Students confident of work after graduation

The majority of students are confident they will find a job when they finish university, but they expect to earn significantly less than today's graduates.

Twice as many students said they were "very confident" they would be able to get a job when they finished studying as against those who were not at all confident.

A further 35 per cent said they were somewhat confident that they would find work, while 19 per cent were a little confident, according to a survey by the bank Santander.

One in ten students said they planned to continue studying, while 2 per cent planned to go travelling.

But despite being confident they would find jobs, students expected to earn an average of only 21,500 - 14 per cent less than the current average graduate salary.

Medical students were most confident they would find work when they left university, with 70 per cent saying they were highly confident They also expected to be the highest paid, at an average of 26,450.

But only 9 per cent of people doing creative arts and design courses were very confident they would be able to find a job, while they thought they would earn an average of just 17,560.

Helen Bierton, head of current accounts at Santander, said: "The current generation of students is well aware of the problems in the graduate jobs market, which would explain why their salary predictions are lower than might normally be expected."