Destinations and Reflections is a unique, in-depth study of the careers of art and design graduates. The study was based on a partnership of 14 institutions and involved nearly 2000 graduates. The research was co-ordinated and the report written by the Centre for Research into Quality (CRQ) at the University of Central England in Birmingham. The survey provides a basis for exploring some of the prevailing myths about art and design education.

The Destinations and Reflections study firmly sets art and design education in the context of the modern world of graduate employment. In the United Kingdom, in particular, a majority of graduate employers are less concerned with the subject area of the degree than they are with other attributes of graduates. At root employers want a core set of interactive skills — communication, teamwork and interpersonal skills — alongside personal skills, attitudes and abilities including intellect, willingness to learn, ability to find things out, flexibility and adaptability as well as self-skills such as self-motivation, self-assurance and self-promotion.

In essence, art and design graduates exhibit, or rapidly develop, most of these attributes and are well-placed to make inroads into the graduate recruitment market. However, it is a moot point whether the graduates themselves are aware of this, whether they get assistance from their institutions to make the most of their attributes and, fundamentally, whether those teaching in the sector are aware of the employment prospects.

In this context it is irrelevant to ask whether or not there is an oversupply of art and design graduates. The same question could be raised for all sectors and the response in all cases is that what constitutes a ‘graduate job’ is no longer clear. Changes in the organisation of business have effectively put an end to the ‘graduate job’.

Thus, in the current and likely future world of work, all graduates need to be flexible and adaptable and to be unafraid to take the initiative in the workplace. Art and design graduates, as much as, or more than, graduates from many other fields, appear to be adaptable and, certainly early in their careers, are prepared to take change in their stride.

Destinations and Reflections demonstrates that a significant proportion of art and design graduates are sought by employers for their skills and retained in the sector. It also shows how graduates from across the sector are valued for their education in a wide range of other occupations.

The Destinations and Reflections survey suggests that art and design graduates expect a multifaceted work situation and that they, at least initially, expect not to be doing the same as at present (especially the most recent graduates) and anticipate changing work patterns. However, this does not mean that they constantly switch between different occupations in different sectors.

As in other discipline areas, some graduates move away from art and design altogether. However, the proportion is low.

• Only 20% of art and design graduates are involved in work that is not at all relevant to art and design.

Few other discipline areas are likely to match this. Immediately after graduation, the proportion doing non-art-and-design-related work is somewhat higher but this is often to get a foot in the labour market and to support themselves while doing commissioned or freelance work, developing a portfolio, or doing voluntary work designed to help them improve their contacts, gain experience or improve their job prospects.

The Destination and Reflections survey destroys the myth that art and design graduates tend to be over-represented among the unemployed.

• Only 4.9% of art and design graduates are currently unemployed and seeking work.

None of these have been unemployed and seeking work for the whole time since graduation (eighteen months for the most recent graduates).

• 52% are currently working in full-time, salaried or waged permanent employment and a further 8% are on full-time, fixed-term contracts. 70% of the sample have worked in one or more full-time, permanent contract jobs since graduating.



• 16% are currently working on part-time contracts.

First-destination statistics overstate the unemployment problem as art and design graduates tend to take a little longer to develop a career — establishing a portfolio, setting up in business, developing contacts for freelance or commissioned work all take time and six-month returns do not reflect this. Indeed, 4.6% of the sample are currently unemployed but not seeking employment and 17% of the sample have been in this situation at some point since graduating.

Equally, the flexible way of working of many art and design graduates means that for a significant minority there will be periods of economic inactivity between commissions or contracts and thus, overall, there appears to be a high rate of unemployment. Indeed, 40% have spent some time unemployed and seeking work since graduating, although this is often for short periods of less than a month during the first year after graduation.

The career path of art and design graduates is often complex during the first few years after graduation. Many art and design graduates have several jobs in the early years, sometimes working in different areas simultaneously. The range of salaried work and self-employment is also likely to be augmented by further training or study and by voluntary work and punctuated by short periods of unemployment.

• The careers of art and design graduates, even in the first few years after graduation, show a marked tendency to converge back to art and design, whatever the initial jobs may be.

Sometimes this involves moving to different kinds of paid work or by increasing the amount of freelance or commissioned work. Unusually, art and design graduates have a high tendency for self-employment.

• 42% of art and design graduates have had some form of self-employment since graduating and 10% have operated their own businesses.



• 20% are currently self-employed freelance or working on commissions, in some cases along-side salaried work.

This self-employment tends to be in a restricted range of areas, particularly visual arts, design and publishing and media and publicity and most of it (94%) is related to art and design. A very marked tendency was evident in the Destinations and Reflections survey of graduates leaving unrewarding salaried employment and taking up art-and-design-related self-employment.

