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Finance Graduates Stick with Britain despite Brexit

Britain continues to be the primary destination for specialists in finance.

It has already been more than a year since the notorious Brexit vote, where Britain decided to quit the European Union. However, according to Financial Times, graduates with financial degrees from all around the world couldn’t care less where it comes to their moving to the UK.

This year’s Financial Times rating of masters in finance, Britain continues to be the biggest employer for business school graduates with a financial specialization. In spite of a small recline in 2016, this year the number of people looking for jobs in the British financial sector has grown again.

At the same time, other European countries promoting their image as employers for masters in finance – like Germany, France and Ireland – have not seen any growth in the number of foreign employees in the financial sector.

Who Are These Foreign Finance Graduates?

Mostly, finance graduates who found jobs in the UK consist of foreign master’s degree holders who graduated three years ago. Compared to 2016, their percentage (now 90%) has grown by 3%.

The rankings presented by The Financial Times depict the career growth of business school graduates who left school three years ago. This year, almost 6,000 graduates took part in the survey.

Almost 40% of foreigners currently working in the British financial sector stayed in this country after obtaining their degrees from the UK’s universities. The other 60% – mostly from Italy and France – have moved to Britain specifically to find a job.

According to the Financial Times rankings, London has 50% more financial degree holders from Italy than Milan.

Education in Finance Unpopular Among British Nationals

Why are native British people such a minority in the UK’s financial sector? Truth is, finance is not everybody’s first choice of profession in Britain. Despite 13 (out of 60) top business schools being located in this country, 2017 saw only 1% of British nationals enroll into financial programs. Interestingly, there are even more Greek students in these programs than British ones, although there are no Financial Times-ranked business schools in Greece.

 

At Warwick Business School, the competition for a spot on the master’s in finance program is 10 to 1, and still most of the candidates come from abroad. British applicants have to compete with the best of the best from all over the globe.

Shockingly, even foreign graduates’ salaries are mostly higher than those of British finance programs graduates. On average, the best remuneration is held by graduates of German origin ($139,000), the second and third – by Italians ($129,000) and French graduates ($113,000) respectively. The average salary of native British finance graduates is rather modest compared to that and equals $71,000.

Also, according to this year’s Financial Times rankings, out of 60 business schools programs for students without significant working experience, the top four are located in France: Edhec, HEC Paris, Essec and ESCP Europe. Interestingly, the best rated British school (Warwick) only has the ninth slot.

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