Good news for graduates of University College Cork. The Information Office at the college says a new survey has revealed that more UCC graduates entered employment last year than ever before. The placement of graduates has increased by 15 per cent over the past two years, while unemployment, at 4.3 per cent, is at a historically low level.
The Information Office says that more than half of UCC's higher degree graduates enter employment at salaries in excess of £15,000 a year, with 27 per cent receiving salaries in excess of £19,000 annually. The starting salaries, according to Mr Seamus McEvoy, careers officer, point to the importance nowadays for primary degree recipients, especially in the arts and sciences, to seek the type of postgraduate qualifications that will lead to greater financial rewards.
The survey also reveals that the largest number of primary graduates enter employment in a salary band of £13,000 to £15,000 a year in both the private and public sectors. Computing, information technology, electronics, food, construction, as well as the pharmaceutical sector, provide the greatest source of employment for UCC graduates.
"Another significant feature revealed by the survey was that two-thirds of UCC graduates who completed postgraduate diploma courses entered employment directly on completion of the courses," Mr McEvoy said.
One interesting fact to emerge was that emigration of UCC graduates is at its lowest point since 1983 - only 9 per cent of graduates entered overseas employment last year - down from 21 per cent in 1988. "A record number of 2,843 full-time students were conferred with primary and higher degrees, as well as postgraduate diplomas in UCC during 1996 - an increase of over 75 per cent on the number conferred 10 years earlier," the survey said.
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