Inequity in Work Placement Year opportunities and graduate employment outcomes: a data analytics approach

Figures & data

Table 1. Uptake of Work Placement Year (WPY) by student characteristic where there is a statistically significant difference between the categories. Total number of students by characteristic varies dependent on whether information was available for each category.

Characteristic	Category	Total no of students	% & no of cohort who took a WPY		Chi^2 value	Significance
Gender	Male	11,325	8.3%	942	103.223	p < 0.001
	Female	15,181	12.2%	1852
Age	Mature	1511	4.2%	64	75.175	p < 0.001
	Young	23,476	11.5%	2696
School type	Independent	4180	9.9%	414	25.538	p < 0.001
	State	12,712	12.9%	1635
Registered disabled	Disability	2068	8.95%	185	5.870	p = 0.015
	No known disability	24,438	10.7%	2609

Table 2. Uptake of Work Placement Year (WPY) by student characteristic where no statistically significant difference between the categories was identified. Total number of students by characteristic varies dependent on whether information was available for each category.

Characteristic	Category	Total no of students	% & no of cohort who took a WPY		Chi^2 value	Significance
Ethnicity	BAME	2368	11.2%	265	1.545	p = 0.214
	White	20,511	12.1%	2480
Discretionary entry scheme (DES)	DES	1102	10.5%	116	0.00	p = 1.000
	Not DES	25,404	10.5%	2678
POLAR	Low	2767	12.3%	340	0.073	p = 0.787
	High	13,829	12.5%	1728
Socioeconomic group	Low	3562	11.9%	425	0.300	p = 0.584
	High	15,355	12.3%	1886

Figure 1. Differences in attainment and graduate outcomes amongst students completing (or not) a Work Placement Year (WPY): percentage of students graduating with a First class (1st) degree (with (+) and without (-) completing a WPY) and the percentage of students achieving graduate level employment 6 months after graduation (GP) (with (+) and without (-) completing a WPY) (* = significant p < 0.05).

Table 3. Influence of completing a Work Placement Year (WPY) on Graduate Prospects (GP) broken down by student characteristic. Positive associations that are statistically significant are shown with an *.

Characteristic	Category	Total no of students	% & no of cohort attaining GP		Chi^2 value	Significance
Gender	Male (+WPY)	738	90.2%	666	74.783	p < 0.001*
	Male (-WPY)	6786	76.2%	5170
	Female (+WPY)	1371	83.4%	1144	69.433	p < 0.001*
	Female (-WPY)	8726	72.8%	6354
Age	Mature (+WPY)	53	77.4%	41	0.00	p = 1.000
	Mature (-WPY)	801	76.8%	615
	Young (+WPY)	2038	86.0%	1753	148.683	p < 0.001*
	Young (-WPY)	14,230	73.5%	10,458
School type	Independent (+WPY)	301	85.7%	258	10.064	p = 0.002*
	Independent (-WPY)	2433	77.6%	1887
	State (+WPY)	1249	85.5%	1068	76.921	p < 0.001*
	State (-WPY)	7852	74.0%	5809
Registered disabled	Disability (+WPY)	143	84.6%	121	9.644	p = 0.002*
	Disability (-WPY)	1310	72.1%	945
	No known disability (+WPY)	1966	85.9%	1689	122.448	p < 0.001*
	No known disability (-WPY)	14,202	74.5%	10,579
Ethnicity	BAME (+WPY)	201	83.6%	168	9.888	p = 0.002*
	BAME (-WPY)	1400	72.9%	1021
	White (+WPY)	1881	85.9%	1616	149.742	p < 0.001*
	White (-WPY)	12,847	72.7%	9339
Discretionary entry scheme (DES)	DES (+WPY)	95	88.4%	84	8.733	p = 0.003*
	DES (-WPY)	699	74.0%	517
	DES A2L (+WPY)	2014	85.7%	1726	124.397	p < 0.001*
	DES A2L (-WPY)	14,813	74.3%	11,007
POLAR	Low (+WPY)	276	88.0%	243	29.856	p < 0.001*
	Low (-WPY)	1740	72.4%	1260
	High (+WPY)	1280	85.6%	1096	68.098	p < 0.001*
	High (-WPY)	8365	75.1%	6280
Socioeconomic group	Low (+WPY)	319	85.3%	272	30.708	p < 0.001*
	Low (-WPY)	2215	70.2%	1555
	High (+WPY)	1443	86.3%	1246	114.722	p < 0.001*
	High (-WPY)	9539	73.2%	6982

Figure 2. Differences in Graduate Prospects (GP) for each student cohort (characteristic) with participation in a Work Placement Year (WPY) (* = significant p < 0.001).