Bradford University today called on the district's companies to employ its graduates to prevent a brain drain.

The university has joined forces with colleges across the county - under the umbrella organisation Yorkshire Universities - to ensure students graduating in the region stay here.

Yorkshire Universities is launching GraduatesYorkshire.info, a website to enable companies to access a range of graduate recruitment services.

Yorkshire and the Humber is home to more than 180,000 students in higher education.

More than half the 40,000 students who graduate each year in the region head out of the county - thought to be one of the worst examples of brain drain in the country.

Yorkshire Universities argues that students are a strong resource for employers keen to harness the talents of future business leaders.

Professor Chris Taylor, Vice Chancellor of the University of Bradford, said: "The city of Bradford has a terrific resource in its graduate population and through Graduates-Yorkshire.info local companies will have the ideal tool to use to access new employees. In Yorkshire our universities are generating the workforce of the future, many of whom are being lost to the region.

"We believe the new Graduates Yorkshire.info portal will do much to help keep these young people working in the region."

Michael Noble, chief executive officer of Yorkshire Universities, said: "Graduates are an enormous potential resource for employers, both large and small.

"Research has shown that they add significantly to the skills base and the effectiveness of companies. We need more of our graduates to stay and work in Yorkshire, to help boost the region's economy.

"The region's universities are one of Yorkshire and Humber's greatest assets that, in the future, will increasingly underpin the region's long-term economic prosperity.

"In a knowledge-based economy it is important that local business engages with and makes use of this fantastic asset."

Universities and colleges involved in the initiative include the universities of Bradford, Huddersfield, Hull, Lincoln, Leeds, Leeds Metropolitan, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, York, the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Trinity & All Saints, at Horsforth, the College of York St Johan and the Open University.