The High Fliers study of more than 18,000 university leavers indicates that graduates who have had internships are three times as likely to land jobs.

This study of the graduate jobs market is based on face-to-face interviews with students leaving 30 leading universities across the UK, carried out by High Fliers Research, which produces data on graduate recruitment.

The study shows that more than one in three students had carried out work experience or internships with a prospective employer – and in some universities, with Bath the highest, this was above three-quarters.

The study found increasing levels of interest in engineering and law and falling levels of interest in graduate jobs with the police, retail, teaching and property.

Researchers estimate that from these 30 universities alone there will have been 427,000 job applications generated this year – almost double the number from five years ago.