Annual report to use! - Prospects

Mission statements forword 

HECSU’s charitable object is the advancement 

of education of students and graduates of any 

establishment of higher education which is 

a subscriber to the company by supporting 

and assisting the work of the careers advisory 

services of such subscribers. 

Graduate Prospects’ mission is to be the leading UK provider 

of graduate careers and recruitment solutions. 

Supporting these missions are seven corporate objectives. These are: 

• To support the right of individuals to 

access high quality careers and course 

information, advice and support at a time 

and in a format which is convenient for 

them, and allows effective choices to be 

made 

• To help all students and graduates find 

suitable careers and employment, pursue 

further study and training, or both, by 

encouraging the pursuit of employability 

skills within HE and via work experience, 

and by supporting the work of HE careers 

services 

• To ensure no student or groups of students 

who ought to have access to Graduate 

Prospects products and services are denied 

access, by accidental or deliberate 

omission by Graduate Prospects (or 

HECSU) 

• To help all employers and postgraduate 

course providers recruit suitably qualified 

graduates matching their organisations’ 

needs, and to do so through continuous 

innovation to products and services 

• To be the world leader in the provision of 

careers guidance software for higher 

education, and to generate, manage and 

disseminate relevant, high quality labour 

market, careers and postgraduate study 

information in the UK 

• To generate appropriate levels of 

income to sustain Graduate Prospects in its 

mission (to add value to the HE sector, not 

maximise profitability), and to ensure 

sufficient reserves for HECSU’s charitable 

and other activities, including relevant and 

credible research 

• To ensure that HECSU and Graduate 

Prospects are committed to excellence in 

all they do 

6 

annual report - trustees’ report and annual consolidated report financial - mission statements

contents 

Inside-front cover - Mission statements 

2 Foreword 

2 List of Board of Directors 2003-2004 

3 AGCAS President’s statement 

4 Chief Executive’s statement 

5 The activities of HECSU and Graduate Prospects 

6 Reviews of the year 

13 Trustees’ report and consolidated finanacial statements 

31 Employee list 

32 Subscriber list 

Inside-back cover - Products and services 

annual report - contents 

1

foreword forword 

I am delighted to introduce my 6th HECSU Annual 

Report and once again report that the Group still 

retains over £8m in reserves despite HECSU (the 

charity funded from Graduate Prospects gift-aided 

surpluses) increasing its net charitable spend to 

£764,000 and the trading subsidiary Graduate 

Prospects making a small loss (£41,000). 

It was another tough year in the graduate recruitment 

market, but Graduate Prospects maintained or increased 

market share in most product areas. The Postgraduate 

Business Unit exceeded its targets, and the website 

(prospects.ac.uk) showed phenomenal growth in unique 

users and page impressions, which was translated into 

increased e-commerce revenue. These latter two trends 

are continuing in the new financial year, and there is 

some indication of a small recovery in the graduate 

recruitment market. 

The Group continues to provide an excellent range of 

high-quality services and products to the HE sector in 

general and the careers services of higher education 

institutions throughout the UK and Ireland in particular, 

and investment in new products and services has been 

maintained during the last year. 

The decision taken last year to change the names of the 

constituent parts of the Group (the charity became 

HECSU, and the trading subsidiary changed from CSU Ltd 

to Graduate Prospects Ltd, aligning it with the main 

brand, Prospects) has proved a wise one, readily 

accepted by all stakeholders. The Graduate Prospects Ltd 

board meets four times a year, focusing carefully on the 

needs of the business, discussing threats and 

opportunities in equal measure. 

Last year, the HECSU Research Panel was established to 

oversee a £3m research fund, and a Research Manager, 

Jane Artess, was appointed and took up her role in 

September. The panel meets roughly quarterly. 

As always, many of the year’s major developments are 

highlighted elsewhere in the report, but I want to 

mention two in particular. ProspectsNet is a back-office 

system for careers services, developed by Graduate 

Prospects, which has had considerable investment over 

the last couple of years. Its rapid adoption by over 40 

careers services is a tribute to its quality, and a wonderful 

example of how Graduate Prospects and the careers 

services community can work together to produce a 

‘killer application’. 

The National Council for Work Experience has been part 

of the group for over two years, and in the Autumn of 

2003 achieved a remarkable success. Its work with GSK 

to develop a new student work placement standard for 

their 12-month placement programme for chemistry 

students resulted in GSK being awarded the Professional 

Development Programme (PDP) Quality Mark jointly by 

NCWE and the University Vocational Awards Council 

(UVAC). 

The Group and its staff, in collaboration with our valued 

partners at AGCAS, are all to be congratulated on their 

hard work during the financial year. The next year or so 

will also be difficult, but the board is confident that 

Graduate Prospects Ltd is well placed to survive the 

current depressed market and to benefit when that 

market picks up. Meanwhile HECSU has the resources to 

work, with AGCAS and others, to ensure the interests of 

students and graduates are paramount in the deployment 

of its charitable funds from Graduate Prospects Ltd. 

Finally, during the year a number of trustees and 

directors stood down, and my thanks go to them all, but I 

would particularly like to pay tribute to Mike Williams, 

Deputy CEO, and thank him for all his inspirational and 

diligent hard work for HECSU, Graduate Prospects, 

AGCAS and the guidance community in general over 30 

years. 

Professor RF Boucher, Chairman of the Board of Directors 

list of board of directors 

Professor R F Boucher 

(Chairman)* 

Vice-Chancellor, 

University of Sheffield 

Professor J Stringer 

Principal, 

Napier University 

Professor G Slater 


University of Bournemouth 

(resigned 05.06.03) 

Christine King 


Staffordshire University 

(appointed 24.09.03) 

Dr G Copland 

Rector and 


University of Westminster 

Professor David Melville 


University of Kent 

Professor Eric Thomas 


University of Bristol 

Dr J Cater* 

Chief Executive, 

Edge Hill University College 

Mr S Denton 

Registrar, 

Leeds Metropolitan 

University 

Dr J Nicholls* 

Registrar, 

University of Birmingham 

Mr A Nelson 

Nelson Griffiths LLC 

Mr H T B Smith* 

Director, TetragonHR 

Ms S Reeves 

HR Operations Controller, 

B&Q plc 


Ms Alison Hodgson 

UK & Ireland Resourcing 

Manager, Sodexho 


Mr J Gough 

President, AGCAS & 

Head of Careers Service, 

De Montfort University 

Ms Cathryn Harvey 


University of 

Newcastle upon Tyne 


Linda Buckham 


University of Portsmouth 


Mr B Gilworth* 

Head of Careers Advisory 

Service, University of Leeds 

Mr A Butler 


University of Oxford 

Mr P Redmond 

Career Development 

Team Leader, 

Liverpool Hope University 

College 

Mrs L Ali 

Head of Careers 

Advisory Service, 

University of Edinburgh 

*indicates non-executive director of Graduate Prospects Ltd, the trading company 

62 

annual report - trustees’ report annual and report consolidated - foreword financial & list of statements directors

I’m delighted to be able to echo and support the 

remarks made by the Chief Executive in his summary. 

Clearly market conditions are still proving challenging for 

Graduate Prospects, and I applaud the way in which the 

organisation is facing up to these challenges in 

constructive ways. The Prospects brand is still highly 

regarded by recruiters, and the fact that Graduate 

Prospects has weathered the downturn of the last few 

years so well is a tribute to its market position. 

HECSU’s ongoing commitment to charitable activity is 

another cause for celebration. The appointment of a new 

Research Manager is an important signifier to higher 

education careers advisory services, and to the sector 

overall, of this commitment. So too are the recent 

research projects – into diversity, the needs of 

international students, and of UK masters students – all 

of which are of key practical relevance to services whilst 

being underpinned by robust research. The impact of the 

changes to student funding on career decision making is 

another area under consideration, and it’s my belief that 

this will have a significant bearing on the way in which 

careers services meet the needs of their clients. AGCAS 

is delighted to be so closely associated with this area of 

activity. 

AGCAS, too, recognises the ways in which HECSU’s 

charitable spend needs to be targeted at emerging sector 

need. Institutional, regional and local concerns are now 

competing for services’ resources, and the need to 

develop information, advice and guidance products that 

reflect such concerns is becoming pressing. HECSU’s aim 

of exploring these needs more fully should lead to the 

development of products that will continue to benefit 

careers services and their clients. In addition, HECSU’s 

continuing financial support of AGCAS, especially training 

and development, is very welcome, since this enables 

the Association to add considerable value to its 

members, their clients and the sector more broadly. 

The relationship between HECSU/Graduate Prospects 

and AGCAS continues to develop. The initial Service 

Level Agreements have been met successfully, and 

AGCAS is keen to work with HECSU/Graduate Prospects 

to develop products that the sector needs. Despite some 

difficulties, the expertise, commitment and sheer hard 

work of key people in both organisations continues to 

amaze. The commitment to pooling collective resources 

for the benefit of the collective might seem almost quaint 

in this increasingly competitive sector of ours; but it is 

vital to ensure that all our members benefit, regardless of 

their status. 

I’d also like to acknowledge Mike Williams’s contribution 

to HECSU/Graduate Prospects and to the services that so 

many of us take for granted. Mike was never afraid of 

taking a stand based on his belief in what he thought 

was right and needed doing; so often the validity of his 

stand was proven. AGCAS wishes him success in his new 

venture. 

As ever, I would like to thank the members of the HECSU 

and Graduate Prospects boards, as well as the AGCAS 

board, for the continuing success and value of our 

services and products. My tenure as President has 

brought me into contact with so many talented and 

committed individuals, and I salute them all. 

John Gough, AGCAS President 2002 - 2004 

AGCAS president’s statement 

alternative work 

styles including 

self-employment 

broadcast, film, 

video and interactive 

media sector 

environmental, 

food chain and 

rural sector 

Special Interest Series 2002 

SI/01-N/02 

annual report - agcas president’s statement 

annual report - trustees’ report and consolidated financial statements 

3

chief executive’s statement forword 2003/2004 

In the 12 months, 1 February 2003-31 January 2004, 

the subsidiary Graduate Prospects Ltd had a turnover 

of £5.26m (£5.85m: 2002/3), and incurred a small loss 

of £41,000 (£200,000 profit in 2002/3). There will be 

no gift-aid payment to HECSU this year. 

In HECSU, charitable spending rose, with net costs of 

£764,000 (£544,000). The charity’s equity investment 

increased in value by £484,000 (£542,000 decrease in 

2002/3) to £2.81m, reducing the HECSU deficit to 

£280,000. The group deficit is thus £321,000 (£1m deficit 

in 2003/4). This brings the level of charitable reserves 

down to £8.2m (£8.52m). 

Once again, the continuing downturn in the graduate 

recruitment market significantly affected Graduate 

Prospects’ revenues, mitigated somewhat by an increase 

in postgraduate revenues and e-commerce income. 

Careful cost control and some judicious savings in nonessential 

areas also contributed to the final result. 

Early indications for 2004/5 show some cause for 

cautious optimism. Continuing weak sales figures for 

Prospects Today throughout the first quarter are being 

offset by small year-on-year increases in other products 

and in e-commerce, and reasonably healthy forward 

bookings for the annual publications. This recovery is still 

fragile though: we expect the upturn in the graduate 

recruitment market to be more robust in 2005. The 

Postgraduate Business Unit has started 2004 very strongly, 

and we are expecting continued growth in this area in 

2004/5. 

