US & Canadian Employers Value [selected…] UK Degrees

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Global Career Compass

http://usablog.britishcouncil.org/?p=1068: from blogger for the British Council:

The survey revealed that an overwhelming majority of hiring managers (73%!) view UK degrees as “the same or better than those earned in the US.” The same or better! That is a whole-hearted endorsement of a UK degree if ever I heard one. But prospective employers valued more than just the degree. The research also identified core-learning elements that employers liked, and associated with the UK higher education system. These included the tutorial style of learning, earlier specialization in specific subject areas, and increased independent study.

… But there are also lessons that UK universities can take from these results and apply to raise that number even higher. Ipsos acknowledged that the high favorability of UK degrees might be attributable to a “halo effect” cast by top UK universities like Oxford and Cambridge, and did not reflect a deep understanding of the UK education system. That would be the equivalent of all international employers assuming that any US degree is the same as one from Harvard or Yale—it simply does not account for the tremendous diversity of higher education system as a whole.

Well, there are certainly large disparities in all societies when it comes to perceptions of “value” of degrees from particular academic institutions. Nothing new about that. I was surprised to learn that this issue has apparently not been widely researched in the UK.