The path from lecture theatre to first job has rarely felt so contested. The number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) has climbed past one million for the first time, employers continue to report persistent skills shortages, and graduates increasingly find that a degree alone no longer guarantees an interview. Against this backdrop, Universities UK (UUK) — supported by Pearson and the British Chambers of Commerce — has published the Future Jobs Roadmap, a coordinated plan to move graduates into good jobs and to guarantee careers support for life. The University of Exeter helped shape the Roadmap by hosting one of its regional roundtables, drawing employers from across the South West into the conversation. This article explains what the Roadmap contains, why it matters to students, graduates and employers alike, and how each group can act on it now.
Why the Entry-Level Job Squeeze Has Tightened
Speak to hiring managers and recent graduates and you will hear two sides of the same problem. Employers say they cannot find entry-level candidates with the practical skills and workplace confidence they need. Graduates say they cannot get a foot in the door without experience they have had no chance to build. The result is a squeeze at the entry point of the labour market that wastes talent on one side and slows growth on the other.
The statistics underline the scale of the challenge. While graduates remain far less likely to be NEET than non-graduates, the overall number of young people not in education, employment or training recently passed one million. At the same time, automation and artificial intelligence are reshaping the routine tasks that entry-level roles have traditionally covered, raising the bar for what employers expect from a first hire.
UUK developed the Roadmap after conversations with around 200 employers, business groups and universities. The message, according to Professor Malcolm Press, President of Universities UK, was consistent: graduates possess significant talent and potential, and employers value them highly — but more must be done to help students gain workplace experience, develop professional confidence and prepare for a changing economy. Explore how the University of Exeter connects undergraduate study with industry to see what that preparation looks like in practice.
What the Future Jobs Roadmap Commits Universities and Employers to Deliver
The Roadmap sets out concrete steps for universities, businesses and government, built around six headline commitments.
1. Work-Based Learning for Every Undergraduate
The plan sets an ambition for all undergraduates to have access to meaningful work-based learning by 2035, with a milestone of reaching 50 per cent by 2030. Placements, internships and live employer projects would move from being a competitive extra to a standard feature of the undergraduate experience — directly addressing the experience paradox that locks so many graduates out of their first role.
2. AI Skills Embedded in Every Course
Every undergraduate would have access to AI tools, and every course would have a lecturer acting as an ‘AI trailblazer’. The aim is for graduates to arrive at work able to use, question and build with these technologies rather than simply having read about them.
3. Lifetime Careers Support
Graduates would receive a universal, lifetime entitlement to careers support — while at university and throughout their working lives — so they can navigate labour market change, retraining decisions and career pivots decades after graduation.
4. Employer Co-Designed Learning and Modular Provision
Courses would increasingly be shaped with employers, breaking degrees into flexible modules that reflect real technical and practical needs and making it easier for working people to upskill without stepping out of the workforce.
5. Regional Graduate Schemes
New regional schemes would connect graduates with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), spreading opportunity beyond the capital and giving growing local businesses a structured route into graduate talent.
6. Simpler Engagement for Employers
The Roadmap commits to making it easier for employers to work with universities — a practical acknowledgment that many firms want to contribute but find current routes into academia slow and confusing.
How the University of Exeter Helped Shape the Plan
The Future Jobs Roadmap is not a document written in isolation. In April, the University of Exeter hosted a regional roundtable attended by Vivienne Stern, Chief Executive of Universities UK. The session brought together representatives from organisations including the Met Office, the NHS, Devonport Dockyard and Devon County Council, alongside all three higher education institutions in Plymouth and entrepreneurs working in AI, manufacturing and the creative industries.
That mix mattered. Regional employers described the specific technical and practical skills their sectors need, while university leaders explained how curricula, placements and careers provision could respond. Professor Lisa Roberts, President and Vice-Chancellor of Exeter, noted that the University maintains extensive industry links regionally and nationally and uses them to understand what businesses need — adding that the future UK economy will demand more graduates with greater skills, and that Exeter’s strategic mission is to ensure every student gains the tools they need for career success. Read the University of Exeter’s full announcement on the Future Jobs Roadmap roundtable for the detail behind these discussions.
What Students and Recent Graduates Should Do Now
National commitments take time to roll out, but students and graduates can act on the Roadmap’s themes immediately:
- Use careers services early and often. The principle behind the lifetime entitlement already exists at most universities. Book appointments in your first year, not your final term.
- Prioritise work-based learning. Choose modules with live projects, apply for placements and internships, and treat part-time or volunteering work as evidence of workplace capability.
- Build demonstrable AI literacy. Learn the tools used in your target sector and be ready to show — not just claim — how you use them.
- Look beyond the usual job boards. Regional graduate schemes and SME roles often offer broader responsibility earlier than large-corporate programmes.
- Keep records of skills and projects. Employer co-designed and modular learning will reward graduates who can evidence discrete competencies.
Are you a student, graduate or employer with a view on the graduate job market? Share your experience in the comments below and add to the picture this Roadmap is trying to address.
What Employers Stand to Gain — and What They Should Do Next
Shevaun Haviland, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, framed the business case plainly: giving firms better access to graduates with the right technical and practical skills is a crucial part of economic growth, and the Roadmap is full of practical ideas that reflect what businesses say they need. Chamber-led Local Skills Improvement Plans across England are identified as a key mechanism for building stronger relationships between businesses and universities.
Employers do not need to wait for national rollouts to benefit. Practical first steps include:
- Offering placements, internships or live briefs ahead of the 2030 work-based learning milestone.
- Joining Local Skills Improvement Plans or regional employer networks to influence curricula directly.
- Structuring entry-level recruitment so that potential and transferable skills count alongside direct experience.
- Building a named relationship with a local university careers team rather than waiting for graduate fairs.
The Government’s Part in Widening the On-Ramp
The Roadmap deliberately arrives as the government develops its ten-year plan and industrial strategy. Universities are presenting a practical offer: the high-level skills, graduate talent and growth the country needs, in exchange for targeted government measures that encourage youth recruitment and strengthen pathways into work. For the plan to succeed, policy support — from funding for placements to incentives for hiring young people — will need to match institutional ambition.
Turning Commitments Into Graduate Outcomes
The entry-level job squeeze will not be solved by any single institution, employer or policy. The value of the Future Jobs Roadmap lies in alignment: universities committing to work-based learning, AI capability and lifelong careers support; employers committing to co-design and to opening their doors earlier; government committing to the conditions that make hiring young people attractive. For the University of Exeter and its regional partners, that work has already begun.
If you want to follow how these commitments develop, explore the University of Exeter’s latest news and research on graduate employability and industry partnership. Have questions about what the Future Jobs Roadmap means for your studies, your business or your recruitment strategy? Write to us and we will point you toward the right resources.
