This study illustrates the differences between Finnish and British graduates in the higher education‐to‐work transition and related market mechanisms in the year 2000. Specifically, the differences between the Finnish and British students' academic careers and ability to find employment after graduation were evaluated in relation to the Finnish HE policy that hastens the entry of new graduates into the labour market. The Finnish HE system is representative of a system that operates in an occupation‐specific and relatively strictly‐regulated labour market context, whereas the labour market context for the British HE system is essentially the most liberal in Europe. The results of the study suggest that it is not the length of the first degree programmes per se that determines the throughput of the HE sector, but the relative emphasis placed on the opportunity structures pertaining to HE participation and on career mobility in the labour market.