A decade ago, we welcomed a boom in graduate recruitment, with the number of vacancies for university leavers increasing annually by more than ten per cent.

But the onset of the global financial crisis and the recession that followed in the UK had a deeply profound effect on the graduate market. Reassuringly, research just published indicates that there will be a rise in graduate employment this year – but almost exclusively for those fortunate enough to have already done work experience or an internship for the company that goes on to employ them.

Here in York, there is still a real challenge in terms of the number of graduate positions that are available and ultimately how we retain talent within the city. There are a high number of small and medium businesses who could really benefit from employing skilled graduates. There are a number of reasons behind this and this is an area that has been widely debated over the years and in fairness a number of efforts have been made.

We do need to understand some of our employer skills needs better, as well as raise the level of awareness about the graduate talent which is available and also about where graduates are searching for their first career opportunity. As an outstanding UNESCO city, I can’t help thinking we could do more.

We have such an opportunity to make some real progress in addressing this challenge - with a connected network involving both universities and colleges, the City of York Council working widely with the business community along with the newly-created Make it York. We can and do work together effectively, and so graduate employment on a local level must become part of that partnership focus.

Before Easter, I will be hosting an employability advisory dinner that will bring together a group of business leaders with City of York Council and Higher York – all of who agree that there is a need to challenge graduate underemployment, but would equally agree that we have not necessarily done everything we can to work together to overcome some of the barriers and I will look forward to agreeing some actions to move this forward.

Here at the business school, we have also just begun a 12-month programme which gives young people the chance to experiment in a live enterprise lab with like-minded colleagues. By honing their business ideas, we will help our global graduates to consider enterprise as a viable career option. But for those who prefer to pursue employment after graduation, there must be genuine opportunities with real long-term prospects. York is a beautiful city, brimming with talented people.

We need to give our graduates every opportunity to stay, and for more businesses to create openings for the graduates of the future.