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It is clear that the higher educations is very important to the society, by this according to a study of the Higher Education Careers Services Unit of the UK, the number of graduates has increased by 40% in UK in recent years, however that is not sufficient, since due to oversupply and lack of employability level, the graduates would acquire a series of basics skills which should also provide the company. This essay highlights the value of a degree as well as the benefits both social and economic that universities offer to the society. Finally, it shows the statistics about the current labour market and as new graduates aspire to jobs. A study on the perception of the capacities that should have the new graduates shows that although the impressions about their knowledge and skills are good, it would be necessary to raise their employability level in matters related to teamwork and information technologies; As well as employers should strain to increase their knowledge of business and the management of these. This report shows that most prominent skills both by governmental companies as by graduates surveyed are related to the work ethic, communication and teamwork (CBI y UUK). According to CBI and Universities UK state and despite of the current recession it should invest in the development of competencies, which will suppose future benefits for society.

In relation to value of University Degrees, firstly we will talk about oversupply in the UK labour market owing to the excessive number of new graduates coming into the labour market. No one questions the great benefits higher education brings to those who pursue it, both at personal and economical levels. However, some analysts are concerned, these benefits might be disappearing through the law of offer and demand. These concerns are supported by evidence showing the difficulties new graduates joining to the labour market have when trying to find a job matching their level education. These difficulties translate in them occupying posts below the category of their degree and obtaining salaries that are lower than they expected. The number of new graduates who work in less-skilled jobs has increased by 9.2 percentage points in the last 10 years. (Labour Force Survey - Office for National Statistics) Secondly, we will examine two opposite beliefs about the value of degree, one of them will be positive and the other one will be negative. On the one hand we have the positive vision, which is based on evidence of Government Review of Skills (Leitch, 2006), according to which employers increasingly demand more skilled workers. This means that the market needs to continue supplying new graduates to the market. Also, and although the wage gap between graduates and non graduates has declined, graduates still earn up to 30% more than not graduates. On the other hand we have the negative vision, supported by a study carried on by Walker and Zhu (2005), which shows that the value of a degree has decreased through the decline in the wage gap between graduates and not graduates, as evidenced previously. This study also shows that new graduates have more difficulties to find jobs matching their level of education.

Finally, I will conclude by saying that the excessive number of new graduates accessing the work market has led to a decline in their relative income in comparison with graduates a few years earlier. Also, it has made it more difficult for them to find a job matching their education level, hence decreasing the value of the degrees they hold. This decrease will be dependant on the type of degree those individuals hold. University benefits are often quantified according to a limited set of indicators, as well as financial returns to individuals and impact on economic growth, but this isnt enough since these dont take into account the benefits these offer to people. This report has tried to quantify the public value that provides the university sector by facilitating social mobility, community participation, and cultural enrichment, which provides millions of pounds each year. Universities also contribute on issues related to health, citizenship, community cohesion, social mobility and the Big Society. With regards to the current labour market, the recession affects in major measurement to new graduates, as the number of them that looking for a job is greater than graduates, being that these have incorporate into the labour market, while graduates have had more time to find a job. The first quarter of recession employability of new graduates low 3.7 percentage points compared to graduates than low 1.3 percentage points. Nowadays, 8.7 per cent of graduates are unemployed compared with 4.3 per cent for nongraduates. Non-graduates have higher rates of inactivity than graduates, 20.9 respecting the 10.1, this is due to the fact that not graduated population is major tan graduated, because of that non graduates are devoted more often to looking after the family and long-term sickness or disability.

London has a great number of graduated population due to two reasons: the types of jobs and the profile of ages. The 34% of works of London are qualified by that graduates are more likely to work in skilled jobs, and therefore to move to London. Regarding the profile of ages, London has the biggest young population to UK. The age group with less percentage of graduates is between 50 and 65 years; only 25 % of the population of London are in this group. According to a report of the office for National Statistics, in the last quarter of 2011 the average wage of the graduates was 15.8 respecting 8.92 of non-graduates. The highest salaries correspond to health careers such as medicine or dentistry with 21.29 , and lowest to the arts careers with 12.6 , 21% lower than the average for all graduates. In conclusion, having a university degree doesnt assure to you to have a good work, the excessive number of graduates has caused an oversupply, so increasing competition between the new graduates, which try to stand out learning skills that they have nt obtained in the University. In turn these they aspire a less skilled jobs accordance their level of education.

REFERENCES
Atfield, G. and Purcell, K., (2012). The fit between graduate labour market supply and demand: 3rd year UK undergraduate degree final year students perceptions of the skills they have to offer and the skills employers seek. University of Warwick: Institute for Employment Research. [online] Available from: http://www.hecsu.ac.uk/assets/assets/documents/FT3_1_WP4_Skills_final_Jan_2012.pdf Leitch Review of skills, (2006), Skills in the UK: The long-term challenge. CBI and Universities UK (2009) Future fit: preparing graduates for the world of work http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/FutureFit.PDF CBI (2008) Taking Stock. CBI Education and Skills Survey 2008. www.cbi.org.uk/pdf/skills_report0408.pdf Vignoles, A., (2008). Graduate Market Trends: The value of a degree. The Higher Education Careers Services Unit. [online] Available from: <http://ww2.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Main_Menu___News_and_infor mation/Graduate_Market_Trends_2008/The_value_of_a_degree__Spring_08_/p!eacLeee> Walker, I. & Zhu, Y., (2005). The College Wage Premium, Overeducation, and the Expansion of Higher Education in the UK. Shaheen, F., (2011). Degrees of value: How universities benefit society. New Economics Foundation: London [online] Available from: <http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/degrees-of-value> Office for National Statistics (2012). Graduates in the Labour Market 2012. [Online] Available from: <www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_259049.pdf>