8% of UK graduates still unemployed six months after finishing university

Six months after finishing their degrees, nearly one in five graduates from some UK universities are still unemployed (Getty Images)

Almost one in five graduates from some UK universities is unemployed six months after finishing their degrees, official figures have revealed.

Around 18.6 per cent of UK full-time students who left London Metropolitan University with a degree last summer were not employed or studying six months later, along with 17.6 per cent of those who went to Bolton University.

At the other end of the scale, 97.3 per cent of full-time UK students who went to Buckingham University - a private institution - were in work or studying after graduating, along with 96.9 per cent of those who went to Surrey University and 96.7 per cent of those at Derby University.

Of the 24 Russell Group universities - considered by many as among the top institutions in the country - just one had an employment rate of less than 90 per cent. This was the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) with a rate of 89.2 per cent.

The figures, published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), show that 91.4 per cent of full-time UK students who graduated from Oxford University last summer were in work or studying, along with 95.5 per cent of those who went to Cambridge.

Overall, 92.1 per cent of UK full-time first degree university leavers were in employment or further study six months after graduating, up from 90.8 per cent the previous year.

The majority of the 154 UK universities and colleges with figures available saw between 90 per cent and 95 per cent of their graduates find employment or continue study, while 25 had a rate of over 95 per cent.