Strong  employer links and targeted careers advice are behind the University of Essex bucking the national trend when it comes to computer science graduates having trouble getting jobs.

A new report has highlighted how universities need to work more closely with employers to tackle why 11.7 per cent of UK computer science graduates are still unemployed six months after leaving university. However, at Essex, employability rates for computer science graduates are consistently high and currently stand at 92.5 per cent for graduate level employability.

The Shadbolt Review of Computer Sciences Degree Accreditation and

Graduate Employability highlighted the need to develop and maintain a clearer view about the skills which are sought in the work place and whether universities were successfully providing them. Professor Simon Lucas, head of the School for Computer Science and Electronic Engineering at Essex, said the school had created an effective degree programme with excellent built-in links with local, regional and national employers where students could take part in a number of initiatives from collaborating on final year projects with employers, third-year placement years in companies such as Rolls Royce, Intel, Microsoft, Ransomes Jacobsen, Aber Electronics, Eze Software, and GigaClear, to new degree apprenticeship courses developed with Tech Partnerships and ESCO, two national company organisations developing degree apprenticeship standards.

“The Review sets out a series of recommendations and best practice,” added Professor Lucas, “and it is encouraging to see that at Essex we already have these measures in place. Feedback from our students and our employability rates are testament to our longstanding links with the business community.”