From University News, Vol. 5, No. 21, November 29, 1979, p5 - Photo caption:  "Mr Floyer"

Text:  Careers advising in the U.K. 

"A fact finding tour of universities in England in less than a month - undertaken on special leave - ended recently for Mr. Hugh Floyer, Careers and Student Employment Officer.  Although a comprehensive report will be submitted to the Council by Mr, Floyer, he offers these comments on his experiences:

From my observations and the information I was given, British university students receive considerably more assistance in their efforts to gain employment than their Australian counterparts.  Firstly, a tremendous amount of university resources is allotted to finding suitable employment for students upon completion of their studies.  The Careers Adviser to graduating student mean ratio, approximately one to 300, for England is enormously more favourable than the situation in Australia.  The Science Research Council is very active presenting specialist courses for Applied Science and Engineering higher degree students.  The courses promote self-awareness and inform the students about modern business organisation.  There is a prevailing mood stressing the necessity to increase the production of national wealth if the United Kingdom is to overcome the grave economic problems facing it.  The Government and private enterprise are joining together to promote developments considered to be in the nation's interest.  High quality university graduates inevitably have a role to play in these endeavours.  From discussions I had with officers of Careers Services, I learnt that graduate employment trends in Britain often come before similar trends n Australia.  The demand for graduate engineers is strong at the present time, whilst students who major in the humanities or social sciences, are faced with keen competition finding employment appropriate to their training, or are forced to accept unorthodox careers.  I felt that a great number of employers in Britain are interested in utilizing the special skills which university graduates can offer.  Employers participate wholeheartedly in what is called "the milk round".  This is a recruiting campaign which is arranged in co-operation with the University Careers and Appointment Services for the purpose of helping the employers to find graduates.  With a small group of careers advisers from Australian universities, I attended the biennial Conference of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services in London in September, and, subsequently visited the Universities of Hull, York, Manchester, Keele, Kent, Cambridge, Oxford and several Polytechnics.  The Careers and Appointment Services at all these institutions were most generous of their time in explaining the rationale and methods of operation of the services provided to their students."

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