📚 UK Graduate Employment and Further Study Rates: The Two Numbers to Check When Choosing a University | 英国高校的毕业生就业率与深造率：选校时要查的两个数字
Every year, thousands of A-Level students choose a UK university based on rankings, campus photos and league-table prestige. Yet two of the most decision-relevant numbers on any official course page are usually ignored: the graduate employment rate and the further study rate. These two figures tell you what actually happened to the people who sat where you will sit, 15 months after they graduated. This article explains what the numbers mean, where to find them, how they are calculated, and how to use them without being misled.
每年都有成千上万的A-Level学生根据排名、校园照片和榜单声誉来选择英国大学。然而，官方课程页面上两个与决策最相关的数字却常常被忽略：毕业生就业率与深造率。这两个数字告诉你的是：那些坐在你未来座位上的学长学姐，在毕业15个月之后究竟去了哪里。本文将解释这两个数字的含义、去哪里查、如何计算，以及怎样才能不被它们误导。
1. What the Two Numbers Really Measure | 这两个数字究竟衡量什么
The graduate employment rate is the percentage of graduates from a given course or institution who were in employment at the point of the survey. The further study rate is the percentage who had progressed into further study, usually a postgraduate degree, a PGCE, or a professional qualification. Together they are sometimes reported as a single ‘positive outcome’ rate. Neither number measures teaching quality directly; they measure destinations.
毕业生就业率，是指在调查时点上，某个课程或某所院校的毕业生中处于就业状态的比例。深造率则是指继续升学（通常是攻读研究生学位、PGCE教师资格课程或专业资格）的比例。两者相加，有时会被合并报告为一个”积极去向率”。需要强调的是：这两个数字都不直接衡量教学质量，它们衡量的是”去向”。
This distinction matters because students often confuse employment data with teaching excellence, student satisfaction, or academic rigour. A university can teach brilliantly and still post a modest employment rate if its graduates enter competitive creative industries, or if a large share go on to study rather than work.
这一区分非常重要，因为学生常常把就业数据与教学卓越度、学生满意度或学术严谨度混为一谈。一所大学可能教学非常出色，但就业率仍属中等——例如它的毕业生进入竞争激烈的创意产业，或者很大比例的人选择继续深造而不是直接工作。
2. The Data Sources You Should Actually Trust | 真正值得信任的数据来源
Four official sources dominate. HESA collects the Graduate Outcomes survey, the national census of what graduates do. Discover Uni is the official course-comparison website, jointly run by UK funding bodies, and it publishes employment and further study data at course level. The Office for Students publishes B3 metrics on progression to highly skilled employment or further study. The Department for Education publishes LEO earnings data. Commercial league tables mostly repackage these same numbers.
有四个官方来源最为核心。HESA（英国高等教育统计局）负责开展Graduate Outcomes调查，这是全国性的毕业生去向普查。Discover Uni是官方的课程比较网站，由英国各高等教育拨款机构联合运营，按课程层面公布就业与深造数据。Office for Students（学生办公室）发布B3指标，即”进入高技能就业或深造”的比例。英国教育部发布LEO薪资数据。各类商业排名榜单，大多只是对这些数字的重新包装。
- HESA Graduate Outcomes – national-level and institution-level destination statistics.
HESA毕业生去向调查——全国层面与院校层面的去向统计。 - Discover Uni – the only official site with course-level employment and further study percentages.
Discover Uni——唯一提供”课程层面”就业与深造百分比的官方网站。 - Office for Students B3 – regulatory metrics used to judge providers.
学生办公室B3指标——用于评估办学机构的监管性指标。 - LEO – median earnings one, three, five and ten years after graduation.
LEO——毕业后1年、3年、5年、10年的收入中位数。
Use commercial rankings only as a secondary check, and always read their methodology notes. If a table does not state the survey cohort year, the definition of employment, and the response rate, treat the number as decoration rather than evidence.
商业排名只能作为二次参考，并且一定要读它的方法论说明。如果一张表格没有标明调查年份、就业的定义和应答率，那就把这个数字当作装饰，而不是证据。
3. The 15-Month Window and Why It Changes Everything | 15个月窗口期及其影响
Until 2017, the UK measured destinations six months after graduation, which systematically under-counted graduates who took a gap, travelled, or waited for a graduate scheme to start. Since the 2017/18 cohort, the Graduate Outcomes survey has been conducted 15 months after graduation. This captures more genuine outcomes, but it also captures delayed unemployment and long job searches that the old six-month snapshot hid.
