Graduates contacting Citizens Advice Scotland are languishing on benefits or in low-paid jobs, leading some to question the value of a university education.

The charity has revealed some of the concerns raised with them as it calls on graduates to take part in a four-week online survey about their experience of seeking work.

Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) acting chief executive Susan McPhee, pictured, said: "We're undertaking this research because CAB advisers have been reporting an increase in graduates facing financial problems because they can't get work.

"It used to be the case that a degree would lead to economic security. Since the recession, however, the outlook for recent graduates has been bleak."

The unemployment rate for recent graduates was 18.9% in the final quarter of 2011, while 36% of graduates in work are in low-level employment.

Matt McLister, 24, social policy assistant at CAS, devised the survey after struggling to find work.

He said: "I naively thought, because I had work experience, I could easily get a job. I must have applied for hundreds of jobs and, with 99%, didn't even get a reply. I found signing on very demoralising."

He said: "In the 1980s, maybe 10% of school leavers went to university and when they left, they would apply for a job and get it. Now there are so many graduates. Should universities be taking on the same number of people?"