Maybe the reason they're more satisfied with their careers is because they are 'only' working part-time, and they've got time to spend on themselves, with families, or further parttime education. They need to look into why, as well as the stats.

That said I hope my prospects are just as good as my man's when I graduate, although with him doing a BEng and me a BSc no prizes for guessing who was turning down the job offers as he graduated..

Lea, Auckland, NZ

Funnily enough (or not), the ability to write good, grammatically correct and correctly spelled English is not confined to those with 'rubbish' degrees from the new Universities. I am aware of a surprisingly large number of younger professional colleagues who suffer from these self same defects.
In my day, apart from the need to have English Language, Maths and a foreign language at 'O'level in order to matriculate (and thus be eligible for a University place), the Use of English exam was introduced as it was felt that science students were lacking in this area. Didn't seem to make any difference, but it always seemed to me (as one of the science nerds) that it was our 'arts' contemporaries who had at least as great a problem with English and its correct use, but a great deal more ignorance of science subjects.

Bill Q, Derby,

It just shows that for all the government's posturing on higher education - including claims that graduates earn more than non-graduates - it completely fail to understand market forces, the principles of supply and demand, and why grade inflation has devalued degrees as well as most other qualifications in the UK.

Meanwhile, the government carries on forcing jobs out of the economy - especially manufacturing jobs - with their anti-business policies.

Welcome to Labour's Brave New World.

MarkS, Leeds,

All that debt and for nothing. Lets have the statistics for those in full time work and very low pay as well. That would make very interesting reading too.

judy, Liverpool, england

My first degree was in history and politics and after amassing student debts of over £13,000, I realised that Sheffield University had given me nothing that I could leverage in the world of employment. I had to retrain in a vocational are and now have a good job (training salary already above the national average). The downside was I had to amass a further £25,000 of debt in postgraduate fees and living costs.

Don't get me wrong education for education sakes is a very worthwhile. But every prospective student reading this needs to realise that this government has reduced HE degrees to economic commodities. Take my advice and do something which pays, otherwisde forget staring a family and buying a house until you are in your late thirties.

Thatcher's child (aged 26), Manchester, UK

In this town alone we have vacancies for ten's of thousands of engineers. All that Sociology and Diversity training does not translate into jobs in the real world. But then people who study ? the Social Sciences ? are not really looking for work, just a place to chat and ' feel ' someones pain. There are always excellent jobs/careers in the ' hard ' subjects. It will require working to get these degrees.

Desmond Taylor, Houston, USA Tx

Christian, Kent, says "i got a degree in politics and now i am retraining as a mental health nurse as no one will employ me "

That's nothing. I had a politics student in my house, who then did his Phd at Oxbridge. He'd never, ever, ever worked, and his first job is an advisor to diddy Dave.

As nice as he is, what possible life experience could this man have?

Charles, London,

One must ask, what is the alternative to a full time degree course on Goat's Head Soup?

The answer is to collect G Brown's tax credits like I once collected stamps. This pass time seems to qualify onseself for a lifelong career of living off other people's tax payments.

Who says a career is no longer for life?

One must admire Mr Brown's design for a stable society

Edwin Thornber, Bucharest,

I have to say, however elitist it may sound, which University you go to is incredibly important. Employers DO care, contrary to what they may say, as shown by the small number of 'elite' universities employers such as investment banks, accountancy firms, law firms and energy companies visit. I do question whether going to read History/Law/Politics, however reputable a subject, at an institution outside the top 30 is really worth it considering the debt students saddle up.

George, Bristol,

What, I wonder, was the total cost of this study, what was its purpose, and why does the HESA exist at all? Just another example of the bloated public sector payroll.

Albert Ross, Edgebaston, UK

I would like to see the data behind this story as I suggest that those graduates out of work or still in part-time employment undertook degrees in subjects with little to no vocational content. It is interesting to note that those quoted as having the highest rate of employment are science graduates and those training for a teaching career. It would be my suggestion that those still our of full time employment undertook media studies, history, politics, English Literature, Art and so on. Skills in demand today are science based, such as physics, mathematics, engineering, chemistry, biology, biochemistry etc. However, due to our lack of methodical teaching practices, children are not equipped with the skills at school to undertake these courses and therefore opt for the more easy option.

Kevin, London,

HESA's study, welcome as it is, does not ask why people are doing what they are doing and does not purport to.

Many graduates are not working full time. That does not mean that they want to and cannot. It is also important to point out that this research looks at graduates three and a half years into their careers. For someone leaving university at 21, that means that they're between 24 and 25, with another 30+ years of their career left.

HESA ought to be applauded for carrying out this very useful and interesting research, but newspapers need to be very careful in trying to paint the results as negatively as they can. It is instructive that this article entirely fails to mention unemployment rates. They are, as it happens, much lower than expected. Not what the Times wishes us to hear, it would seem.

Chris, Stockport,

With the Government's drive to get everyone into Uni no matter what, the status of a degree has been severely degraded, it no longer means anything. I want someone who can show initiative while at the same time, being able to show respect and an ability to write properly in English - punctuation and grammar included.

Elaine, Gloucester,

It is already a trend that the employers know there are still people aiming to work in a lower rate from the market, so the employers have their "way" to work around it, because they know the demand is far bigger than the supply.

Ben, London,

i got a degree in politics and now i am retraining as a mental health nurse as no one will employ me

christian, kent, England