A discussion on employment outcomes for Arts and Humanities (A&H) graduates in Wales was held in on 24 April 2024 in Cardiff. It was organised in response to a powerful UK-wide narrative about the financial value of higher education, which tends to label A&H degrees as ‘low value’ (costing a lot without improving career prospects).

The event was attended by academics, university leaders, students, graduates, representatives from think tanks, colleagues from employer bodies, and colleagues from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.

This paper provides a brief summary of the key points arising from the event. It is intended as a resource for university administrators, academics, students, employers, employees and policymakers when having conversations on this issue within and beyond their own organisations.

Key discussion points:

• A&H graduates have broadly comparable employment and salary prospects to those graduating in other subjects, when considered over the entire course of a career.
• The Graduate Outcomes Survey, which is the accepted measure of graduate achievement, is a snapshot taken 15 months after graduation. It presents a misleading picture of the financial value of an A&H degree when considered across an entire career.
• A&H graduates are particularly well equipped with the kinds of transferable skills that employers require, such as creative and analytical thinking.
• The public debate on A&H degrees tends to focus on the question of value (i.e. remuneration) for individual graduates, at the expense of the broader value of A&H degrees to the economy and to society.
• The A&H disciplines need to do a better job of telling the story of their value, both economic and social, to policymakers and to the public. This is important because public perceptions drive the subject choices that students make at school as well as at university.