Student recruitment and development

• Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, previously Education Secretary, is urging employers to move away from ‘graduate only’ jobs in a bid to diversify the workforce. Unless a role requires a specific degree, Mr Zahawi wants companies to look outside the usual talent pool to help fill the UK’s 1.3 million job vacancies. At the same time The Telegraph are reporting on the current graduate ‘gold rush’ as firms fight to fill vacancies, with companies offering pay rises and perks to bring graduate talent through the door.
• Plymouth school teaching students skills to face ‘increasingly tough world. Stoke Damerel Community College has become the first school in Plymouth and only one of 70 in the UK to be awarded kitemark accreditation for prioritising the wellbeing of their students and teaching them them skills to face “increasingly tough world”

Education

• Thousands of children in England could be without complete Year 6 Sats results after some papers went missing and others were marked incorrectly, a teaching union. Des Ricketts, head teacher at Bishop Wilson Church of England Primary School in Birmingham, told the BBC that 14 out of 59 of his Year 6 pupils were missing results.
• UK graduate students call for more support as the cost of living crisis bites. Graduates say this year’s 2.9% rise in student stipends is insufficient and could push them into poverty. Emma Francis and Hannah Franklin, based at UCL, coordinated a letter on behalf of all London-based PhD students funded by the Medical Research Council, which is part of UKRI. “The current level of financial support provided by UKRI to PhD students is insufficient and unsustainable and creates a big diversity issue,” said Franklin. “They are curating an exclusive community, not providing equal opportunities for all

Labour market

• Graduate salaries have increased to a six-year high as employers dig deep to fill a surge in vacancies and combat labour shortages. With UK graduate starting salaries up 7% in a year. Companies are opening new positions and increasing the advertised salaries in an attempt to replenish their workforces with young workers straight out of university
• UK jobs market lost a bit more steam in June.British employers slowed their hiring via recruitment agencies once again in June as vacancies increased at the weakest rate in more than a year

Economy

• UK debt is on an “unsustainable path” unless spending is tightened and taxes are raised, the government’s independent forecaster has warned.The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said soaring energy prices and pressures from an ageing population risked tipping the UK into a recession.
• New PM must have a plan for the economy, says CBI boss Tony Danker. The CBI, which represents 190,000 businesses, said in an open letter to candidates for the leadership of the Conservative Party that they must develop “serious, credible and bold” plans for growth in light of rampant inflation, skills shortages and supply chain disruptions.