Who gets the jobs? Factors influencing the employability of property and construction graduates in the UK

Against a background of a strongly performing property market, the last decade saw a significant rise in numbers of entrants to undergraduate and postgraduate built environment programmes in the UK. The growth in postgraduate numbers reflected the emergence of conversion programmes with the result that, across a range of built environment pathways, employers can choose between different types of graduate: those straight from an undergraduate degree, those who have completed an additional postgraduate course or those who have taken, following a first degree in another discipline, a conversion programme in property or construction at postgraduate level. A bivariate probit modelling approach is used to explore whether having a postgraduate taught (PGT) qualification systematically improves the probability of finding graduate level employment. Different built environment programmes are considered, while controlling for other factors that may influence employment outcomes, including university type, mode of study, gender, ethnicity and age. The results suggest that a postgraduate degree in land and property management significantly increases the probability of gaining graduate level employment, but this is not so for construction, quantity surveying or building surveying. The findings are discussed in the wider context of changes in UK higher education.