But for most graduates - especially those from the former polytechnics - the high-paying professional positions will have to remain a dream for a while as they enter one of the most difficult job markets in almost a decade.

By Shola Adenekan

One graduate - 23-year-old James - can only wish for Chelsea Clinton's kind of luck.

Seven months after graduating with a first class degree in product design from a university in the Midlands, he currently does temporary administrative work with a local council - a job normally done by people who have not been to a university.

"Since I finished my degree, I have sent around 80 letters to large and privately-owned companies," he said.

"I have mainly been ignored and I haven't even received a letter to say I wasn't what they were looking for.

"I feel if you can say you came from a red brick university or somewhere like Oxford or Cambridge an employer will have already made an assumption on the quality of your personality and work."

Choices regretted

The reality of available jobs in a setting of a slack economy and fear of terrorism means that many graduates from the new universities are looking at stocking supermarket shelves, waiting on tables or doing secretarial work.

Graduates cannot count on getting the jobs they want

A survey carried out by Doctorjob.com - a graduate careers website - paints a gloomy picture.

More than 25% of graduates would have chosen to go to a different university if they could have their time over again.

Over half of those surveyed felt they had been rejected for a job solely based on their university application (Ucas) points.

This is pertinent at a time when the Conservative Party is saying it would reduce the number of young people in higher education, and the former higher education minister, Margaret Hodge, accusing some new universities of running "Mickey Mouse" degrees.

Blue chip companies often target the established universities when recruiting, using A-level results to select candidates for interview.

Moreover, it is students from the new universities, who largely have poorer A-level results, who are unlikely to secure graduate roles with these companies.

Criteria

Charles Macleod, a director of graduate recruitment at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) - the world's largest professional services organisation - said his company did not in principle prefer graduates from the established universities to the new ones.

Tip: Get your job application in early

"Our recruitment tends to be greater from institutions that have higher proportions of students with higher Ucas tariffs," he said.

"Oxbridge comes out strongly on this basis as do a number of red brick universities. However, a student from one of the new universities is judged exactly on the same criteria."

Career advisers from the new universities believe employers like PwC are missing the qualities their graduates have to offer.

Don Murray, a career adviser at Edinburgh's Napier University, said: "Employers usually appreciate that the average 'new' university graduate is far more hands-on and down-to-earth than their traditional university counterpart.

"Success for an individual always depends far more on that individual's overall package, work experience, and personal skills and achievement than on which university he or she attended."

Qualities

So, how can graduates from the new universities compete effectively for lucrative roles?

"If they are falling short of PwC standards for academic achievement they need to be able to show either extenuating circumstances, such as illness or some other relevant issue which impacted on their result," Mr Macleod advised.

"If this is not possible it may be that they have some other compensating quality, such as exceptional leadership skills, which we will take into account."

The good news is that multinational companies behave differently depending on their recruitment needs.

For example, 25% of last year's graduate intakes into Lloyds TSB came from ethnic minorities and the majority of were from new universities.

Apply early

Phillip Marsland, a career adviser at Leeds Metropolitan University, urged graduates from the new universities to recognise the value of their practical work experience and learn how to express that in writing and in interviews with employers.

"Students need to apply early in their final year to these companies," he said. "They need to make sure that their written applications are as good as they can be and are tailored to the needs of the organisation.

"If for example a student applies to a number of blue chip companies and is not appointed they need to seek feedback and act on advice given."

New universities have also realised they need to work harder in order to get their students noticed by top employers.

"We need to maintain as much contact with such companies as we possibly can and we need to demonstrate that our graduates can be as capable as those from other institutions," Mr Marsland said.

"Clearly, we also need to ensure that our graduates understand the needs of employers and are equipped with the necessary employability skills to make them competitive in the recruitment market."