Graduate opportunities grow by 5% - graduate jobs

The UK's top employers are set to descend on university campuses over the coming fortnight in the hope of filling their graduate programmes with the nation's top talent.

While experts High Fliers Research expect companies to increase the number taken on by 5% - from 15,057 to 15,844 - they acknowledge that the figure stops far short of replacing the positions lost in the last two seasons of intake.

Although hit hard by the current recession, investment banks are expected to employ a fifth more graduates next year. Other financial sectors, such as banking and accountancy, are expected to increase their positions by as much as 8%.

Elsewhere, around 10% more graduates are expected in the public sector, with similar levels of growth expected in engineering and industrial companies.

The research was based on 16,000 graduates who left university this summer.