• Following last summer’s vote for the UK to leave the European Union, confidence in the graduate job market has worsened for the first time in five years, with almost three-quarters of final year students fearing that there will be fewer opportunities for new graduates in 2017, as a direct result of the vote.

• A total of 42% of finalists from the ‘Class of 2017’ either expect to begin a graduate job after graduation or will spend the summer looking for their first job, two per cent fewer than last year.

• The number of finalists intending to remain at university to do a postgraduate course has risen to 26%, the first time in seven years that applications for further study have increased.

• Fewer students expect to take temporary or other non-graduate work after completing their degrees, but more finalists have ‘no definite plans’ for life beyond university. One in eight are hoping to take time off or go travelling after graduation and 3% plan to work for themselves.

• The average starting salary that final year students expect to earn as new graduates has risen to £24,300, a modest increase of £200 from 2016 and the smallest annual rise for four years.

• Nearly half of all final year students had either done course placements, internships, or vacation work with graduate employers whilst at university, completing an average of more than six months work experience. But the number of finalists who had done casual vacation work or had part-time jobs during term-time dropped to their lowest levels ever.

Highfliers - The UK Graduate Careers Survey 2017