2017年以前，英国衡量毕业生去向的时间点是毕业后6个月，这会系统性地低估那些选择间隔年、旅行，或等待毕业生项目入职的群体。自2017/18届毕业生起，Graduate Outcomes调查改为在毕业后15个月进行。这能捕捉到更真实的去向，但同时也暴露出旧版6个月快照所掩盖的”延迟失业”与长期求职问题。
The practical consequence is that you cannot compare a 2016 figure with a 2022 figure. Always check the cohort year. When Discover Uni shows data for a course, it normally reports the most recent published cohort, and the survey is a snapshot at one moment, not a rolling average.
实际后果是：你不能把2016年的数字与2022年的数字直接比较。务必确认数据所属的届别年份。Discover Uni在展示某个课程时，通常报告最新公布的届别数据，而且这项调查是某一时点的快照，不是滚动平均值。
Survey point = graduation + 15 months
4. Definitions of Employment Rate: Four Different Numbers | 就业率的四种不同口径
There is no single ’employment rate’. HESA and Discover Uni typically distinguish between being in any employment, being in full-time employment, and being in ‘highly skilled’ employment, which usually means professional, managerial and associate professional roles. Unemployment and economic inactivity are two further, separate categories: a graduate caring for a family member is inactive, not unemployed.
并不存在唯一的”就业率”。HESA与Discover Uni通常会区分三种情况：任意形式的就业、全职就业，以及”高技能就业”（通常指专业类、管理类与准专业类岗位）。失业与经济不活跃又是另外两个不同的类别：一位正在照顾家人的毕业生属于”不活跃”，而不是”失业”。
Employment rate (%) = (number in employment ÷ number of survey respondents) × 100
| Category | 类别 | What it includes | 包含内容 |
| Any employment | 任意就业 | Full-time, part-time, self-employed, temporary | 全职、兼职、自雇、临时工作 |
| Highly skilled employment | 高技能就业 | Professional, managerial and associate professional roles | 专业类、管理类与准专业类岗位 |
| Further study | 深造 | Postgraduate degree, PGCE, professional qualification | 研究生学位、PGCE、专业资格 |
| Unemployed | 失业 | Not in work, actively seeking work | 无工作且正在积极求职 |
| Inactive | 不活跃 | Travel, caring, illness, not seeking work | 旅行、照护家人、疾病、不求职 |
A university with a 92% employment rate may still have only 68% in highly skilled employment. Always ask which definition is being quoted before comparing two institutions.
一所就业率高达92%的大学，其”高技能就业”比例可能只有68%。在比较两所院校之前，一定要先问清楚引用的是哪一种口径。
5. What Counts as Further Study | 什么算作深造
Further study normally includes full-time and part-time postgraduate degrees, teacher training such as a PGCE, and some professional qualifications. It may or may not include a second undergraduate degree, and it usually excludes short online courses with no qualification. Crucially, a graduate who works four days a week and studies a part-time master’s may be recorded under either category depending on the survey rules.
深造通常包括全日制与非全日制研究生学位、PGCE等教师培训，以及部分专业资格。它可能包含、也可能不包含第二个本科学位，而通常不包含没有学历的短期在线课程。关键在于：一位每周工作四天、同时攻读非全日制硕士的毕业生，按调查规则不同，可能被记录在就业类，也可能被记录在深造类。
A high further study rate can signal two very different things. At Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial, it reflects a strong academic pipeline into research masters and PhDs. At some other institutions, a high further study rate may reflect a soft local graduate labour market, where a master’s is used to postpone or improve job prospects.
高深造率可能意味着两种截然不同的情况。在牛津、剑桥和帝国理工，它反映了通向研究型硕士和博士的强大学术通道。而在另一些院校，高深造率可能反映当地毕业生就业市场疲软，学生用读硕士来推迟就业或提升竞争力。
- Check where graduates go: same institution, other UK universities, or overseas.
查清毕业生去了哪里：本校、其他英国大学，还是海外。 - Check the level: taught master’s, research master’s, PhD, PGCE, or professional exams.
查看层级：授课型硕士、研究型硕士、博士、PGCE，还是职业资格考试。 - Check whether the study is full-time or part-time alongside work.
查看是全日制，还是边工作边读的非全日制。
6. The Subject Mix Trap | 学科结构陷阱
Institution-level employment rates are heavily driven by subject portfolio. Medicine, dentistry, veterinary science, nursing, education and law routinely post employment or further study rates above 95%, because their graduates enter structured professional pathways. Creative arts, design, media, English and philosophy typically post lower rates, because those sectors recruit informally and value portfolios over graduate schemes.