Despite the struggle for income, Graduate Prospects and 

HECSU (the Group) have continued to invest significant 

sums into the business and the HE sector. The Group 

increased its charitable contribution to, and its 

commercial expenditure with, AGCAS. More careers 

materials were purchased and Graduate Prospects 

increased its sponsorship of AGCAS Biennial. The 

relationship with AGCAS is always important to the 

Group: we work in partnership to provide essential 

support for our member CAS and their students and 

graduates. 

Graduate Prospects also continued to increase its 

investment in services to benefit HE careers advisory 

services, in particular through developing ProspectsNet, 

overhauling STATUS to reflect the change from FDS to 

DLHE, and increasing the staffing levels of the Careers 

Services Liaison Team. 

official graduate careers partner, working together to 

bring to students’ attention the benefits of 

prospects.ac.uk, their campus careers and student 

counselling services, and the availability of suitable 

part-time jobs. 

• In September 2003, HECSU appointed a Research 

Manager to coordinate and develop the group’s 

commitment to relevant and credible research to 

support careers guidance in HE. HECSU’s Careers 

Services and Diversity Report was published in August 

2003, and presented to AGCAS Biennial in September. 

• ProspectsNet’s first full licensee was the University of 

Birmingham CAS, which signed in the summer. By 

January 31, a further dozen CAS had signed up fully, 

and 30 others were in various states of pre-release. 

• The excellent work National Council for Work 

Experience director Liz Rhodes has pioneered bore 

fruit in the Autumn, when GSK’s work placements 

initiative was awarded the Professional Development 

Programme (PDP) Quality Mark jointly by NCWE and 

the University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC). 

• In the summer, the charity changed its name from CSU 

to HECSU, and the trading company from CSU Ltd to 

Graduate Prospects Ltd, aligning more closely with the 

main brand, Prospects. These changes went very 

smoothly and coincided with the 10th anniversary of 

the Prospects brand. 

At the end of the year, Mike Williams – Deputy CEO, 

Head of GIS and a stalwart of the sector for over 30 years 

– took early retirement, and the opportunity of a new job 

in his home town of Amsterdam. Mike will be much 

missed: he was that rare combination, a profound 

thinker about the nature of the job and a thorough and 

conscientious manager – a big picture and a detail man. 

He was the force behind so much that makes HECSU 

and Graduate Prospects the success they are today: he 

was instrumental in Prospects Planner developments, 

started the web site, developed Services for Graduates 

and the e-guidance software that flowed from it, and at 

the turn of the decade inspired the seminal document 

Careers Services: Technology and the Future. Its 

recommendations are shaping many careers services’ 

strategic thinking and website design. His will be a hard 

act to follow, and we wish him well. 

The work the Group engages in is only possible because 

of the outstanding ability and hard work of all the staff, of 

whom there are now around 114. It is their commitment 

and energy, their integrity and commitment to excellence 

that distinguishes us from our competitors and rivals. 

64 

Over the last 12 months, the Group has grown and 

developed in many ways, and below are just some of the 

highlights: 

• In summer 2003, Graduate Prospects launched 

getalife.org, to promote the benefits of working in the 

public sector. Welcomed by careers services and 

students alike, significant numbers of employers are 

using it successfully to recruit graduates. 

• Prospects.ac.uk continued to be developed and a new, 

more user-friendly home page was introduced. The 

site’s audited figures grew to 4.4m (3.7m) page 

impressions per month and 274,000 (194,000) unique 

users (Oct 2003 against Oct 2002). Unaudited figures 

for January 2004 show unique users has reached 

330,000 (202,000). 

• In June 2003, Graduate Prospects and the NUS signed 

an agreement for Graduate Prospects to be the NUS’s 

In 2004, UK Higher Education is in the throes of profound 

change, with the English Education Bill likely to introduce 

variable fees from 2006, and increase funding for 

Foundation Degrees. The other countries of the UK will 

be affected by these changes as well. In England, the 

regional agenda is ever more influential, and within HE, 

sectoral groups are coalescing around common issues. 

The challenges for HECSU and Graduate Prospects – and 

for our members and their students and graduates – in 

this new, more complex world are many and various, but 

I am confident that the group has developed and is 

developing products and services which will meet those 

challenges in the coming years. 

Mike Hill 

Chief Executive 

annual report - chief executive’s statement 2003/2004

Employment success for graduates 

despite social inequality 

According to research from the Open 

University, background characteristics 

have an influence on graduates’ success 

in the labour market, with mature 

graduates and those from the working 

class or ethnic minorities being 

disadvantaged. However, despite these 

social inequalities, higher education 

has still brought considerable success 

to these graduates. 

For example, around 70% of working class 

graduates were found to be in graduate level 

occupations a few years after graduation, ie 

jobs they would not have obtained had they 

not received their higher education 

qualifications. Despite some early 

difficulties in finding employment, Asian 

graduates were found to be performing 

better than their white counterparts; and 

although older graduates generally fared 

worse than younger graduates in the labour 

market, the vast majority of them still ended 

up in good jobs. 

For more information about the report 

Access to What? Converting educational 

opportunity into employment opportunity, by 

John Brennan and Tarla Shah, email 

cheri@open.ac.uk. 

European Framework for 

Work Experience 

European Framework for Work 

Experience (EFWE) is a project which 

aims to develop a European standard 

for the assessment and accreditation of 

employability skills developed through 

paid/unpaid work experience, 

undertaken by students whilst 

studying. 

EFWE aims to target: post-16 students 

who undertake work experience whilst 

studying, employer organisations including 

SMEs, careers services which help students 

in finding placements, and universities and 

further education organisations who are 

doing research in this area. The project is 

being co-ordinated by the Careers Research 

and Advisory Centre (CRAC), with 

partners coming from across the UK, 

Germany, Finland, Belgium, Spain and 

Romania. 

For more information, please contact 

Sherry Abuel-Ealeh, Contracts & Marketing 

Manager, Careers Research and Advisory 

Centre. 

Email: sherry.abuel-ealeh@crac.org.uk. 

Tel: 01223 448 538. 

Visa extensions for overseas 

students in Scotland 

As a measure to reverse population 

decline and attract fresh talent from 

overseas, the Scottish Executive has 

announced visa extensions for foreign 

students wishing to stay in Scotland 

after graduation. At present, graduates 

can stay until 31 October after their 

course completion. They will now be 

able to stay for up to two years beyond 

that October date. The scheme will be 

up and running by Summer 2005. 

Other measures announced include a new 

government-backed and funded scholarship 

scheme for overseas students to allow them 

to combine postgraduate study with work 

experience, and government funding to 

support universities to co-ordinate the 

recruitment of overseas students. 

The latest First Destination of Graduates 

survey results for 2001/02 show that 88% of 

continued on page 2 

Contents 

In Brief 1 

Editors notes 2 

Articles 3 

By Charlie Ball, Suzanne Heaven 

and Pearl Mok 

Good news for graduates in 3 

AGR Survey 

Working futures - forecast of 5 

employment prospects to 2012 

Student debt - term time 7 

employment and first 

destinations 

The Lambert Review and the 10 

graduate market 

Prospects Directory 13 

Salary and Vacancy 

Survey 

By Suzanne Heaven 

and Pearl Mok 

Salaries and vacancies by 14 

location 


job category 


type of employer 


subject of study 

Graduate Prospects provides products and services to all 

universities, most colleges of higher education and, 

increasingly, many colleges of further education with 

significant HE provision, as well as to thousands of 

graduate employers in the UK and Ireland. These 

products and services include: 

• managing and producing careers information materials 

for higher education, including the design and 

development of web-based information, and printing 

and distributing hundreds of thousands of sector 

briefings and careers information booklets each year 

• developing and managing Prospects Planner, the 

internationally-recognised computer-aided careers 

guidance system for higher education students and 

graduates 

• publishing labour market and other relevant statistics 

and research 

• giving financial support to the Association of Graduate 

Careers Advisory Services (AGCAS) for an approved 

range of projects and for the support of officers of the 

association (£235,000 per year) 

• undertaking a number of collaborative projects with 

AGCAS; the Universities and Colleges Admissions 

Service (UCAS); Universities UK and Standing 

Conference of College Principals (SCOP); the Careers 

Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC), the National 

Institute for Careers Education and Counselling 

(NICEC), and the British Council, amongst others. 

These include commissioning research, managing 

specific projects and producing joint publications and 

services 

• providing a range of support services for higher 

education careers services, including: running a 

weekly mailing service; producing the annual Graduate 

Careers Service Directory; the production of the higher 

education careers services journal Phoenix; supporting 

the publication of What Do Graduates Do?, and 

distributing international graduate directories 

• developing and managing the Prospects.ac.uk, the 

official national site for higher education careers 

guidance and information on careers, employment and 

postgraduate study and which in January 2004 had 

over 5m page accesses (unaudited) and 330,000 

unique users 

• hosting a part-time and temporary vacancies service 

for students on prospects.ac.uk, powered by 

hotrecruit.com 

• providing an e-mail service linking employer 

advertisers to targeted groups of students and 

graduates through Recruiter’s Desk and My Prospects 

• providing a computerised applicant database search 

facility for employers, through Recruiter’s Desk and 

My Prospects online CV 

• providing a text-messaging service linking employer 

advertisers to targeted groups of students, through 

Recruiter’s Desk and My Prospects 

• publishing the UK’s official graduate employer and 

postgraduate directories, Prospects Directory and 

Prospects Postgraduate Directory, and Prospects Pocket 

Directory, a Spring update to Prospects Directory 

• publishing a range of national magazines and vacancy 

publications in paper and on the web, for students, 

graduates and applicants to postgraduate study and 

research, including Prospects Today, e-Prospects, 

Prospects Finalist, Prospects Postgrad and Prospects 

Postgrad UK 

• publishing a range of targeted publications in paper 

and on the web, including sector specific titles 

covering Law, Work Experience, Public Services, 

Self-Employment, City and Finance, Technology and 

Engineering, and Retail and Leisure 

• entering into partnerships and collaborating with 

relevant organisations, including the Law Society, the 

Bar Council, the Small Business Service and the 

Teacher Training Agency (TTA) amongst others, to 

extend the range and quality of information to 

applicants, students and graduates contained in its 

commercial products 

Graduate Prospects also owns the National Council for 

Work Experience and its associated website, www.workexperience.org 

Graduate Prospects continued to invest 

resources into Moving Online, Status, Gradsouthwest (for 

the 14 HEIs in south west England), and has invested 

heavily in a new careers service administration system 

called Prospects Net, which was licensed to careers 

services during 2003-4. 

the activities of HECSU & Graduate Prospects 

Spring 2004 

Graduate 

Market Trends 

In Brief 

Plan the future of graduate recruitment with 

annual report - the activities of HECSU & Graduate Prospects 

annual report - trustees’ report and consolidated financial statements 5

Advertising Sales: Allan Brown, Head of Sales 

Review of the Year 

Our products and services continue to retain marketleading 

positions in terms of use and value for UK 

recruiters, according to recruiter research. This 

continued position of strength ensures we are in a 

better position than our key competitors in a time of 

economic difficulty. 