Art-and-design graduates also have a high expectation that they will be working towards an ideal job in the next few years and, although different sectors of art and design have different degrees of expectation about achieving an ideal job, all think it fairly likely. In the same vein, art and design graduates think it unlikely they will change careers or undergo retraining. The self-employed graduates are more likely to see themselves as doing the same as at present or having achieved an ideal job, while respondents currently in salaried or waged work are more likely to see themselves as promoted, in the same career, but unlikely to be doing the same as at present. Similarly, those who have been graduated longest are less likely to anticipate major changes in career, suggesting a settled career horizon only a few years after graduation.

The Destinations and Reflections survey clearly shows that art and design graduates are well integrated into the graduate employment market, albeit often working in a sector that does not yield high rewards.

• 65% of all graduates in the sample were earning less than £15,000 per annum and only 6% are earning over £25,000.

The longer it has been since graduation, the higher respondents’ income tends to be. Interior design and product, industrial and furniture design students tend to have the highest incomes and fine art students the lowest. However, after taking this into account, there was a definite bias in income levels in favour of males for graduates from all subject areas.

Art and design graduates are heavily involved in further study or training.

• 48% of sample have undertaken a course, on a full-time or part-time basis, since graduating.

A lot of this is non-postgraduate, general interest courses undertaken on a part-time or casual basis. Nonetheless, a significant proportion of art and design graduates have done Masters courses, professional qualifications or postgraduate certificates in education (PGCE) since graduating.

• Art and design graduates predominantly use further study and training to enhance job prospects, which in some cases is linked to the need for a professional qualification.

Interest in the course, except in those areas closely linked to hobbies or pastimes, seems to be a secondary concern.

• Females tend to have a greater involvement in further study and training than males.

The relatively high proportion of art and design graduates doing PGCE courses reflects the extent of teaching in which art and design graduates become involved. Education is a major sector of employment for art and design graduates and 11% of the entire sample are currently employed in the education sector. In addition, there is a lot of part-time and casual work in the sector and 24% of the sample have done some teaching or lecturing. However, little of this is sustained work, suggesting both a lack of opportunity and a degree of dabbling in teaching.

• Only 7% of respondents are currently employed full-time as teachers or lecturers.

There is also a high degree of involvement in voluntary work or unpaid work experience.

• 27% of the sample have done some form of unpaid work since graduating.

This is mostly on a part-time basis complementing other work and tends to be in small organisations. About a third of it is ‘altruistic’, and mainly done in not-for-profit organisations and two-thirds is seen as having potential to enhance career opportunities.

Art and design graduates are probably at the forefront when it comes to working in SMEs.

• The majority (67%) of graduates work in SMEs and 26% work in organisations with 10 or fewer employees.

Art and design graduates also work in a wide range of sectors doing an enormous variety of jobs. However, a significant majority work in education and design and publishing and there is a clear migration away from the main non-art-and design sectors of employment as graduates begin to establish their careers.

Art and design graduates who have had at last three jobs reveal that, as they progress through their career, they tend towards more full-time and permanent employment. In addition:

• art and design graduates tend to increase their involvement in the design and publishing sector as their career progresses. Involvement in the major non-art-and-design sectors of retailing and hotel, catering and leisure decreases.

Furthermore, these graduates suggest that their previous posts were not satisfying, nor were the jobs particularly creative, nor was there much potential to develop the job. This all changes dramatically for their current post, and respondents tend to be more positive about their job, suggesting that they may be gradually approaching an ideal work situation. The cohort of respondents who have had three or more posts also indicate that they have been under-employed in their earlier jobs, which is rectified to some extent in their current job.

Art and design graduates potentially have the kinds of attributes that are sought by employers — initiative, creativity, independent judgement, oral communication skills, flexibility, adaptability, self-reliance, self-confidence, analysis, critique and synthesis. Respondents considered most of these areas as important for their further degree and were broadly satisfied with the development of most of them, although this may have been in spite of, rather than because of the course as, often, students were left to develop these for themselves with little or no help or guidance from within their programme of study.

However, despite the potential of art and design courses, graduates may find they are limited in a number of ways that their course has not helped them to address.

• Teamwork skills and interpersonal skills are not as well developed as they might be to be effective players in the graduate recruitment market. Teamworking was an area of skill development with which respondents were relatively dissatisfied.



• Despite the individualism of art and design, many graduates are taken by surprise at the extent to which they need to promote themselves. The college setting did not help them develop the self-promotion skills that they need.

This is important when attempting to sell themselves in the job market, whether it be for permanent post or when seeking commissions or tendering for freelance work. Being adaptable and flexible, many art and design graduates pick this up quickly but it is, nonetheless a shock that their course rarely equips them well to cope with. Two further limitations are evident.

• Art and design graduates tend to underrate the need for good written communication skills and often discover this once they have graduated.



• Many employers, in all sectors want graduates with numeracy skills and this is an area that almost entirely escapes the attention of art and design teachers and graduates.

On the other hand:

• art and design, probably more than any other sector, develops graduates’ critical and creative abilities and their imagination.

