University students should not feel compelled to get a job until six months after graduating, the outgoing head of UCAS has said as she warned against the “obsession” with careers.

Middle class parents and universities have become “too fixated” with using their degrees to get a job, Mary Curnock Cook suggested.

Instead parents should encourage their children move back home and explore their options before embarking on a career.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph in one of her final interviews before stepping down at the end of this month, Ms Curnock Cook said: "You have plenty of time to figure out how to be successful in the workplace, so I think obsession with graduate employment within six months is unhelpful.

“Graduates have still got to learn how to function in corporate and working life. Once employed, if they’re good, they’ll get promoted really quickly.”