Sluggish economic growth in 2003 continued to put 

pressure on the recruitment advertising market, a 

continuation from 2002. The recruitment advertising 

market declined throughout the year. We did, however, 

see the GDP position improve in Q4 which, if sustained, 

will impact on the market in 2004. 

In line with this, graduate recruiters have reduced their 

intake for the second year in succession. This, combined 

with an increase in the number of graduating students, 

has reduced the need to market as extensively as in the 

past, reflected in reduced budgets. However, the public 

sector is one area where increased investment is being 

put into recruitment. 

Nonetheless, the strength of the product range, our 

reputation within the market and the Graduate Prospects 

brand itself continued to serve us well. Although pressure 

on Prospects Today was unrelenting, we retained a 

market-leading position in the recent graduate immediate 

vacancies market. 

The successful launch of getalife.org.uk, our new product 

for the public and not-for-profit sectors, demonstrates our 

ability to understand our markets and respond quickly. 

The increased exposure in this area resulted in year on 

year (YOY) growth of Prospects Public Services. Work 

Experience also saw YOY growth. 

The remainder of the final year portfolio continued to 

perform well in a challenging and very competitive 

market. In particular, Prospects Directory increased 

market share substantially. 

Increased pressure on recruiter budgets has been good 

news for electronic products. The lower entry costs and 

improved targeting of the products has seen budgets 

diverted into this area, resulting in e-commerce YOY 

growth in excess of 35%. Though this is good news, 

traditional paper revenues are put under pressure as the 

use of electronic media increases. On the other hand, it 

is also a good opportunity to acquire new customers 

through our electronic channels, then move them across 

to paper through structured account development. 

The continued development of our existing customer 

relationships resulting in improved product penetration is 

key for the coming year. This, combined with the 

continued pursuit of new markets and vertical customer 

groups, will improve our revenue streams and market 

share position, whilst developing the customers of 

tomorrow. 

Publishing: Jayne Rowley, Head of Publishing & Product Managers 

Product and project management 

September 2003 saw a major restructuring of the 

publishing department with the establishment of two 

separate product and project management teams. 

The product managers are responsible for the day-to-day 

running of the Prospects portfolio of publications, which 

form the backbone of Graduate Prospects’ commercial 

operations. Bringing the entire portfolio within the remit 

of a smaller team has facilitated closer control over 

procedures and processes, especially in the areas of print 

buying and scheduling. The product managers’ work isn’t 

entirely operational, however, as they work closely with 

the project managers on the development of new and 

existing products and services. 

The projects team was established to specialise in the 

analysis and development of new company initiatives, as 

well as advise and assist in the enhancement of existing 

products and services. To date work has been carried out 

on getalife.org.uk, Prospects Law, and developing 

relationships with key external bodies such as higher 

education institutions in the Republic of Ireland. 

Electronic services continue to play an important role in 

Graduate Prospects’ content provision. Over 370,000 

students and graduates now receive Prospects electronic 

newsletters, and Prospects content is available on the 

Career Zone section of the NUS site. 

The design of the Prospects portfolio was reviewed in 

2003 and a new template applied which has brought 

greater consistency to all publications. Student focus 

groups were conducted at Aberdeen and Nottingham 

and the findings were used to inform editorial and design 

approaches for 2003-2004. Our graphic designers have 

also produced original work for external bodies including 

the Learning and Teaching Support Network, the African 

and Caribbean Finance Forum, and UKGRAD. 

In January 2004, the advertising production department 

was merged with the e-commerce team to form a single 

ad processing department responsible for publications, 

web ads and processing advertisers’ messages to 

students and graduates. 

Content 

The content team produces original editorial material for 

all Prospects publications, parts of Prospects.ac.uk and 

e-mail services. It is responsible for graphic design in 

Prospects publications and for all advertising production 

and processing. 

6 

annual report - review of the year

Marketing: Julie Ingham, Head of Marketing Communications 

The work of the Marketing Communications 

department was dominated for much of the year by 

the decision to change the names of both the charity 

and trading company. (The charity changed from CSU 

to HECSU, and the trading company from CSU Ltd to 

Graduate Prospects Ltd.) The changeover had to be 

carefully planned and managed to ensure all our 

staff, customers and stakeholders knew what was 

happening and when, and importantly, understood 

the reasons behind the change. The department was 

involved in researching potential reaction to a 

change, testing potential names, developing a new 

brand identity for Graduate Prospects and managing 

the changeover in July 2003, which coincided with the 

10th anniversary of the Prospects brand. 

Changing the names of the company and charity has 

proved beneficial, enabling us to link more closely the 

trading company to its main brand Prospects, and to 

communicate more clearly the relationship between the 

charity and trading company. As a result of the 

changeover, each has started to develop its own unique 

and now separate identity. 

In 2003, Graduate Prospects launched its third new brand 

since Prospects was created in the early 1990s and the 

NCWE was acquired in 2001. The concepts for the Public 

Sector Getalife brand were developed by Manchesterbased 

brand design agency Cheetham Bell JWT, who 

also created the Prospects and NCWE branding. They 

have created a fresh and dynamic identity which is 

helping to attract graduates to careers in the public 

sector. 

A first for Graduate Prospects was the launch of the 

inaugural NCWE awards event in May 2003, which 

recognised excellence in organisations that offer work 

experience placements to HE students. Over 45 

companies entered the awards, which culminated in a 

lunch ceremony at the Mirabelle restaurant in London. 

The overall winner (from four categories) was George 

(ASDA). The second NCWE Awards will be held in May 

2004. 

Our profile in the media continued to grow throughout 

2003 and resulted in 544 press mentions across national, 

regional, trade and management media. The majority 

were generated through the issue of press releases 

covering diverse subjects such as What Do Graduates 

Do?, the launch of e-guidance chatrooms on 

Prospects.ac.uk, the results of research into the career 

expectations of final year students conducted by MORI, 

and the launch of getalife.org. The national press and the 

profile of the NCWE was considerably heightened 

through PR management and the proactive stance taken 

by NCWE director Liz Rhodes. 

During 2003, we commissioned MORI to conduct a 

second major piece of research with final year students 

to study their career planning behaviour. The results 

showed increasing numbers of students delaying their 

career search until after their final exams, and many had 

not visited their careers service by the mid-point of their 

final year (though many had engaged with their CAS in 

other ways). We will use these results to work with 

careers services to develop different communication 

strategies. 

Other highlights included sponsoring the Biennial AGCAS 

Conference, and exhibiting for the fourth year running at 

the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development 

Exhibition. 

review of the year 

annual report - review of the year 

7

National Council for Work Experience: Liz Rhodes MBE, Director 


The past year has seen the activities of NCWE develop 

and expand. Since much is going on in respect of student 

employability issues within HE, NCWE has focused its 

activities on getting messages across to employers that 

they need to become more involved in this debate if they 

wish to recruit the graduates with the skills they say they 

require within their organisations. 

NCWE believes the time has come to set standards for 

work experience and, during the course of the year, 

worked with GSK to develop a new student work 

placement standard for their 12-month placement 

programme for chemistry students. As a result, it was 

awarded the Professional Development Programme 

(PDP) Quality Mark jointly by NCWE and the University 

Vocational Awards Council (UVAC). Plans to extend this 

to other employers are now underway, as is a project 

with Nottingham University to do something similar with 

SMEs. 

In order to highlight current good practice, NCWE 

launched its Awards, which were well received. The 

overall winner was George at ASDA, who offer a range of 

placement opportunities to a high standard. Other 

winners included Dunster Castle, a National Trust 

property; Tony Gee & Partners, a small engineering 

company; and DASA, the Defence Analytical Service 

Agency. 

Work on the Leonardo-funded project, led by CRAC, 

continued. The aim is to develop a European Framework 

for Work Experience (EFWE) and it has become clear 

that the issues regarding the importance of work 

experience are similar across the partner countries in 

Europe to those in the UK. 

Finally, NCWE was increasingly contacted by the press 

during the past year seeking views on work experience 

issues, an indication that it is making some headway in 

promoting the importance of the topic. 

THE 

NATIONAL 

COUNCIL 

FOR 

WORK 

EXPERIENCE 

work-experience.org 

Postgraduate Business Unit: James Townsley, Manager 

The past year has been a successful one for the Unit. 

The three main areas – sales, data collection and 

postgraduate on-line application systems – have 

worked closely together to ensure a consistent level 

of high quality service to the sector. 

The sales team has increased from four to five over the 

year, and has been restructured in order to better serve 

our postgraduate advertisers. The team has been stable 

and combines strong sales experience with excellent 

sector and client knowledge. This has translated into 

increased revenue on many of the products in the 

postgraduate portfolio year on year. For example, 

Prospects Postgrad income increased by 15% compared 

with the previous financial year. 

The system for the collection of postgraduate data has 

been improved, with all information being provided 

online by the data compilers from a total of 225 UK 

institutions. Last year, the data appeared on a wide range 

of resources, including Prospects Postgraduate 

Directory, Prospects.ac.uk, the British Council’s 

Education UK web site and Guide to UK Education, as 

well as the University for Industry’s web site, Learn 

Direct. 

The development of postgraduate online application 

systems for HEIs continues to be a major element of the 

Postgraduate Business Unit’s activities. Last financial year 

saw 30 systems go live with many more in the development 

phase. These provide a fast, efficient and effective way 

for students and graduates to apply for postgraduate 

courses at UK institutions and are proving very well used 

by overseas applicants in particular. 

The Postgraduate Business Unit worked closely with a 

number of stakeholders in the HE sector, including CRAC 

(the Careers Research Advisory Centre) in relation to the 

publication of the Prospects Postgraduate Directory, and 

the British Council for the Education UK portfolio. In 

addition, useful relationships have been maintained with 

UCAS and the National Postgraduate Committee. 

8 


Prospects.ac.uk & the Web Team: Sinéad McGovern, Web Business 

Development Manager 

The web site was re-designed, re-structured and relaunched 

in 2002, and 2003 saw an enormous 

increase in traffic and user satisfaction following on 

from these changes. 

Unique users and page impressions have grown to their 

highest point ever, with unique users ABC-E audited in 

October 2003 at 274,984, and page impressions 4,486,724. 

In January 2004, the unaudited figures were 331,314 and 

5,181,264 respectively. 

The site is consistently ranked in the top 20 employment 

sites in the UK by visits and pages and has never dropped 

lower than number 15 in the last six months, reaching 

number 12 in January 2004 (Hitwise). The site is also 

highly rated for awareness and usage by students, well 

ahead of any competitors (MORI survey of finalists 2003). 

Prospects.ac.uk once again participated in the National 

Online Recruitment Audience Survey (NORAS), the only 

graduate recruitment site to do so. NORAS measures 

online recruitment sites by means of a traffic audit and a 

demographic survey conducted simultaneously. 

Prospects.ac.uk was ranked fifth out of 20 sites in terms 

of traffic in a list that included major generic jobsites 

such as Fish4Jobs and Workthing. The demographic data 

shows that Prospects users are mostly young, mainly new 

graduates, more than two-thirds of whom are actively 

looking for a job. 

