A UNIVERSITY in Cirencester is celebrating high graduate employability figures.

The Royal Agricultural University (RAU) has maintained high figures across the board, with more graduates than ever before entering managerial and professional level positions.

According to the annual national survey organised by HESA (the Higher Education statistics Agency), on average over the past five years, 96 per cent of RAU undergraduates are in employment or further study within six months of leaving the university.

The statistics revealed that the majority (80 per cent) of the RAU’s 2015 full-time UK undergraduates secured more senior positions within six months of graduating – classed as ‘professional or managerial roles’.

The Stroud Road establishment continues to be at the forefront of research and education relating to agriculture, food, agri-business, equine, conservation, and property and land management, and has seen applications and enrolments rise year on year.

It currently has more than 1,200 students from over 47 different countries, studying on one of its 30 undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses.

What’s more, it was named fourth best university of the 12 universities in the South West by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2016, and awarded the publications’ University of the Year for Student Retention.

RAU is also ranked in the top 10 in the UK for degree completion, academic spend and facilities spend – according to The Complete University Guide 2016 – recognising its high investment and expenditure per student on staff and student facilities.

Crowned winner in the sustainability category at The Guardian University Awards 2016 in March, the former college is keen to advocate the importance of sustainability and is committed to conducting its activities with due consideration of the environment, as it continues to be a top performer for carbon reduction and renewable energy production.

Find out more about the university at: www.rau.ac.uk.