院校层面的就业率很大程度上由学科组合决定。医学、牙医、兽医、护理、教育、法律的”就业或深造”比例通常稳定在95%以上，因为这些毕业生进入的是结构化的职业通道。而创意艺术、设计、传媒、英语、哲学的比例通常较低，因为这些行业招聘方式更非正式，更看重作品集而非毕业生项目。
This means a specialist arts institution and a specialist medical school cannot be compared on a single employment number. The correct comparison is always within the same subject: your course at university A versus the same course at university B, using the same cohort year and the same definition.
这意味着，一所专业艺术院校和一所专业医学院，无法用单一的就业数字来比较。正确的比较永远是在同一学科内进行：A校的你目标专业 对比 B校的同一专业，并且使用同一届别年份、同一定义。
Compare within subject, not across institution
7. Regional Effects and the London Premium | 地区效应与伦敦溢价
Graduate outcomes are shaped by geography. Universities in London and the South East benefit from dense graduate recruitment markets, higher starting salaries and easier access to internships during term time. Institutions in regions with thinner graduate labour markets may post lower employment rates even with identical teaching quality.
毕业生去向受地理因素影响很大。伦敦与东南部的大学受益于密集的毕业生招聘市场、更高的起薪，以及在学期中更容易获得实习机会。而毕业生就业市场相对薄弱的地区，即使教学质量完全相同，就业率也可能更低。
Two caveats balance this. First, salaries in London are higher but living costs are also far higher, so a nominal 15% salary premium may not translate into a better standard of living. Second, many regional universities have strong local employer partnerships and graduate retention schemes, and their graduates often reach the same destinations after two or three years.
但有两点需要注意。第一，伦敦薪资更高，生活成本也高得多，名义上高出15%的薪水未必带来更好的生活水平。第二，许多地方性大学与本地雇主有紧密合作和毕业生留用计划，其毕业生在两三年后往往达到同样的去向水平。
8. LEO Earnings: The Third Number Worth Checking | LEO薪资：值得查的第三个数字
Employment and further study rates tell you whether graduates got somewhere. LEO data tells you what they earned. LEO links education records to tax data and reports median annual earnings one, three, five and ten years after graduation, by institution and by subject. It is the best available evidence on the financial return of a course.
就业率与深造率告诉你毕业生”去了哪里”，LEO数据则告诉你他们”赚了多少”。LEO将教育记录与税务数据相连接，按院校和学科公布毕业后1年、3年、5年、10年的年收入中位数。它是目前关于课程经济回报最有价值的证据。
Read LEO carefully. It covers people who appear in UK tax records, so it under-represents graduates who work abroad, are self-employed without a PAYE record, or are not in paid work. It also reflects who was admitted to the course, not only what the course did. Subject differences in LEO are far larger than institution differences: a computer science graduate from a mid-ranked university often out-earns an arts graduate from a top-ranked one.
阅读LEO数据时要谨慎。它覆盖的是出现在英国税务记录中的人群，因此会低估在海外工作、自雇无PAYE记录、或没有带薪工作的毕业生。它反映的也包括”谁被录取”，而不仅是”课程教了什么”。LEO中学科差异远大于院校差异：一所中等排名大学的计算机专业毕业生，收入往往高于顶尖大学的艺术专业毕业生。
9. How to Read a Discover Uni Course Page | 如何逐项阅读Discover Uni课程页
Discover Uni is the fastest route to course-level evidence. Open the exact course page, scroll to the employment and further study section, and work through five checks in order. Do not stop at the headline percentage.
Discover Uni是获取课程层面证据最快捷的途径。打开具体课程页面，滚动到就业与深造板块，按顺序完成以下五项核查。不要只看那个最显眼的百分比。
- Check the cohort year and confirm it is the most recent published data.
确认数据所属届别，确保是最新公布的数据。 - Check the definition: employment, highly skilled employment, or employment plus further study.
确认口径：是就业、高技能就业，还是就业加深造。 - Check the response rate. Below about 50% the figure becomes noisy.
查看应答率。低于约50%时，该数字的可靠性明显下降。 - Check the cohort size. Small cohorts produce volatile percentages.
查看样本规模。小样本会带来剧烈波动的百分比。 - Check the comparison tool and switch to ‘subject level’ to see the national average.
使用对比工具，切换到”学科层面”查看全国平均水平。
If a course beats the national subject average by a wide margin, that is meaningful. If it sits within a few percentage points of the average, the difference is probably within the margin of error.
