There is a common assumption that it is only the oldest and most prestigious universities that produce the most CEO’s.
However a recent article from The Independent, presenting results from a recent survey conducted by ‘Emolument.com’, defies the preconceptions that tend to be held when it comes to graduate employment prospects. Data from over 26,000 former students was analysed to determine which universities produced the highest ratio of graduates who have gone on to become chief executives, chief technology officers, or partners.
Despite the expected appearance of some of the more prestigious institutions – for example Cambridge ranked second with 3.9% of their alumni holding top positions in the business sector – the biggest and oldest UK universities don’t produce as many business leaders as most people would think.
Emolument found that Oxbridge counterparts were less likely to be wooed by the prospects of grave financial capitals or consultancies, and subsequently ‘more eager launch their own business or joining budding start-ups, thereby climbing through the ranks more quickly and reaching leadership positions in smaller, more nimble structures’.
Royal Holloway ranked seventh in the UK, with 2.6% of former students taking positions in corporate business. This is a rather fitting considering the entrepreneurial background of the founder of the university, Thomas Holloway, who established the college in 1879 following the success of his patent medicine vending and philanthropic business pursuits.
Out of the top 9 universities in the survey, only 3 are part of the Russell group – the 17 institutions considered to be the best research centres in the UK. One of the top of the 9, Leeds Beckett, is a former polytechnic college, yet 3.1% of their alumni in the business leading ranks.
London Business School topped Emolument’s chart with one in twenty graduates – 5%, going on to take a management role in business.
This proves that it is not the prestige, nor the age of the university that produce the highest amount of corporate graduate success stories. As The Independent concludes ‘it takes grit and determination to run a business, not a degree from Oxford University or the London School of Economics’.