IER researchers, Dr Heike Behle and Beate Baldauf, and a IER doctoral researcher, Charoula Tzanakou, all attended the 2010 Work, Employment and Society Conference at the University of Brighton last week.   Heike and Charoula’s paper entitled ‘German and Greek Students on undergraduate degree courses at UK universities. Their everyday experiences and expectations for the future’ brings together Heike’s work on Futuretrack and some of Charoula’s doctoral studies.  Their paper explored the everyday experiences and expectation of German and Greek students in the UK and their preparation for the transitions after graduation.  Beate’s paper, written with Dr Clare Lyonette, entitled ‘Quality part-time work: organisational responses to the recession’ drew on their recent research commissioned by the Government Equalities Office.  Their paper based on a qualitative study explored two key issues: (a) how organisations have responded to the recession and what role, if any, part-time work or, more generally, reduced hours measures have played and whether they have had a lasting impact on working patterns; and (b) how organisations have supported or increased ‘quality’ part-time work.

Channel 4 news fact check blog debates 'Do graduates earn £100,000 more than non-graduates?'  Kate Purcell joins the blog debate.

The Graduate, a two-part BBC Radio 4 programme, includes several extracts from an interview with Professor Kate Purcell talking about the wider graduate labour market and student experience, drawing mainly on the Futuretrack survey.  The programme was two 30 minute features by Safraz Manzoor who interviewed graduating students at Leeds University and Leeds Metropolitan University in summer 2009 (the Futuretrack cohort) and then followed them through the first year after their graduation interviewing them periodically about their job search and evaluations of the graduate labour market.  The picture given is somewhat bleaker than the emerging findings from the Stage 3 survey of the cohort suggests, but the programmes are well put together and cover the issues raised in the recessionary graduate labour market in a responsible and interesting way.

The Graduate – episode 1 (Broadcast: BBC Radio 4 11:00am, 26 July 2010)

The Graduate – episode 2 (Broadcast: BBC Radio 4 11:00am, 2 August 2010)