The website has been subjected to annual major 

usability tests and ongoing smaller tests whenever 

changes are contemplated. Prospects.ac.uk now 

performs to a very high standard in these tests. We’re 

also working on making the site completely accessible to 

disabled users, and we hope to get accreditation for this 

in the future. Continuous testing will continue to be the 

driver of change on prospects.ac.uk, ensuring that it 

always puts its users first. We’ll also be putting in place a 

more sophisticated series of feedback measures to 

gauge user-satisfaction further. 

Usability-led changes this year include: 

• an easier-to-use navigation bar 

• cleverer use of graphics on the site 

• an updated design. 

There have also been some major changes to the 

content, including a new area for parents, and profiles of 

23 different industries that employ graduates. 


Student & Graduate Communications: Leon March, Manager 

The team maintained a focus on core activity and the 

segments most profitable to Graduate Prospects in the 

short and long term, while seeking to develop interests in 

other areas through effective marketing and strategic 

partnerships. 

Again we performed well in a very competitive and 

fragmented market. We significantly increased our 

penetration of the student/graduate market both online 

and offline. At the year end, we had over 500,000 

registered online users. This was achieved by increasing 

our Share of Voice, strengthening our relationship with 

CAS and ensuring our portfolio continued to meet the 

needs of our target users through effective research 

and development, service innovation and new 

technology. 

The ongoing development of Prospects.ac.uk and 

innovations within My Prospects will bring benefits to 

students and graduates, recruiters and the CAS. We will 

also see Prospects using digital TV to deliver careerrelated 

content to users off campus. 

Last summer, we entered into an exclusive agreement 

with the NUS to supply career-related content to 

nusonline.co.uk. Registrants with NUS website are also 

given the opportunity to sign up for Prospects services. 

This partnership complements the relationship we 

established with UCAS in 2002, and enables us to reach 

students much earlier in their HE careers. 

In the third quarter, we successfully delivered e- 

Prospects (our flagship e-mail communication tool) using 

new e-mail and event management software and 

hardware. The new software has enabled us to reach 

more students and graduates more efficiently, leading to 

a reduction in bounce-backs to well below the industry 

norm and improved student/graduate communications, 

through better analysis and campaign reporting. 


9

Information Development Department: Claire Basinger, Manager 


This year has seen the second year of operating under 

the Service Level Agreements agreed with AGCAS for the 

provision of the information which Graduate Prospects 

manages and publishes, in paper and on prospects.ac.uk. 

The second year has passed more smoothly than the 

first, with the process for the majority of products going 

well. 

The establishment of good working relationships at the 

operational level is facilitating this. A major success is 

that the complete database of the Occupational Profiles 

used in Prospects Planner was updated by the end of the 

year. 

The Law Careers Advice Network site, which is managed 

by Graduate Prospects on behalf of the consortium, has 

been transferred into the content management system, 

redesigned and restructured during the summer of 2003. 

It was relaunched in September ready for the AGCAS 

Biennial Conference. 

IDD staff played an active role in organising and 

managing the usability testing undertaken on 

prospects.ac.uk this year. Given the volume of IDDmanaged 

content on the site, 50% of the 

recommendations affected IDD content, the majority of 

which have now been implemented. 

Work has continued transferring prospects.ac.uk content 

into the content management system from other 

databases and systems. This has enhanced the way the 

content is presented, made it more consistent across the 

site and improved usability. 

The labour market information that is delivered to our 

various customers has been evaluated this year. The 

information published on prospects.ac.uk has become 

more student focused, and the more in-depth 

information transferred onto the Careers Services' Desk. 

The Careers Services' Desk itself – the website for our 

member services – has also been transferred into the 

content management system, redesigned and 

restructured, and was relaunched in March 2003. 

Information Technology: Mark Watts, Head of IT 

IT continued to expand and play a key role in supporting 

Graduate Prospects’ strategic and business goals as well 

as supporting the work of the careers services. A major 

aspect of the department’s work has involved rolling out 

the ProspectsNet administration system for careers 

services to c.40 institutions. The system allows careers 

services to administer online their employers, contacts, 

vacancies and events information. Students and 

graduates can access and interact with the information 

directly on their careers service website. 

Another major landmark was the release of the latest 

version of STATuS, the FDS desktop programme, which 

allows careers services to use it for their DLHE 

requirements. 

Our computer services infrastructure has expanded 

considerably, with our systems now running on loadbalanced, 

failsafe web application and database servers. 

We doubled the size of the dedicated, secure server 

room, with improved detection, monitoring, air 

conditioning and fire suppression systems. Last year, we 

provided continual 24/7 emergency call out technical 

support. 

The department has worked on many other significant 

areas during the year including: 

• Our in-house content management system that 

continues to be used and developed for 

prospects.ac.uk and other Graduate Prospects and 

third party websites 

• Rolling out PG online applications systems and email 

advice systems for institutions 

• Supporting the NICEC careers services templates, 

Prospects Planner, chat rooms, and bulletin boards. 

• Supporting, developing and hosting third party web 

based systems for Moving Online (www.mol.ac.uk), 

Centrica, Gradsouthwest (www.gradsouthwest.com), 

the UK Grad Programme (www.grad.ac.uk), AHUA 

(www.ahua.ac.uk) and Fedora (www.fedora.eu.org) 

• Implementing and supporting the MarketFirst bulk 

email system now used for much of our communications 

to students and graduates and careers services staff 

The department is at the forefront of implementing the 

use of project management techniques at Graduate 

Prospects, essential to continue to ensure that we deliver 

the right systems on time. 

10 


Personnel: Mildred Ross, Personnel Manager 

Personnel has benefited from stable membership in its 

team in 2003. Operationally, the growth in staff numbers 

has slowed in the last year with the number of staff 

employed standing at c.114 (including four work 

placement students). 

Investor in People accreditation has been high on the 

agenda and our initial diagnostic assessment highlighted 

some areas where internal communication mechanisms 

could be improved. This feedback was acted upon with 

a view to formal assessment in 2004. 

A major review of all job roles within the organisation 

was undertaken to ensure that the salary structure was 

still effective in recruiting and retaining high quality staff. 

The results of the review were implemented in August 

2003. 

Other significant areas of work have involved performance 

management issues and better reporting on absence 

from work. Both of these are intended to assist our 

managers in supporting their team members. 

The transfer of most staff from employment with HECSU 

to employment with Graduate Prospects Ltd has involved 

both a Trade Union and staff consultation exercise, which 

has been successfully completed. 

A culture of Health and Safety Awareness was reinforced 

through various events involving all staff and will be built 

upon for the future. 


Careers Services’ Liaison Team: Christine Tomkinson, Manager 

During the year, the CSLT became a cross-departmental 

team meeting on a monthly basis. Departmental 

representatives provided the CSLT officers – the visiting 

team – with current information about publications and 

Prospects.ac.uk to disseminate to staff in member 

services. This 

format also enabled 

the visiting team to 

provide more 

effective feedback 

to Graduate 

Prospects. 

The visiting team 

was reorganised 

and expanded to 

one full-time and 

three part-time 

members, which 

enabled full regional coverage: all members now receive 

at least one visit per year. The map indicates the visit 

areas. 

The team was successful in keeping careers staff abreast 

of developments at Graduate Prospects, encouraging 

them to promote publications and services. Collecting 

their views on products and services has enabled us to 

improve customer services. The introduction of a 

fortnightly e-mail update newsletter and a termly paper 

update were well received by services. The team 

established the agenda for each visit and the major areas 

that the team focused on during the year were: 

• Explaining major changes to the website that resulted 

from the usability review 

• Introducing Prospects Net to individual services and to 

larger groups at demonstration days 

• Encouraging services to provide customised Prospects 

Planner screens to direct students to their careers 

service 

• Providing feedback from services to better understand 

the MORI report findings 

• Identifying what type of publicity material would be 

most useful to services 

The introduction of a temporary Access reporting system 

for visits allowed feedback to be widely disseminated 

within Graduate Prospects. The team has been involved 

with and looks forward to the introduction of a webbased 

system in the near future. 


11

E-Guidance Services: Lucy Madahar, E-Guidance Manager 


The year witnessed the successful completion of the 

Services for Graduates project, which aimed to develop 

web-based career development services throughout the 

UK and RoI for graduates. The project developed a range 

of innovative guidance and information services, 

including careers advice via e-mail, online CV checking, 

a graduate message board and employer chatrooms. 

These interactive careers resources provided information 

and guidance to over 25,000 clients. The service also 

received Matrix accreditation, the first web-based career 

development service in the UK to do so. 

The end of the project culminated in the Services for 

Graduates conference. Targeted at guidance practitioners 

not only from HE, but also adult guidance in general, it 

showcased the range of interactive careers resources 

developed for graduates on prospects.ac.uk, and several 

of the local graduate projects developed by HE careers 

services and funded by the Services for Graduates 

project. 

and Diageo. Our most high profile chatroom was hosted 

by MI5, which attracted over 250 students and graduates. 

The E-Guidance Services also successfully ran its first 

virtual postgraduate fair using the chatroom technology, 

in conjunction with the University of Plymouth. 

2003 also witnessed the E-guidance Action Research 

project, which evaluated how e-guidance interventions 

could be managed within HE careers services, and 

whether ‘guidance’ could actually be provided via the 

Internet and email. Five HE careers services piloted e- 

guidance software developed by Graduate Prospects. 

The research outcomes were evaluated externally by 

NICEC Fellow Marcus Offer and by Graduates Prospects’ 

E-Guidance Manager. The results are expected to identify 

strategies for managing e-guidance interventions, not just 

within HE careers services but also with other IAG 

providers in the UK. 

Its achievements continued during 2003 through the 

creation of E-Guidance Services, whose role is two-fold: 

1. to address the career development needs of recent 

graduates and provide them with the necessary 

support and guidance structures post-graduation; 

2. to become the leading provider of web-based e- 

guidance technology, providing examples of best 

practice to other vocational guidance providers. 

The key development for E-Guidance Services was the 

increasing popularity of the graduate employer 

chatrooms. Running every Wednesday afternoon, the 

chatrooms have been hosted by several well-known 

companies and individuals including Dr Denis MacShane 

MP (Minister for Europe), PricewaterhouseCoopers, BT 

HECSU Research: Jane Artess, Research Manager 

Since September 2003, the key task has been 

to develop a research strategy document spanning 2003- 

2006. This has enabled the research ambitions of HECSU 

to be articulated in relation to the charitable object, and 

has also publicised the work of HECSU in disseminating 

knowledge that is of interest to the sector as a whole. 

I have also taken over the management of HECSUsponsored 

research projects, notably the work being 

undertaken by University of Leeds into the Employability 

and Progression of full-time UK Masters students, and the 

Seven Years On project being continued by the 

Universities of Warwick and the West of England. Two 

conferences are planned for 2004 to disseminate findings 

from these projects. 

Arising partly from earlier HECSU-funded work 

concerned with student diversity, I began developing a 

new project aimed to enhance careers 

services' work with international students. 

Finally, a PR and marketing budget has been allocated 

to HECSU to promote its research ambitions. 

12 


Higher Education Careers Services Unit 

(A company limited by guarantee) 

Registered number 03155620 Charity number 1055300 

Legal and administration details 

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) is a 

company limited by guarantee and a registered charity 

(governed by its memorandum and articles of 

association) which was incorporated on 1 August 1996. 

The organisation had previously operated as an 

unincorporated association. On 1 August 1996 the 

unincorporated association transferred all of its assets 

and liabilities amounting to £2,497,713 by deed of gift to 

HECSU. 

