A higher percentage of UAL's graduates go on to become business leaders than from any other UK university, reiterating how vital creative education is to our industry and economy.
A new study conducted by Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance involving more than 9.5 million former students, revealed that 19.85% of UAL graduates went onto lead businesses and almost one in ten (9.21%) used their degrees to form their own start-ups.
The figures - which eclipse those from universities such as Oxford or Cambridge - were calculated by using LinkedIn data of all the students with the university on their profile, who have job titles associated with starting or running a business.
The statistics ranked UAL at number one in the UK, followed by Falmouth University, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Oxford and University of Cambridge.
This research echoes the arguments of UAL Vice-Chancellor Nigel Carrington as to how the Government's current, narrow approach to measuring value in higher education falls short.
The Hitachi statistics follow October's Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) figures which revealed UAL graduate entrepreneurs are leading a start-up and social enterprise boom which saw more than £822 million generated for the UK economy in 2018 – more than online fashion retail giant BooHoo Group.
Richard Sant, UAL Head of Careers and Employability, has recently been quoted in both the Evening Standard and Drapers on how UAL's creative education positions graduates to flourish as business leaders.
He said:
The entrepreneurial nature of our graduates is definitely a trend we've witnessed at UAL – in fact, we actively embed and enhance behaviours into our curriculum through the Creative Attributes Framework which aim to ensure our graduates leave university with the professional awareness and entrepreneurship to make a huge difference whichever path they choose.
Image: Michele Fornera and her magazine. London College of Fashion, UAL © Alys Tomlinson