Extra-Curricular Activity and the Transition from Higher Education to Work: A Survey of Graduates in the United Kingdom

This paper focuses on the effects of extra-curricular activity on graduates' transition from higher education to the labour market. The study is based on a survey of 119 graduates conducted in 2004 in the UK. The data gathered cover a large range of social and leisure activities that the graduates carried on while students at their universities. Several aspects of their transitional process from student to worker are also covered. Data were analysed by means of linear and logistic regression models. Results show that extra-curricular activity has a significant influence on the transition process. First, extra-curricular experience gives access to better occupational status but lengthens the period of unemployment preceding the first job. Second, as compared with the most frequently observed extra-curricular behaviour, two profiles could be distinguished: the one better performing than average, and the other worse performing. Results suggest extra-curricular strategies to better enable graduates' effective transition to work.