Employability & Enterprise

High achieving graduates

Introduction

What use is an English degree? How does studying English improve my career prospects? Why should the public subsidise students so that they can enjoy subjects of no practical benefit to society? At a time when students, parents, funders and policy makers seem to be questioning the value of humanities subjects, the Subject Centre thought it timely to gather some examples of 'high achievers' who studied English. We've found that there are high achieving English graduates in many walks of life, not just the arts and creative sectors, demonstrating the broad relevance of the degree. English graduates can be found in the upper ranks of the diplomatic service, the banks and the police service and occupy senior positions in charities and public sector organisations. In December 2010, 28 MPs in the House of Commons had English or Creative Writing degrees.

We hope that the evidence presented here will useful in two contexts. Firstly, in pointing out to young people that studying English is as good a preparation as any for pursuing the broad range of careers that don't require a specific vocational qualification. Secondly, at a time when the humanities feel under threat and called upon to justify their relevance and impact, being able to point to a number of high-profile individuals who have built on the skills in creative and critical thinking developed by their studies demonstrates how the disciplines contribute to the strength and vitality of business, culture and society through their graduates.

Background

In 2010 the Subject Centres for English, History and Philosophical & Religious Studies were interested in developing and appraising a current perspective of alumni in their respective disciplines.  Whilst statistics on graduate destinations are available from sources such as the Prospects website, it was felt important to highlight some of the more unusual, and high profile paths that people have taken, revealing the diverse impact and opportunities that degrees in these humanities subjects can bring.  The aim was not to concentrate on the famous, but to look at the scope of alumni in business, the public sector and enterprise .

Methodology

By sharing the workload, the three Subject Centres were able to conduct thorough searches across disciplines of the following:

• University Alumni sites
• Dod’s Parliamentary Companion
• FTSE 100 companies
• Who’s Who

Database of High Achieving Graduates

The results are available in two Excel spreadsheets:

• one for English graduates,
• and one for graduates in all the humanities disciplines covered in the search (English, Creative Writing, History, Philosophical and Religious Studies).

When using the database, please note the following:

• Joint honours degrees were included (but specified).
• The subject of study noted for each individual relates to the higher level of study attained – undergraduate or postgraduate.
• 'Yes' in the ‘typical’ column relates to a graduate who may not be described as a 'high achiever' but for whom there is an interesting profile
• The dataset was compiled, and was accurate at the end of 2010.

A Quick Selection...

One of the questions the Subject Centre is often asked, especially by school teachers and those running open days, is “Can you tell me the names of some famous people who studied English?”  We offer a few examples from the dataset below.

Living

 

Deceased

 

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