HECSU provides support and assistance to the careers 

advisory services of its member institutions. This support 

is provided through the publication of graduate 

employment directories, vacancy and statistical 

publications and the provision of specialist career 

guidance and administrative software. Membership is 

open to all higher education institutions and is by 

subscription. 

Address and registered office: 

Prospects House 

Booth Street East 

Manchester 

M13 9EP 

31 January 2004 

The company’s Board of Trustees is responsible for its 

affairs. The Board is appointed as follows: 

• 14 trustees appointed by UUK (Universities UK) 

• 1 trustee appointed by SCOP (Standing Conference 

of Principals) 

• 3 trustees co-opted by the Board 

The trustees constitute directors of the company for 

Companies Act purposes. At the year end, the process of 

appointing one further member to the Board was still 

underway. 

Bankers: 

Principal officers: 

Auditors: 

National Westminster Bank plc 

115 Deansgate 

Manchester 

M3 2BG 

Mr M Hill Chief Executive 

S Bluck Financial Controller 

KPMG LLP 

St James’ Square 

Manchester 

M2 6DS 

Trustees’ report and consolidated financial statements 

Company registration number: 03155620 

Charity registration number: 1055300 

Solicitors: 

DLA 

101 Barbirolli Square 

Manchester 

M2 3DL 

Investment advisors: 

Castlefield Investments 

3rd Floor 

Exchange Square 

Manchester 

M4 3TR 

Members of the board 

Professor R F Boucher – Chairman 

Mr A Nelson 

Dr J Cater 

Mr H T B Smith 

Ms A Hodgson (appointed 27 November 2003) 

Mr P Redmond 

Dr G Copland 

Mrs S Reeves (resigned 27 November 2003) 

Mr B Gilworth 

Mrs L Ali 

Dr J Nicholls 

Professor G Slater (resigned 5 June 2003) 

Professor E Thomas 

Ms C Harvey (resigned 5 June 2003) 

Professor D Melville 

Mr S Denton 

Mr J Gough 

Mr T Butler 

Professor J Stringer 

Mrs L G Buckham (appointed 15 July 2003) 

Professor C E King (appointed 24 September 2003) 


13

Trustees report 

The trustees present their annual report and the audited 

consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 

January 2004. 

Legal and administrative details 

Details of the registered office, trustees, principal officers 

and other relevant information are given on page 13. 

The governing documents of the company are its 

Memorandum and Articles of Association. The financial 

statements have been drawn up in accordance with the 

Statement of Recommended Practice for Accounting and 

Reporting by Charities (SORP) 2000, and comply with the 

current statutory requirements. 

Objects of the charity 

HECSU’s charitable object is: ‘The advancement of the 

education of students and graduates of any 

establishment of higher education which is a subscriber 

to the company by supporting and assisting the work of 

the careers advisory services of such subscribers.’ 

Grant making policy 

Grants are made in line with the charitable object. 

Over the last year, HECSU’s policy has been to pay 

monies directly to the Association of Graduate Careers 

Advisory Services (AGCAS) to help support careers 

services, and to make payments to AGCAS for specific 

purposes, namely educational bursaries and support of 

the AGCAS web site. HECSU has funded the distribution 

of paper-based careers advice and information materials 

to students and graduates via HE careers services. Finally, 

HECSU has funded relevant research and labour market 

information collation, and disseminated the findings. 

The board has set up a Research Panel and appointed a 

Research Manager, with the aim of widening the range of 

potential projects to fund, supported by a formal grantmaking 

process. The Research Manager has developed a 

research strategy, in connection with stakeholders, to 

guide the decision-making of the Panel, and all bids for 

funding have to meet the appropriate criteria as outlined. 

The Research Panel consists of four HECSU trustees, a 

co-opted research expert, the Research Manager and the 

CEO. It meets formally every quarter, and reports to the 

full HECSU board. 

Organisational structure 

The board of trustees have overall administrative 

responsibility. They meet twice per year to consider 

reports and papers from the organisation’s management. 

Day to day responsibility is delegated to the Chief 

Executive, supported by a team of senior managers. 

No staff or management are HECSU trustees. 

HECSU owns Graduate Prospects Limited the 

commercial subsidiary. A separate board, made up of six 

non-executive directors (all trustees of the charity) and 

three executive directors, administers Graduate 

Prospects Ltd. 

A small but decreasing number of staff work solely for 

HECSU, while a larger number work for HECSU and 

Graduate Prospects Limited, and their costs are allocated 

accordingly. The charity does not depend on any unpaid 

volunteers, nor does it have any other income other than 

that declared in the accounts. 

Financial results 

HECSU incurred £880,710 of charitable expenditure in the 

year, plus £207,510 of management and administrative 

expenditure. The main areas of charitable expenditure 

were as follows: 

• distributions to AGCAS, an educational charity 

• provision free of charge of information booklets to 

graduate careers services 

• funding of educational research 

The main source of income for the group is from its 

subsidiary, Graduate Prospects Limited, which generates 

income from publishing. This amounted to over £5 

million in the year. The main other source of income was 

£182,922 of annual contributions from academic 

institutions. 

The charity’s balance sheet total is £8,617,502. This is 

represented mainly by fixed assets, an equity investment, 

cash, and its investment in Graduate Prospects Limited. 

These assets are sufficient to fund current and future 

expected expenditure. 

HECSU is actively seeking new projects to support. 

Several such projects have already commenced. It has 

appointed a Research Manager to be responsible for 

identifying and progressing such projects. 

Investment policy and performance 

In 2000, HECSU invested £3 million in an equity 

investment managed by Castlefield Investments. The 

value of this investment at 31 January 2004 of £2,817,360 

is reflected in the accounts. This investment was 

acquired in accordance with the powers available to the 

trustees. The charity’s other funds are invested in shortterm 

and medium-term deposits. 

Reserves strategy 

HECSU’s board agreed a Reserves Strategy, the key 

elements of which were: 

• the setting of a target of increasing annual charitable 

spending to £1.4m per annum, focusing on long-term 

research projects 

• the setting up of a Research Panel which would 

identify and progress potential research projects 

• the setting of upper and lower free reserve limits of 

one year’s and six months charitable spend 

respectively 

• the setting up of a Research Fund, using existing 

reserves, to fully cover the full anticipated spend of 

long-term research projects 

• the setting up of a strategic investment reserve to fund 

potential investment into Graduate Prospects Limited 

• Graduate Prospects Limited to make future payments 

to HECSU via gift aid 

14 

annual report - trustees’ report and consolidated financial statements

Trustees report (continued) 

HECSU has a close and continuing relationship with 

AGCAS. This body has been undergoing some 

considerable change and has kept HECSU informed of its 

changes in structure, governance and legal status. 

HECSU and AGCAS have agreed a series of Service Level 

Agreements to regulate relations between the two 

bodies. HECSU has received legal opinion that AGCAS 

remains a suitable recipient of HECSU funding. 

Unrestricted reserves were £8,200,035 as at 31 January 

2004 (2003: £8,521,165). 

Risk management 

Each year a budget is presented to, and agreed by, the 

board of trustees. The budget process includes a review 

of the risks facing the organisation, in line with its 

objectives. 

A formal risk assessment, supported by an outside 

independent expert, was initiated in September 2003, 

and this will serve as the basis for a formal ongoing risk 

assessment process. A presentation was made to the 

board in November 2003, securing the involvement of 

board members. An internal risk management team has 

been formed to co-ordinate activity and embed the 

process in the organisation. The team will report 

regularly to the board. 

Principal activities 

The company and the group’s principal activities are 

publishing and software support. During the year here 

were no material changes to the policies pursued by the 

company. 

Results 

The group had a negative net movement in funds of 

£321,130. The funds carried forward at 31 January 2004 

amounted to £8,200,035. 

Trustees 

All trustees are guarantors of the company with a 

maximum liability of £1 each. 

Auditors 

In accordance with Section 384 of the Companies Act 

1985, a resolution for the re-appointment of KPMG LLP as 

auditors of the company is to be proposed at the 

forthcoming Annual General Meeting. 

By order of the board 

Professor RF Boucher - Trustee 



Manchester 

M13 9EP 

Statement of trustees’ responsibilities 

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial 

statements for each financial year which give a true and 

fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and the 

group and of the excess of expenditure over income for 

that period. In preparing those financial statements, the 

trustees are required to: 

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply 

them consistently; 

• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable 

and prudent; 

• state whether applicable accounting standards have 

been followed, subject to any material departures 

disclosed and explained in the financial statements; 

• prepare the financial statements on the going concern 

basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the 

charity will continue in business. 

The trustees are responsible for maintaining proper 

accounting records which disclose with reasonable 

accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity 

and which enable them to ensure that the financial 

statements comply with the Companies Act 1985. They 

have general responsibility for taking such steps as are 

reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the 

charitable company and the group and to prevent and 

detect fraud and other irregularities. 


15

Auditors report 

Independent auditors’ report to the members of 

Higher Education Careers Services Unit (A company 

limited by guarantee) 

We have audited the financial statements on pages 17 

to 30. 

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s 

members, as a body, in accordance with Section 235 of 

the Companies Act 1985. Our audit work has been 

undertaken so that we might state to the charitable 

company’s members those matters we are required to 

state to the members in our auditor’s report and for no 

other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we 

do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other 

than the charitable company and the charitable 

company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for 

this report, or for the opinions we have formed. 

Respective responsibilities of trustees and auditors 

The trustees, who are also the directors of Higher 

Education Careers Services Unit for the purposes of 

company law, are responsible for preparing the trustees’ 

report and, as described on page 15, the financial 

statements, in accordance with applicable United 

Kingdom law and accounting standards. Our responsibilities, 

as independent auditors, are established in the United 

Kingdom by statute, the Auditing Practices Board and by 

our profession’s ethical guidance. 

We report to you our opinion as to whether the financial 

statements give a true and fair view and are properly 

prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 1985. 

We also report to you if, in our opinion, the trustees’ 

report is not consistent with the financial statements, if 

the charity has not kept proper accounting records, if we 

have not received all the information and explanations 

we require for our audit, or if information specified by 

law regarding directors’ remuneration and transactions 

with the group are not disclosed. 

Basis of audit opinion 

We conducted our audit in accordance with Auditing 

Standards issued by the Auditing Practices Board. An 

audit includes examination, on a test basis, of evidence 

relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the financial 

statements. It also includes an assessment of the 

significant estimates and judgements made by the 

trustees in the preparation of the financial statements, 

and of whether the accounting policies are appropriate 

to the charitable group’s circumstances, consistently 

applied and adequately disclosed. 

We planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all 

the information and explanations which we considered 

necessary in order to provide us with sufficient evidence 

to give reasonable assurance that the financial 

statements are free from material misstatement, whether 

caused by fraud or other irregularity or error. In forming 

our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of 

the presentation of information in the financial 

statements. 

Opinion 

In our opinion the financial statements give a true and 

fair view of the state of the affairs of the charitable 

company and the group as at 31 January 2004 and of the 

group’s incoming resources and application of resources, 

including its income and expenditure, in the year then 

ended and have been properly prepared in accordance 

with the Companies Act 1985. 