如果某个课程大幅高于全国同学科平均水平，这个差距是有意义的。如果它只在几个百分点内浮动，那这个差异很可能落在误差范围之内。
10. Red Flags: When Low Numbers Are Not What They Seem | 危险信号：低数字不等于差
Not every low number is a warning, and not every high number is a guarantee. The skill is diagnosing why a figure looks the way it does. Four patterns deserve attention, and each has a different remedy.
并非每个低数字都是警告，也并非每个高数字都是保证。关键在于诊断这个数字为什么长这样。以下四种模式值得注意，且各自的应对方式不同。
- Very high further study plus weak employment may indicate a difficult job market rather than academic strength. Ask what kind of study.
深造率极高而就业疲软，可能说明就业市场困难，而非学术实力强。要问清是什么类型的深造。 - Very high employment plus low LEO earnings may indicate many graduates in part-time or low-skilled roles. Check the highly skilled rate.
就业率极高但LEO收入偏低，可能说明大量毕业生从事兼职或低技能岗位。要查高技能就业率。 - A low response rate can distort everything. A 40% response rate with 95% employment may simply mean successful graduates answered the email.
低应答率会扭曲一切。40%的应答率配上95%的就业率，可能只是说明”成功的人更愿意回问卷”。 - Sharp year-on-year swings usually reflect a single cohort’s circumstances, not a permanent change.
年度间的剧烈波动，通常反映的是某一届的特殊情况，而非永久性变化。
11. Building a Shortlist: A Practical Method | 建立候选名单：实操方法
Use the two numbers as filters, not as final answers. A workable five-step method takes about an hour per course and produces a shortlist that is both ambitious and realistic.
把这两个数字当作筛选器，而不是最终答案。一套可操作的五步法，每门课程大约花一小时，就能产出一份既有冲刺又有保底的候选名单。
- Step 1 – Filter by entry requirements and your predicted grades.
第一步：按入学要求与你的预估成绩先做筛选。 - Step 2 – For each remaining course, record the employment rate and further study rate, with cohort year and definition.
第二步：对剩下的每门课程，记录就业率与深造率，并注明届别与口径。 - Step 3 – Add the LEO median earnings at three and five years.
第三步：补充毕业后3年与5年的LEO收入中位数。 - Step 4 – Note the response rate and flag any figure below roughly 50% response.
第四步：记录应答率，对应答率低于约50%的数字做出标记。 - Step 5 – Rank by fit: course structure, cost, location, and only then the destination numbers.
第五步：按匹配度排序——课程结构、费用、地理位置，最后才是去向数字。
Then sanity-check the shortlist against the wider picture: open days, module lists, accreditation, and graduate testimonials. Numbers are a starting point for questions, not a substitute for them.
随后用更全面的信息对候选名单做一次常识校验：开放日、课程模块清单、行业认证、毕业生反馈。数字是提问的起点，而不是提问的替代品。
12. Common Myths and a Final Checklist | 常见误区与最终清单
Several myths persist. The most damaging is that Russell Group membership guarantees better employment outcomes: once subject mix is controlled for, the institution effect shrinks considerably. The second is that a higher further study rate is always better; it depends entirely on what the study is and why graduates chose it. The third is that employment rate measures teaching quality, which it does not.
有几个误区长期存在。最有害的是”罗素集团成员身份就等于更好的就业结果”——一旦控制了学科结构，院校本身的影响会大幅缩小。第二个误区是”深造率越高越好”，这完全取决于深造的内容和毕业生选择它的原因。第三个误区是”就业率衡量教学质量”，而事实并非如此。
| Check | 核查项 | Question to ask | 该问的问题 |
| Cohort year | 届别年份 | Is this the latest published data? | 这是最新公布的数据吗？ |
| Definition | 口径 | Employment, highly skilled, or employment plus study? | 是就业、高技能就业，还是就业加深造？ |
| Subject benchmark | 学科基准 | How does it compare with the national subject average? | 与全国同学科平均相比如何？ |
| Response rate | 应答率 | Is it above roughly 50%? | 是否高于约50%？ |
| LEO earnings | LEO收入 | What is the median at three and five years? | 3年与5年的中位数是多少？ |
Used properly, the employment rate and the further study rate turn a vague sense of prestige into concrete evidence about your own likely path. Look at the subject average first, then at the course, then at the earnings, and finally at everything else that makes a university worth three years of your life.
用得好，就业率与深造率能把模糊的”名校感”转化为关于你自己可能走向的具体证据。先看学科平均水平，再看具体课程，然后看收入数据，最后才看其余那些让一所大学值得你投入三年的因素。
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