Thursday 16th Jan 2020
When applying to university, most students use league tables to help them decide which university they should study at and aim for the top 10 - believing these are the best for their future. However, the league tables do not tell the full story.
Students wanting to start their own business or become CEOs and Managing Directors would think that the best university for this would be the highest ranked in the UK. However, a recent study conducted by Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance revealed that the University for the Arts London was the number one ranked university in the UK for students graduating to start and manage a business.
Known as the overall 39th best university in the UK, one in five (19.85%) of the creative university’s alumni became business leaders after graduating from the university. Almost one in ten (9.21%) of the alumni used their degrees to form their own start up – beating the likes of Oxford and Cambridge to the top spot.
Falmouth University ranked 2nd in the study with a total of almost one in five (19.77%) students managing a business or creating their own. This is a huge climb up the table for the Cornish university which ranks as the 52nd best university in the UK according to the league tables.
Graduates from the university are also the most likely in the UK to pursue freelancer roles with over one in ten (10.55%) previous students currently freelancing.
The redbrick university, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) ranked third in the UK with one in six (16.10%) of their graduates running or owning a business. Graduates from the Golden Triangle university were also the most likely in the UK to manage a business with 8.90 per cent holding CEO and Managing Director job roles.
Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance commissioned this study involving 9,544,010 former university students in the UK. This was obtained by using LinkedIn data of all the students with the university on their profile, who have job titles associated with starting or running a business.
To read the full results of the best universities to be a business leader, click here.