KPMG LLP Chartered Accountants Registered Auditor 

Consolidated summary income and expenditure account 

Note 2004 2003 

£ £ 

Gross income of continuing operations 324,466 305,921 

Non charitable trading activities: 

net (expenditure)/income from continuing 

activities 3 (41,440) 199,512 

(41,440) 199,512 

Net income of continuing operations 283,026 505,433 

Total expenditure of continuing operations 4 (1,088,220) (973,813) 

Net expenditure for the year (805,194) (468,380) 

16 


The summary income and expenditure account is derived from the statement of financial activities where 

detailed analysis of the income and expenditure is provided. 

Turnover of non-charitable trading activities amounted to £5,265,065 (2003: £5,848,561). A detailed analysis of the 

trading results is shown in note 3. 

Income and expenditure totals are shown after eliminating inter-company trading. 

Consolidated statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 January 2004 

Note 2004 2003 

£ £ 

Incoming resources 

Incoming resources from activities for 

generating funds 

- Publications 3,109 15,941 

- Annual contributions 182,922 199,046 

Activities for generating funds 186,031 214,987 

Commercial trading operations 5,265,065 5,432,175 

Investment income 8 130,200 158,921 

Total incoming resources 5,581,296 5,806,083 

Less: cost of generating funds: 

Commercial trading operations (5,298,270) (5,300,650) 

Net incoming resources available 

for charitable application 283,026 505,433 

Charitable expenditure 

Grants payable in furtherance of the 

charity’s object 4 (274,839) (188,145) 

Costs of activities in furtherance of the 

charity’s object 4 (605,871) (557,750) 

Resources expended on managing and 

administering the charity 4 (207,510) (227,918) 

Total charitable expenditure (1,088,220) (973,813) 

Total resources expended (6,386,490) (6,274,463) 

Net outgoing resources (805,194) (468,380) 

Gains/(losses) on revaluations of investment assets 12 484,064 (542,558) 

Net movement in funds 7 (321,130) (1,010,938) 

Total unrestricted funds brought forward 8,521,165 9,532,103 

Total unrestricted funds carried forward 8,200,035 8,521,165 

All funds are unrestricted income funds and relate to continuing operations. 


17

Consolidated balance sheet at 31 January 2004 

Note 2004 2003 

£ £ £ £ 

Fixed assets 

Tangible assets 11 1,885,754 1,970,555 

Investments 12 2,817,360 2,333,296 

4,703,114 4,303,851 

Current assets 

Stocks 13 15,466 4,665 

Debtors 14 673,530 647,601 

Cash at bank and in hand 3,987,722 4,762,954 

4,676,718 5,415,220 

Creditors: amounts falling due 

within one year 15 (1,179,797) (1,197,906) 

Net current assets 3,496,921 4,217,314 

Net assets 8,200,035 8,521,165 

Represented by: 

Unrestricted funds 8,200,035 8,521,165 

These financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on 12 May 2004 and were signed on its behalf 

by: 


Trustee 

18 


Charitable company balance sheet at 31 January 2004 

Note 2004 2003 

£ £ £ £ 

Fixed assets 

Tangible assets 11 1,556,434 1,599,702 

Investments 12 3,417,360 2,933,296 

4,973,794 4,532,998 

Current assets 

Debtors 14 359,300 276,598 

Cash at bank and in hand 3,987,722 4,603,882 

4,347,022 4,880,480 

Creditors: amounts falling 

due within one year 15 (703,314) (807,942) 

Net current assets 3,643,708 4,072,538 

Net assets 8,617,502 8,605,536 

Represented by: 

Unrestricted funds 8,617,502 8,605,536 

These financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on 12 May 2004 and were signed on its behalf 

by: 


Trustee 

Consolidated cash flow statement for the year ended 31 January 2004 

Note 2004 2003 

£ £ £ £ 

Cash outflow from 

operating activities (833,348) (458,168) 

Returns on investments and 

servicing of finance 

Investment income received 130,200 158,921 

Capital expenditure and 

financial investment 

Purchase of tangible fixed assets (181,533) (373,157) 

Receipts from repayments of CVCP loan - 20,000 

(181,533) (353,157) 

Decrease in cash in the year 18 (884,681) (652,404) 


19

Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds 

for the year ended 31 January 2004 

2004 2003 

Note £ £ 

Decrease in cash in the year (884,681) (652,404) 

Movement in net funds in the year (884,681) (652,404) 

Net funds at the start of the year 18 4,762,954 5,415,358 

Net funds at the end of the year 18 3,878,273 4,762,954 

Reconciliation of net resources to cash flow from operating activities 

for the year ended 31 January 2004 

2004 2003 

£ £ 

Net outgoing resources (805,194) (468,380) 

Increase in stocks (10,801) (1,445) 

(Increase)/decrease in debtors (25,929) 15,842 

Decrease in creditors (127,558) (113,369) 

Depreciation 262,502 266,849 

Loss on disposal of fixed assets 3,832 1,256 

Net investment income (130,200) (158,921) 

Net cash outflow from operating activities (833,348) (458,168) 

20 


Notes (forming part of the financial statements) 

1 Status of charitable company and liability 

of Trustees 

Higher Education Careers Services Unit is a registered 

charity and a company limited by guarantee. Each trustee 

undertakes to contribute to the assets of the company in 

the event of it being wound up. This sum shall not exceed 

£1 each. 

2 Accounting policies 

The following accounting policies have been applied 

consistently in dealing with items which are considered 

material in relation to the group’s financial statements. 

The group has followed the transitional arrangements of 

FRS 17 ‘Retirement Benefits’ in these financial statements. 

Basis of preparation 

The financial statements have been prepared in 

accordance with applicable accounting standards, the 

Companies Act 1985, in accordance with the Statement of 

Recommended Practice for Accounting and Reporting by 

Charities (SORP) issued in October 2000, and under 

historical cost accounting rules, except for the revaluation 

of listed investments. 

Basis of consolidation 

The consolidated financial statements include financial 

statements of the charitable company and its subsidiary 

undertakings made up to 31 January 2004. The 

acquisition method of accounting has been adopted. 

Under Section 230(4) of the Companies Act 1985 and 

paragraph 304 of SORP 2000 the charitable company is 

exempt from the requirement to present its own 

Statement of Financial Activities or income and 

expenditure account. 

Investments 

In the company’s financial statements, investments in 

subsidiary undertakings are stated at cost less amounts 

written off. 

Listed investments are included at market value. The 

movements in market value are shown in the 

consolidated Statement of Financial Activities as an 

unrealised gain or loss on investment assets. 

Tangible fixed assets and depreciation 

Depreciation is provided to write off the cost less the 

estimated residual value of tangible fixed assets by equal 

instalments over their estimated useful economic lives as 

follows: 

Buildings - 2% per annum 

Printing equipment - 10% per annum 

Plant and computer 

equipment - 33.33% per annum 

Fixtures and fittings - 20% - 33.33% per 

annum 

Stocks and work in progress 

Stocks and work in progress are stated at the lower of 

cost and net realisable value. 

Unrestricted funds 

These are funds which can be used in accordance with 

charitable objects at the discretion of the trustees. 

Incoming resources 

Income from commercial activities and annual 

contributions are included in the period in which the 

group becomes entitled to receipt. 

Interest receivable 

Interest is included when receivable by the group. 

Resources expended 

Resources expended are included in the Statement of 

Financial Activities on an accruals basis. Certain 

expenditure which is directly attributable to specific 

activities has been included in those cost categories. 

Certain other costs, which are attributable to more than 

one activity, are apportioned across cost categories on the 

basis of an estimate of the proportion of time spent by 

staff on those activities. 

Taxation 

The company is a registered charity and by virtue of its 

trading activities being in fulfilment of the objects of the 

charitable company, the charitable company is exempt 

from corporation tax on all charitable activities. The 

charge for taxation on the subsidiary company’s non 

charitable activities is based on the result for the year. 

Post-retirement benefits 

The group participates in two pension schemes providing 

benefits based on final pensionable pay. The assets of 

these schemes are held separately from those of the 

group. As the company is unable to identify its share of 

the underlying assets and liabilities of these schemes on a 

consistent and reasonable basis it therefore, as required 

by FRS 17 ‘Retirement Benefits’, accounts for the schemes 

as if they were defined contribution schemes. As a result, 

the amount charged to the profit and loss account 

represents contributions payable to the schemes in 

respect of the accounting period. 

Jointly conducted activities 

The group’s share of surpluses arising on jointly 

conducted activities has been included on a receivable 

basis. 

Cash 

Cash, for the purpose of the cash flow statement, 

comprises cash in hand and deposits repayable on 

demand, less overdrafts repayable on demand. 

Leases 

Operating lease rentals are charged to the profit and loss 

account on a straight line basis over the period of the 

lease. 


21

3 Net income from trading activities of subsidiaries 

The charitable company has one wholly owned trading subsidiary which is incorporated in the United Kingdom. Graduate 

Prospects Limited (formerly CSU Limited) operates in the publishing and software support industry. The company pays all 

its profits to Higher Education Careers Services Unit by gift aid. A summary of the trading results is shown below. 

2004 2003 

£ £ 

Turnover 5,265,065 5,848,561 

Cost of sales (2,526,155) (1,836,130) 

Gross profit 2,738,910 4,012,431 

Selling and distribution costs (1,525,997) (1,742,965) 

Administration expenses (1,246,118) (2,137,941) 

Net interest (payable)/receivable (8,235) 67,987 

Net (loss)/profit (41,440) 199,512 

Gift Aid payment to 

Higher Education Careers Services Unit - (217,621) 

Loss absorbed by subsidiary (41,440) (18,109) 

The assets and liabilities 

of the subsidiary were: 

2004 2003 

£ £ 

Fixed assets 329,325 370,861 

Current assets 678,930 784,268 

Creditors: amounts falling 

due within one year (872,840) (978,274) 

Total net assets 135,415 176,855 

22 


4 Analysis of resources expended 

Grant expenditure 

2004 2003 

Recipient: £ £ 

NICEC 20,013 56,732 

Hero 21,013 20,500 

NPC research - 12,000 

Cheri - 25,875 

Lifelong Learning 77,988 38,000 

Cas & Diversity 70,000 14,348 

UUK - 20,000 

LTSN 21,000 - 

Moving On 32,645 - 

Merseyside Diversity Project 32,000 - 

Other 180 690 

274,839 188,145 

Grants were made for the following: 

2004 2003 

£ £ 

Research in the furtherance of charity’s objects 253,826 146,955 

Provision of support to member institutions 21,013 41,190 

274,839 188,145 

2004 2003 

£ £ 

Direct charitable expenditure: 

Distributions to AGCAS 239,069 224,586 

AGCAS information booklets and support activities 366,802 333,164 

605,871 557,750 

AGCAS is a registered charity based at the University of Sheffield, which engages in similar activities to those of HECSU. 

2004 2003 

Management and administration expenditure: £ £ 

Salaries and related costs 138,697 52,063 

Premises costs 16,191 7,179 

Other 52,622 43,974 

Exceptional cost (see note 7) - 124,702 

207,510 227,918 

5 Remuneration of trustees 

None of the trustees, nor any persons connected with them, received any remuneration or were 

reimbursed any expenses in respect of their services to the group in the current or preceding year. 


