Current Students and Staff

// University News

21 Jan 2016

Loughborough University design graduates voted most employable in the UK

Loughborough University Design School creates the most employable graduates in the UK, a new industry survey has found.

Led by the British Industrial Design Association (BIDA), the survey invited over 1,000 design practitioners to say which design schools they felt created the most employable industrial or product design graduates.

Respondents selected up to five design schools, from a list of the current 70 institutions in the UK.

Loughborough was named joint first, after being chosen by 55% of respondents

One respondent to the survey commented:“It appears to us that a few leading design schools are really well connected, delivering excellent coursework and placement programs. The academics at these institutions are experts in developing the skills and know how that helps people succeed in design. Other Universities purport to offer design courses, but in reality most of their graduates leave with a more generalist education. That just isn’t what design employers need. Good candidates and potential employers need to know the difference.”

Professor George Havenith, Dean of the Loughborough Design School said: “At Loughborough we pride ourselves on the high calibre of graduates we produce.  We work hard at the Design School to ensure all our students leave Loughborough with all the skills, knowledge and experience they need to succeed in their chosen careers. This survey is testament to that.”

The BIDA survey’s top five were:

1 (Joint) - Loughborough University and Brunel, each chosen by 55% of respondents.
2 - Northumbria University 46%
3 (Joint) - Central St Martins and De Montfort University, each chosen by 24% of respondents
4 - Coventry University 16%
5 (Joint) - Nottingham Trent and Bournemouth University each chosen by 12% of respondents

Of the survey findings the BIDA said ‘The difference between the top five institutions and the other 62 was stark. Half were not chosen at all, and a further quarter of institutions were selected only once or twice’.