International post-secondary briefs

Graduates having a hard time finding jobs after degree

Roughly 19 per cent of graduate students are having trouble finding graduate level jobs, reported the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) in the Guardian.

HESA also explained that roughly one in 10 graduate students have been unemployed at least once in 2005 when the study started.

The Guardian reported, “Of 41,395 graduates who left university in 2005, [ . . . ] 23.9 per cent were not in full-time paid work. A further 2.6 per cent were unemployed. The survey found that, overall, 88.9 per cent were in employment of some kind three and a half years after leaving university.”

The Guardian also reported that HESA’s figures also indicate that men earn £2,000, or about $3,515, more on average than women three-and-a-half years after graduating.

Oxford disowns conservative organization for racist joke

Oxford University has officially disowned one of Britain’s oldest student organizations after a racist joke surfaced at one of the associations meetings.

The group formerly known as the Oxford Conservative Association had the right to use the Oxford name removed after candidates for executives were asked to recite the most offensive joke they know, reported the Mirror.co.uk.

According to the Mirror, the association has to “improve conduct,” and, as punishment, is not allowed to recruit students when school starts. Only after changes are made will the ban be removed.

University of California president under pressure

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a huge majority of the University of California’s 10 campuses voted no confidence to the current U of C president Mark Yadoff.

According to the Chronicle, “The vote of no confidence is just one sign that employees are unhappy. Faculty members from every campus except UCSF are also calling for a system-wide walkout on Sept. 24.”

“We do not have confidence in the current leadership,” Tanya Smith, an editor at UC Berkeley and a spokeswoman for the University Professional & Technical Employees, told the Chronicle.

Some executives at the U of C feel the vote is pure publicity for the staff at U of C.

Universities seeing massive numbers in first year drop outs in South Africa

University Students in South Africa have been dropping out of their first year of university like it was going out of style, reported the University World News (UWN).

According to the UWN up to 40 per cent of first students will drop out because of poor financial situations.

The UWN stated, “Financial difficulties among the country’s large pool of poor black students are, unsurprisingly, largely to blame — ‘first generation’ students from low-income, less educated families are the most likely to drop out.”

The UWN also reported, “The study performed by the Human Sciences Research Council also found that, on average, only 15 per cent of students finish their degrees in the allotted time.”