23

6 Staff numbers and costs 

The average number of persons employed by the group (excluding trustees) during the year, 

analysed by category was as follows: 

Number of employees 

2004 2003 

Office and management 92 93 

The aggregate payroll costs of these 

persons were as follows: 

2004 2003 

£ £ 

Wages and salaries 2,343,353 2,158,667 

Social security costs 182,328 157,147 

Other pension costs (see note 16) 126,062 40,926 

2,651,743 2,356,740 

Remuneration of higher paid staff earning in excess of £50,000, excluding employer’s pension contributions 

were in the following ranges: 

2004 2003 

£ £ 

£50,000-£60,000 1 1 

£70,000-£80,000 1 1 

2 2 

All employees earning more than £50,000 participated in the pension scheme. 

7 Net movement in funds 

Net movement in funds is stated 

2004 2003 

£ £ 

after charging: 

Auditor’s remuneration: 

Audit services – group 11,400 11,000 

Audit services – parent 6,000 6,000 

Depreciation 262,502 266,849 

Other operating lease rentals 14,945 10,200 

Loss on sale of tangible fixed assets 3,832 1,256 

Exceptional cost relating to write off of 

pension prepayment - 124,702 

24 


8 Investment income 

2004 2003 

Group Charitable Group Charitable 

company 

company 

£ £ £ £ 

Bank interest 

- charitable company 138,435 138,435 90,934 84,825 

- trading subsidiaries (8,235) - 67,987 - 

130,200 138,435 158,921 84,825 

9 Jointly conducted activities 

Together with AGCAS and the Association of Graduate Recruiters, the group is involved in the organisation of a series of 

specialist fairs and career conferences. The group’s share of the income and expenditure on any event is generally one third. 

10 Covenanted payments received from subsidiary undertakings 

The company’s trading subsidiary undertaking did not gift aid a payment to the Higher Education Careers Services Careers Unit 

in this accounting period due to the generation of taxable losses. In the prior year a gift aid payment was made of a sum equal 

to taxable profits of the company for that year of £217,621. 

11 Tangible fixed assets 

Group 

Freehold Printing Plant and Fixtures and Total 

buildings equipment computer fittings 

equipment 

£ £ £ £ £ 

Cost 

At beginning of year 1,750,704 136,061 1,204,542 222,398 3,313,705 

Additions - 87,955 87,243 6,335 181,533 

Disposals - (64,584) - (2,131) (66,715) 

At end of year 1,750,704 159,432 1,291,785 226,602 3,428,523 

Depreciation 

At beginning of year 172,178 119,968 878,470 172,534 1,343,150 

Charge for the year 35,014 23,101 178,486 25,901 262,502 

On disposals - (61,224) - (1,659) (62,883) 

At end of year 207,192 81,845 1,056,956 196,776 1,542,769 

Net book value 

At 31 January 2004 1,543,512 77,587 234,829 29,826 1,885,754 

At 31 January 2003 1,578,526 16,093 326,072 49,864 1,970,555 


25

11 Tangible fixed assets (continued) 

The group net book value at 31 January 2004 represnets fixed asssets used for: 

Freehold Printing Plant and Fixtures and Total 

buildings equipment computer fittings 

equipment 

£ £ £ £ £ 

Direct charitable 

purposes 1,543,512 - 3,805 9,117 1,556,434 

Other purposes 

Management and 

administration - 77,587 231,024 20,709 329,320 

1,543,512 77,587 234,829 29,826 1,885,754 

Charitable company 

Freehold Plant and Fixtures and Total 

buildings computer fittings 

equipment 

£ £ £ £ 

Cost 

At beginning of year 1,750,704 15,302 32,348 1,798,354 

Additions - 1,365 529 1,894 

Disposals - - (465) (465) 

At end of year 1,750,704 16,667 32,412 1,799,783 

Depreciation 

At beginning of year 172,178 9,337 17,137 198,652 

Charge for year 35,014 3,525 6,484 45,023 

Disposals - - (326) (326) 

At end of year 207,192 12,862 23,295 243,349 

Net book value 

At 31 January 2004 1,543,512 3,805 9,117 1,556,434 

At 31 January 2003 1,578,526 5,965 15,211 1,599,702 

26 


12 Investments 

Group 2004 

Indirect investment in quoted UK investments 

£ 

Acquisition at cost 3,000,000 

Net loss on revaluation at 31 January 2004 (182,640) 

Market value at 31 January 2004 2,817,360 

Company Shares in Indirect investment Total 

subsidiary 

in quoted UK 

undertakings 

investments 

£ £ £ 

At 31 January 2003 600,000 2,333,296 2,933,296 

Net gains on revaluation - 484,064 484,064 

Market value at 31 January 2004 600,000 2,817,360 3,417,360 

The following companies, all of which are registered in England, are wholly owned by the company, either 

directly or indirectly. 

Principal activity Percentage of Shareholder’s £Profit/(loss) 

ordinary share funds (deficit) for the year 

capital held at 31 January 

2004 

CSU (Publications) Ltd* Dormant 100% 435,035 - 

CSU (Software Support) Ltd* Dormant 100% (239,878) - 

Campus Print Ltd* Dormant 100% (148,038) - 

National Council for 

Work Experience* Dormant Sole member - - 

£ 

Graduate Prospects Limited 

Publishing and 

software support 100% 135,415 (41,440) 

*Share capital held by Graduate Prospects Limited 

In the opinion of the directors the value of the investments is not less than that stated in the financial statments. 


27

13 Stocks 

Group 2004 2003 

£ £ 

Work in progress 15,466 4,665 

The charitable company holds no stocks. 

14 Debtors 

2004 Charitable 2003 Charitable 

Group company Group company 

£ £ £ £ 

Trade debtors 510,665 7,866 473,760 11,602 

Other debtors 78,358 2,200 65,587 15,147 

Amounts owed by 

subsidiary undertakings - 349,234 - 249,849 

Prepayments and 

accrued income 84,507 - 108,254 - 

673,530 359,300 647,601 276,598 

All debtors fall due within one year 

15 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 

2004 2003 

Group Charitable Group Charitable 

company 

company 

£ £ £ £ 

Bank overdraft 109,449 - - - 

Trade creditors 155,279 - 282,453 - 

Other creditors 317,635 247,566 470,238 431,877 

Accruals and 

deferred income 597,434 455,748 445,215 376,065 

1,179,797 703,314 1,197,906 807,942 

28 


15 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (continued) 

Group Charitable 

Company 

£ £ 

Deferred income 

Balance at beginning of year 87,620 87,620 

Amount released to incoming resources (87,620) (87,620) 

Amount deferred in year 97,295 97,295 

Balance at end of year 97,295 97,295 

Deferred income comprises contribution for membership services to be provided in future accounting periods. 

16 Pension arrangements 

The employees of the group are members of either the University of Manchester Superannuation Scheme (UMSS) or the 

Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). These schemes provide benefits based on final pensionable pay, contributions being 

charged to the profit and loss account so as to spread the cost of pensions over employees’ working lives with the group. The 

schemes are defined benefit schemes which are externally funded and the assets of the schemes are held separately from the 

group. The contributions are determined by a qualified actuary on the basis of triennial valuations using the aggregate method. 

The pension costs are assessed using the projected unit method. The assumptions and other data, which have the most 

significant effect on the determination of the contribution levels are as follows: 

UMSS 

USS 

Investment returns per annum 5.2% 5.5% 

Salary scale increases per annum 3.4% 3.5% 

Pension increases per annum 2.4% 2.5% 

Market value of assets at date of last valuation £205m £18,815m 

Proportion of members’ accrued benefits covered 

by the actuarial value of the assets 152% 108% 

Date of latest actuarial valuation 31 July 2001 31 March 1999 

As a result of the surplus identified in the latest actuarial valuations, the principal employer enjoyed a contributions holiday that 

ended part way through the year. 

In total, the contributions paid by the group during the period were £126,062 (2003: £40,926). There were no prepaid or 

accrued contributions at the end of either the current or preceding year. 

Whilst the company continues to account for pension costs in accordance with Statement of Standard Accounting Practice 24 

“Accounting for pension costs”, under Financial Reporting Standard 17 “Retirement benefits”, the following transitional 

disclosures are required in respect of the UMSS: 

The valuation at 31 July 2001 was updated by the actuary on an FRS 17 basis as at 31 July 2002 and 2003. 

The major assumptions used in this valuation were: 

2003 2002 

Rates of increase in salaries 3.5% 3.4% 

Rate of increase in pensions in payment 2.5% 2.4% 

Discount rate 5.3% 5.9% 

Inflation assumption 2.5% 2.4% 


29

The assumptions used by the actuary are the best estimates chosen from a range of possible actuarial assumptions, which due 

to the timescale covered may not necessarily be borne out in practice on a consistent and reasonable basis. 

Because the group is unable to identify its share of the assets and liabilities of these schemes on a reasonable and consistent 

basis, as permitted by FRS 17 “Retirement Benefits” the schemes will continue to be accounted for by group as if they were 

defined contribution schemes. As a result the amount charged to the profit and loss account represents the contributions 

payable to the scheme in respect of the relevant accounting period. The transitional disclosures prepared by the actuaries for 

the principal employer in accordance with Financial Reporting Standard 17, show that the schemes are in surplus. 

17 Operating lease commitments 

Annual commitments under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows: 

Group and company 

Land and buildings 

2004 2003 

Leases which expire: £ £ 

After more than 5 years 14,945 10,200 

18 Analysis of net debt 

At beginning of year Cash flow At end of year 

£ £ £ 

Cash in hand, at bank 4,762,954 (775,232) 3,987,722 

Overdrafts - (109,449) (109,449) 

Total 4,762,954 (884,681) 3,878,273 

30 


Graduate Prospects Employees as at 31 January 2004 

* indicates executive directors of Graduate Prospects Ltd, 

the trading company 

Chief Executive: Mike Hill* 

PA: Kay Rone 

HECSU Research Manager: Jane Artess 

Financial Controller: Steven Bluck* 

Assistant Accountant: Craig Ridge 

Credit Controller: Andrew Bebbington 

Purchase Ledger Clerk: Angela Holt 

Assistant Credit Controller: Karen Fernyhough 

Head of Sales and E-Commerce: Allan Brown 

Tele-sales Manager: Susan Rains 

Sales Managers: Mike Pope, Andy Grady 

Business Development Manager: Natalie Cunningham 

Account Manager: Cathy Campbell 

Senior Account Executives: Simon Castell, 

Louis Koonjean, Joanna Spencer 

Account Executives: Matt Adams, John Beaver, 

Ian Dowie, Sarah Dennis, Steven Eve, Dawn Hamer, 

Kathryn O’Neill, Lisa Protano, Rick Riley 

Trainee Sales Executives: John Bellerby, Adam Butters, 

Stephen Murdoch, Louise Wilson 

employee list 

Personnel Manager: Mildred Ross 

Personnel Officer: Julia O’Dowd 

Facilities Officer: Ray Rawlinson 

Receptionist/Sales Administrator: Anne Kelly 

Student/Graduate Communications Manager: Leon 

March 

Head of Marketing Communications: Julie Ingham 

Senior Marketing Executives: Sarah Kite & 

Rachel Shipley 

Marketing Communications Executives: 

