Graduates and graduate labour markets in the UK and Italy

In the context of policy reforms in Higher Education in both the UK and Italy, we review recent evidence on student outcomes in higher education and subsequent transitions into the labour market for both these countries. We also provide the results of some new analysis for each of the two and, among other things, show that pre-university qualifications are strong influences on degree performance in both countries but that, unlike the UK, Italian university graduate earnings are largely insensitive to measured educational performance. Length of time taken to graduate in Italy exerts a significant negative effect both on degree performance and on graduate earnings. Similarly, being over-qualified for one's job is associated with a 5% pay penalty. Finally, we make recommendations regarding possible data improvements to enhance the policy usefulness of the analyses for each of the two countries.