women in PGCE, social work training etc.

Minority ethnic students are more likely to be taking taught higher degrees than other kinds of postgraduate study. In numerical terms, they represent almost one-quarter of all degree

Table 7.2: Types of further study or training undertaken by first degree full-time graduates (2001/02 from English HEIs (percentages in each ethnic group), 2001/02

Higher degree — taught Diploma, certificate (inc PGCE) or prof training Higher degree — research Other (inc first degree) Number White 35.2 42.6 13.6 8.6 20,543

All Minority ethnic 46.9 34.2 6.6 12.1 4,437

Black Caribbean/ Black Other 40.2 43.7 5.6 10.4 288 Black African 50.7 30.5 4.5 14.2 422 Indian 48.2 33.9 5.4 12.5 1,522 Pakistani/Bangladeshi 42.0 38.9 6.7 12.3 852 Chinese 57.8 24.2 8.0 9.8 396 Asian Other 43.6 35.1 9.2 12.1 390 Other/mixed 46.4 32.3 9.0 12.3 567 All (known) 37.3 41.1 12.4 9.2 24,980

Note: some groups have had to be combined because of small numbers

graduates opting to take these courses in any one year. They are also more likely to take another first degree or private study than White graduates (but here the total numbers are very small). A smaller proportion of those going on to other postgraduate diplomas or certificate courses (including PGCE) are from minority ethnic backgrounds (15 per cent) and an even smaller proportion are among those on research higher degrees (just under ten per cent). The small proportion of minority ethnic graduates going on to take research higher degrees at this stage is a concern because it means a small pool from which to recruit future HE staff.

The FDS data do not distinguish separately those going on to PGCE from other postgraduate diploma courses. But it is likely to be a small proportion, as figures from the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) show that only eight per cent of teacher trainees recruited in primary and secondary work were from a minority ethnic background in 2001/02. This figure has been gradually increasing, and the TTA has various initiatives to encourage growth so as to increase the ethnic diversity in the teaching workforce.

z Black African and Chinese degree graduates who go on to further study or training are the most likely to be taking taught higher degree courses (over 50 per cent of them do). Black Caribbean/Black Other groups are the most likely to take a diploma, certificate or professional training course (44 per cent).

z All of the minority ethnic groups, except Chinese, are more likely than White graduates to take another first degree. The most likely of which are Black Caribbean/Black Other and Pakistani (each eight per cent), though, as said above, actual numbers doing so are comparatively small.

Gender differences commented on previously are seen here also. There are higher proportions of male than female graduates overall taking taught higher degrees and this is also time for most minority ethnic groups: the highest are male Black Africans and male Indians (each 56 per cent), but this drops to 35 per cent of female Pakistani/Bangladeshi (and 31 per cent of female White) graduates taking further study or training. Conversely, there are much higher percentages of these two latter groups taking diploma, certificate or professional training courses (over 50 per cent), and much lower percentages of male Black African and most of the male Asian groups (around 23-27 per cent), see Appendix Table A13.

It is noticeable that research higher degrees are generally less popular with both male and female minority ethnic than White graduates, but they are much more popular with Black Caribbean/ Black other males than females (14 versus three per cent).

7.8 Summary

Minority ethnic young people are well-represented in higher education in England, relative to their share of the population, and are more motivated to go to higher education for reasons associated with improving their career/employment prospects (see earlier chapters). However, they appear, on the face of it, to have worse initial labour market outcomes than White degree graduates overall. The extent of disadvantage varies between minority ethnic groups, and also by gender, subject, class of degree and other variables within groups.

It is evident though that some of the pattern of labour market disadvantage, seen generally in the minority ethnic working population, is also reflected here. Those groups with the higher unemployment in the working population (Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black men and women) are mostly the same groups with the higher graduate initial unemployment figures (ie at the six month stage, Pakistani, Black African and Bangladeshi). However, there are also differences, eg the Black Caribbean group has one of the lowest initial graduate unemployment rate of all the minority ethnic groups, though it is still higher than that of the White group. This needs to be set against evidence in much of this report which shows that Black Caribbean students are doing less well than others in gaining access to HE at a young age and in their degree performance, and also are likely to face more difficulties in their studies (though this applies more to older ones). It also contrasts with the Indian and Chinese groups, which are more likely to enter HE with higher qualifications, but do not appear to be doing as well as might be expected in employment outcomes. Another important feature of the graduate outcome pattern by ethnic group is that more minority ethnic than White degree graduates go on to further training or study both from degree and sub-degree; and it is the Chinese, and also most of the other Asian groups, who are more likely to do so than the Black groups. In particular, they are more likely to seek further academic qualifications rather than professional/vocational qualifications or training (which are more popular than the Black Caribbean and Black Other graduates who continue in study following degree study). This would seem to be a continuation of a drive to gain (even) higher qualifications, associated more with Asian groups at an earlier age, something we have commented on in earlier chapters. It would be useful to find out more about why some minority ethnic students are more likely to want to take higher qualifications than others.

It is also noticeable that the ability to secure paid employment varies considerably between minority ethnic groups by gender and by subject in particular. The ‘quality’ of the jobs taken by graduates in different ethnic groups also varies. Overall, minority ethnic graduates appear to get ‘better’ jobs on average than White

graduates. This may be mainly subject-driven (ie the concentrations in medicine, law, IT and business studies) or reflect different attitudes to getting what constitutes a ‘good’ job. Also, the job-seeking approaches taken at university vary between individuals, and some groups are likely to start much earlier, possibly because they expect to face more difficulties or have clearer career aims at an earlier stage. This is also an area which needs further exploration.

A number of evidence sources have been used here to try to explore how much of the differences in graduate outcomes between minority ethnic and White graduates is due to ethnicity and how much to other factors. But the sheer diversity of the graduate population (and the minority ethnic graduate groups), and the number of likely intervening factors and variables makes that task very difficult. Clearly, some of the explanation for the poorer graduate outcomes lies in the differences in gender, age and socio-economic profiles, entry routes and entry qualifications, subjects chosen and institutions attended, and also degree outcomes, between ethnic groups. Furthermore, these variables can have different effects on different groups. Other explanations lie in attitudes to finding employment and career expectations, the extent to which they have some work experience, and also employer behaviour. The main conclusion that we can draw is that ethnicity is almost certainly making a contribution to the relative labour market disadvantage some individuals experience, but the causes are more complex than ethnicity alone. It is the way the various factors interact with ethnicity that are of interest (which has been shown in earlier chapters to vary between ethnic groups), and can create distinct patterns of greater disadvantage for certain groups of students in their transitions to the labour market. It is a combination of a number of indirect effects, rather that direct ethnic effects that have the greater significance, though in different ways for different ethnic groups.

The balance of opinion among staff in HE involved with graduate employment and careers is that students from ethnic minority backgrounds face greater problems in the graduate marketplace in securing their careers of choice. This is the basis for positive action work in universities, and for employers to help give students and graduates better skills and work experiences. However as far as we can ascertain, little systematic evaluation has taken place of these initiatives. We recommend that this is done, and also that other employability measures in HE are given an ethnic dimension in their evaluations.

In the next chapter, we look at the graduate recruitment market from the employer perspective and the contribution which employer policies and practices make to the difficulties which minority ethnic graduates face; and also where they are helping to overcome these.