Interdisciplinary Human Studies students enter a wide range of careers, ranging from administrative and management trainee-ships in the private sector to professional careers in teaching, the caring professions, and the police. Each year about half our graduates go into administrative work with private firms, ranging from public relations and media work on the one hand to the financial services and retail sectors on the other. The University is well within the travel-to-work area of Leeds, Britain's fastest growing financial centre.
About a quarter of the students will enter work with public bodies - these include local authorities and the health service. Students with an interest in community, social and mental health work may choose to find paid employment with one of the larger charities e.g. Mind or Shelter, with a view to later qualifying as community, welfare or social workers. A number of our students have chosen to teach English abroad (TESOL), perhaps for a year in the first instance to gain experience of another culture and language: if desired, further qualifications can then be obtained for working in this area.
The final quarter of our students will go on from graduation into further study or training. This could range from vocational training - becoming a lawyer or taking a one-year PGCE to qualify as an English teacher in school - to academic study in Bradford or another university. Graduates have gone on to work for higher degrees (Masters and PhDs) in our various disciplines at universities such as Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, Warwick and York. Others have used the foundations of their interdisciplinary degrees to obtain higher degrees in areas such as Criminology and Marketing.
The reason for this diversity is not difficult to understand. Our students acquire a discerning and flexible mind. On the one hand, IHS students combine intellectual depth and breadth - having studied four disciplines to a high level and combined them to analyse interdisciplinary issues. On the other hand, they have a spread of specific skills - having mastered not only a whole number of essay, project and dissertation forms but also skills ranging from IT competencies such as word-processing to the ability to give oral presentations. This combination of the academic and the practical means that they are highly employable in a changing labour market.
The Bradford University Careers Service has a high national reputation and ensures that students receive all the advice and information they need to fulfil their potential, even if they begin without a clear idea of what they want to do after graduation. Even after completing their studies all Bradford graduates can still avail themselves of its excellent services. There is also information about the destinations of previous graduates.