The Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) – published by the Department for Education – uses the latest data from the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs to show where UK-based first-degree graduates are living three years after completing their studies.
For the East of England, the 2020 data reveals that 8% of all recent UK graduates living in this region had studied at ARU, which is more than any other university.
Overall, 65% of ARU’s graduates remain in the East of England, with 14% based in London and 6% in the East Midlands.
ARU teaches more nursing, midwifery, health, and social care students than any other university in England, and so plays a vital role in training the East of England’s key workers.
ARU opened Essex’s first School of Medicine in 2018 with a specific focus on addressing the shortage of doctors in the county, while earlier this year ARU was selected as the university partner to train new recruits for the police forces of Essex, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Norfolk and Suffolk.
Meanwhile, the Graduate Outcomes survey, announced by the Higher Education Statistics Agency in June, placed ARU fifth in the country and top in the region for the proportion of UK undergraduates in employment or further study 15 months after graduating.
Professor Roderick Watkins, Vice Chancellor of ARU, said: “We are passionate about transforming lives through innovative, inclusive and entrepreneurial education and research.
“ARU has an international outlook and we proudly welcome students from across the world, but the social, economic and cultural wellbeing of our local communities is very important to us. A large proportion of our students are from this region and the majority continue to live here after graduation, helping not only the local economy but also providing the vital services that we all rely on.
“ARU Peterborough, when it opens in 2022, will continue our mission of both widening participation and delivering employment-focused education in the East of England. Between now and 2022 we will be working closely with local businesses to ensure that we deliver innovative, practical courses that transform lives and build careers for people from Peterborough and the wider region.”
Data sources
Graduate outcomes (LEO): Provider level
HE graduate Outcomes Data released by HESA under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)