Confident of a job, but less salary

The majority of students are confident they will be able to get a job when they finish university but they expect to earn significantly less than today's graduates.

Twice as many students said they were very confident they would be able to get a job when they finished studying as against those who were not at all confident at 20 per cent, compared with 10 per cent.

A further 35 per cent said they were somewhat confident that they would find work, according to Spanish bank Santander.

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One in 10 students said they planned to continue studying, while 2 per cent planned to go travelling.

But despite being confident they would find a job when they finished university, students expected to earn an average of only 21,500 – 14 per cent less than the current average graduate salary.

Medical students were most confident they would find a job when they left university.

But only 9 per cent of people doing creative arts and design courses were very confident they would be able to find a job, while they thought they would earn an average of just 17,560.

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Helen Bierton, head of Santander current accounts, said: "The current generation of students is well aware of the problems in the graduate jobs market, which would explain why their salary predictions are lower than might normally be expected."

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