Karen McCrackle & Nicola Mileham 

Marketing Communications Assistant: Fazal Aslam 

Despatch Co-ordinator: Mike Threlfall 

Head of Publishing & Product Management: 

Jayne Rowley 

Product Management: 

Projects Manager: Carl Miles 

Product Managers: Helen Cartwright, Paul Naylor, 

Paul Rawson, Ian Turk 

Placement Student: Daniel Greenall 

Postgraduate Business Unit: 

Postgraduate Business Unit Manager: James Townsley 

Postgraduate Project Officer: Andy Harris 

Postgraduate Sales: Emma Irving, Michelle Jarvis, 

Alison Smith, Emily Stringer, Clare Wedren 

National Council for Work Experience: 

Director: Liz Rhodes, MBE 

Placement Student: Christine Shone 

Content Team: 

Publishing Manager: Chris Rea 

Editors: Emma Bartley, Andrew Shanahan, 

Graham Trickey, Joanne O’Connor 

Senior Designer: Simon Gurnhill 

Designer: Lisa Jackson 

Advertising Processing Controller: Steve Pickering 

Advertising Processing Executives: Tracey Jones, 

Peter Jury, Sandra Merrell, Sharon Walton 

Project Manager, Graduate Prospects Connect: 

Jeremy Williams 

Head of IT: Mark Watts 

Deputy IT Manager: Richard Sandell 

Senior Software Engineers: Suzan Allen, Chris Dean, 

John Hooper, Mark Reeves, Andy Rubio, 

Jonathan Whitehead 

Software Engineer: Guy Chester, Philip Harper, 

Samantha Royse, Gareth Robinson 

Systems Designer: Michael Bryant 

E-Services Manager: Dave Sherwin 

Student Placement: Adnan Mian, Paminder Goshal 

Computer Services Manager: Kalpesh Vadera 

Computer Support Technicians: Sunil Patel, Rob Dale 

Internet Business Manager: Sinéad McGovern 

Senior Web Designer: Peter Hill 

Web Designer: John Ossoway, Richard Smith 

Head of Guidance & Information Services: Vacant 

Careers Service Liaison Manager: Christine Tomkinson 

Careers Services Officers: Mike Cox, Liz Hagger, 

Diane Smith 

E-Guidance Manager: Lucy Madahar 

E-Guidance Executive: Karen Baird 

GIS Administrator: Penny Bartlett 

IDD Manager: Claire Basinger 

IDD Deputy Manager: Jane Mansfield 

Intranet Knowledge Co-ordinator: Lisa Ward 

Labour Market Analyst: Charlie Ball 

Labour Market Co-ordinator: Pearl Mok 

Market Research Information Officer: Colin Lawton 

Database Officer: Julie Maybury/Martin Gresty 

Information Co-ordinator: Stephen Morrin, 

Information Executive: Ruth Eaton 

Information Assistant: Suzanne Heaven 

IDD Design & Production: Chris Hicks 

annual report - employee list 

31

Subscriber List 

subscriber list 

University of Aberdeen 

University of Abertay Dundee 

The University of Wales, Aberystwyth 

APU 

Arts Institute Bournemouth 

Aston University 

University of Wales, Bangor 

University of Bath 

Bath Spa University College 

Queen's University Belfast 

Bell College of Technology 

Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and 

Creative Studies 

University of Birmingham 

Bolton Institute 

Bournemouth University 

University of Bradford 

University of Brighton 

University of Bristol 

Brunel University 

University of Buckingham 

Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College 

University of Cambridge 

Canterbury Christ Church University College 

Cardiff University 

University of Wales Institute, Cardiff 

University of Central England in Birmingham 

University of Central Lancashire 

University College Chester 

University College Chichester 

City University 

University College Cork 

Coventry University 

Cranfield University 

De Montfort University 

University of Derby 

Dublin City University 

Dublin Institute of Technology 

Dublin University, Trinity College 

University College Dublin 

University of Dundee 

University of Durham 

University of East Anglia 

University of East London 

Edge Hill 

University of Edinburgh 

University of Essex 

University of Exeter 

Falmouth College of Arts 

Galway, National University of Ireland 

University of Glamorgan 

Glasgow Caledonian University 

University of Glasgow 

University of Gloucestershire 

Harper Adams University College 

Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh 

University of Hertfordshire 

University of Huddersfield 

University of Hull 

Imperial College London 

Keele University 

University of Kent 

Kent Institute of Art & Design 

Winchester University College 

Kingston University 

University of Wales, Lampeter 

Lancaster University 

Lancaster University Management School 

University of Leeds 

Leeds Metropolitan University 

University of Leicester 

University of Limerick 

University of Lincoln 

Liverpool Hope 

University of Liverpool 

Liverpool John Moores University 

Unviversity of the Arts London 

London Metropolitan University 

London South Bank University 

University of London Careers Service (ULCS) 

Central Careers Service (ULCS) 

Goldsmiths College (ULCS) 

King's College London (ULCS) 

London School of Economics (ULCS) 

Queen Mary University of London (ULCS) 

Royal Holloway University of London (ULCS) 

School of Oriental & African Studies (ULCS) 

University College London (ULCS) 

Loughborough University 

University of Luton 

University of Manchester 

UMIST 

Manchester Metropolitan University 

Middlesex University 

Napier University 

National University of Ireland, Maynooth 

University of Newcastle upon Tyne 

Newman College of Higher Education 

University of Wales College, Newport 

North East Wales Institute 

University College Northampton 

Northumbria University 

University of Nottingham 

Nottingham Trent University 

Open University 

Oxford University 

Oxford Brookes University 

University of Paisley 

University of Plymouth 

University of Portsmouth 

Queen Margaret University College 

University of Reading 

Robert Gordon University 

Roehampton, University of Surrey 

Royal Agricultural College 

University of St Andrews 

College of St Mark & St John 

St Martin's College 

St Mary's College 

St Mary's University College, Belfast 

University of Salford 

University of Sheffield 

Sheffield Hallam University 

University of Southampton 

Southampton Institute 

Staffordshire University 

Stranmillis College 

University of Stirling 

University of Strathclyde 

University of Sunderland 

Surrey Institute of Art and Design 

University of Surrey 

University of Sussex 

Swansea Institute of Higher Education 

University of Wales Swansea 

University of Teesside 

Thames Valley University 

Trinity and All Saints' College 

Trinity College, Carmarthen 

University of Ulster, Jordanstown 

University of Warwick 

University of the West of England, Bristol 

University of Westminster 

University of Wolverhampton 

University College Worcester 

Writtle College of Higher Education 

University of York 

York St John College 

Affiliate members 

Barnsley College 

Basingstoke College of Technology 

Bishop Burton College 

Blackburn College 

Blackpool and The Fylde College 

Bradford College 

Carlisle College 

City College Manchester 

Colchester Institute 

Cornwall College Camborne 

Croydon College 

Doncaster College 

Dundalk Institute of Technology 

Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design, and 

Technology 

Exeter College 

Falkirk College of Further & Higher Education 

Farnborough College of Technology 

Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology 

Gateshead College 

Glasgow School of Art 

Hull College 

Leeds College of Art and Design 

Limerick Institute of Technology 

Lincoln College 

Llandrillo College 

Manchester College of Arts and Technology 

(MANCAT) 

Mid Kent College of HE & FE 

National College of Ireland 

New College Durham 

North East Surrey College of Technology 

Norwich School of Art and Design 

Norwich City College 

Plymouth College of Art and Design 

Reading College & School of Arts & Design 

Institute of Technology Sligo 

Solihull College 

Somerset College of Arts & Technology 

South East Essex College 

Stockport College of FE and HE 

Suffolk College 

Swindon College 

Institute of Technology, Tallaght 

Truro College 

Waterford Institute of Technology 

York College 

The College of Law, Guildford 

Overseas members 

University of Hong Kong 

Hong Kong Polytechnic University 

32 

annual report - subscriber list

Annual Directories of 

Graduate Opportunities 

Prospects Directory 

The official directory of graduate employment 

Prospects Pocket Directory 

A pocket-sized, updated directory of 

graduate employers published in January 

Vacancy Magazines 

Prospects Finalist 

The leading national vacancy magazine dedicated to 

job vacancy and careers information for final year 

students. Published five times a year 

Prospects Today 

Jobs, study and training opportunities for 

graduates and professionals 

Prospects Work Experience 

The official magazine of the National Council for Work 

Experience. Includes internship and placement vacancies for 

pre-final year students 

Sector Specific titles 

Job and study publications for specific sectors, including 

titles such as Prospects Law, Prospects Public Services, 

Prospects City and Finance, Prospects Self-employment, 

Prospects Technology and Engineering and 

Prospects Retail and Leisure 

Postgraduate Series 

Prospects Postgraduate Directory 

The official guide to UK postgraduate study 

with over 18,500 opportunities plus expert editorial 

Prospects Postgraduate Funding Guide 

The essential guide to funding further study 

Prospects Postgrad UK 

The complete guide to further study in the UK for 

overseas students 

Prospects Postgrad 

Postgraduate course and research vacancy information for 

UK students. Published three times a year 

All the above are available in paper and on the 

world wide web on www.prospects.ac.uk 

Electronic services 

e-prospects 

A fortnightly e-mail newsletter featuring information 

about jobs, study, training and work experience 

Jobs/Courses by e-mail or text 

Electronic services allowing advertisers and careers services 

to send e-mail messages and texts to job-seeking students and 

graduates 

CV Matching 

An electronic database of candidates, which employers can 

search to find their ideal candidates 

Guidance and Information 

Publications & Software 

Prospects Planner 

An internationally-recognised computer-aided careers 

guidance system for students and graduates. It can be 

accessed from Proxzpecs.ac.uk “What job would suit me” 

Prospects Net 

An extensive integrated web-based administrative tool to 

allow services to manage their employer and vacancy data, 

their events organising system and e-Guidance support for 

their students and graduates. Registered studnets can easily 

be notified of vacancies and events. 

STATuS 

An up-to-date administrative package that enables services to 

complete their DLHE returns. Available to all member services 

Prospects e-guidance 

Free, personalised online careers guidance services for 

graduates, including E-mail a Careers Consultant, Talk to 

Graduates Online and Careers Chat Live 

Other Publications 

Graduate Market Trends 

Graduate recruitment market information including salary 

and employment trends 

AGCAS Graduate Careers Information Booklets 

Information Booklets written by AGCAS careers staff, the 

booklets cover graduate career areas and related topics 

• Special Interest Series 

Cover areas such as Applications, Interviews and Changing 

or leaving your course 

• Sector Briefings 

All areas covered can be found at Prospects.ac.uk 

“Explore job sectors” 

products and services 

AGCAS After your degree/HND What next? 

A series of 78 titles covering various subject areas which 

include destination information and signpost other sources of 

information 

Graduate Careers Services Directory 

Full contact details of staff at HECSU member services, 

Graduate Prospects, AGR and AGCAS. Essential further details 

of fairs and final year graduating student data available for 

Prospects registered Recruiters. 

What Do Graduates Do? 

Produced in conjunction with AGCAS and UCAS. A report on 

the destinations of recent graduates 

annual report - product list 

33

HECSU 



Manchester 

M13 9EP 

www.prospects.ac.uk 

employer@prospects.ac.uk 

postgrad@prospects.ac.uk

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