HEFCE: More undergraduates intend to study at postgraduate level this year

Increased student debt has not damaged the intentions of students to go immediately into postgraduate study, with demand at a three-year high. 

HEFCE: More undergraduates intend to study at postgraduate level this year

Increased student debt has not damaged the intentions of students to go immediately into postgraduate study, with demand at a three-year high.

Higher fees. Mounting debt. An uncertain economic outlook. We might think that the reasons for leaving higher education would be stacking up, and graduates would be keen to begin taking the first steps in their career paths.

Not so, according to early insights into current demand for postgraduate study. Responses from the 2015–16 Intentions After Graduation Survey (IAGS) show that the proportion of graduates who intend to go straight into postgraduate courses has increased for the first time in three years.

Students in this category have increased by 1.4 percentage points to 9.7 per cent compared to 2014–15. This is higher than the previous peak in 2013–14, which was the first year that the survey was carried out.

If these graduates do as they say, then it would mean an increase of around 34,000 students across the whole population.

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