In the modern world, employers crave new ideas and want risk-takers, lateral thinkers and creative problem-solvers, in short, people who can suggest solutions without requiring a full set of information upon which to base any decision. Art and design graduates have enormous potential in this respect and should be encouraged to develop and make the most of these elements that are ‘natural’ to the art and design environment and which respondents considered were well-developed on their courses.

Art and design graduates have mixed views about the value of the components of their course. The main and second subject of study, contextual or critical studies and CAD and multimedia all tend to be viewed as significant elements of graduates’ general education and career. In retrospect, graduates also regard business or professional studies components as valuable, especially for career development. The problem for many graduates was that this was an element lacking on their course.

• Placements, external projects and employer-related visits were all rated as important but there are insufficient opportunities for such activities.

Despite the stated desire for more business and career information, career guidance was not seen as an important element of graduates education and this may reflect the fact that in most areas it is not integrated into the curriculum.

On the other hand, language study and ethical and environmental study are not regarded as important, either for general education or for career development.

One area of concern expressed by many art and design graduates was the relatively poor level of contact with the world of work. There were insufficient work-linked projects, employment-related visits or work-experience opportunities, such as embedded placements.

• Only 29% of the sample had undertaken work placement(s) as part of their course.

This ranged from 13% of fine art graduates to 58% of fashion and textiles graduates. Of these, 59% had a total placement time of less than six weeks and only 7% had work experience of 35 weeks or more.

A substantial majority of those who had undertaken placements of any length (70%) found them both useful and important. Only 15% thought them to have been of little use or as unimportant, and most of these were short placements. The longer the placement the more useful and important respondents considered it to be.

Work experience has some impact on the current activity and the activity since graduating of art and design students.

Graduates who have had some form of work experience are significantly more likely to have been or to be currently in full-time permanent employment than those who have had no work experience.

• Graduates who had work experience related to their current work are significantly more likely to be undertaking commissioned or freelance work than other graduates.
• Significantly more graduates with relevant work experience have operated their own business since graduating than other graduates.
• Those with relevant work experience are less likely to have been unemployed and seeking work at any point since graduating than other graduates.
• Graduates who have had work experience that is related to their current job have higher incomes than other graduates.
• Graduates who had work experience regard skill development as more important for their career than those who had no work experience.

Art and design is far from a homogeneous subject area and this is reflected in subsequent employment. Each main subject area shows radically different work profiles and the current activity of graduates and their total activity since graduating varies significantly.

• Design graduates are more likely than fine art graduates to have been employed on full-time permanent contracts.

The vast majority of graduates from interior design (86%), product, industrial and furniture design (88%) 3-D design (72%) fashion and textiles (76%) and photography, film and television (75%) have been in full-time permanent employment since graduating, whereas less than half (49%) the fine art graduates have had such employment. However, fine art graduates are not more likely to have been unemployed and seeking work since graduating than respondents from other areas. Instead:

• fine artists are more likely to have been employed part-time than design graduates and have the highest rate of take-up of further study.



• Product, industrial and furniture design graduates have the highest rate of self-employed freelance and commissioned work since graduating (47%) and, along with that, a high proportion of respondents who have been seeking work at some point since graduation (43%).



• 3-D design graduates (19%) are the most likely to have operated their own business since graduating.

Furthermore, expectations of the future vary between subject areas. Although all areas are characterised by a belief that the next five years will see progress towards an ideal job, fashion and textiles and interior design graduates are the most optimistic that this will be achieved and fine artists the least optimistic. Graduates in most subject areas, with the exception of fine artists, expect to be promoted within their current career. Fine art graduates, much more than any other area, expect to be doing a range of activities or jobs. Interior design graduates are most likely to think they will be doing the same as at present.

The lack of homogeneity is also reflected in the retrospective views of the course. Interior designers, for example, are less impressed with their main subject of study than other graduates, although this in no way inhibits their career development as they are among the higher earners and are most optimistic about the future. Interior design graduates are alone in rating ethical or environmental studies as important for their career development. Interior designers are also unimpressed with critical or contextual study while fine artists think it a crucial part of their education. The latter are the only group who regard business and professional studies as unimportant for career development and are similarly unimpressed by CAD and multimedia training. Fine art graduates also have little time for employment-related visits or work experience placements. Fashion and textiles graduates and product, industrial and furniture design graduates think these employer links are very important for general education as well as career development.

The involvement in further study also differs across the subject areas. Fine artists (28%) tend to lead the way in Master’s courses, perhaps reflecting an expectation that a first degree in fine art will lead to a Master’s course. Photography, film or television graduates have the largest proportion doing a professional course.

Different subject areas tend to have different levels of involvement in teaching and lecturing. Almost a third of the respondents who have graduated from 3-D design and from fine art have done some teaching or lecturing. Those who graduated from interior design are least likely to do teaching or lecturing.