The BBC and Virgin Group have been named for the second year running as the companies students most want to work for.
Other employers favoured by graduates are BA, the Foreign Office and Andersen Consulting.
The survey of 4,500 students at 32 UK universities, carried out by Universum, found 83 per cent use the Internet to search for jobs.
But more than half of those questioned said companies are not using their web sites to communicate effectively with them.
Management consulting was the most popular option among business students with 39 per cent of those questioned seeking a job in the industry. A further 34 per cent of business students want to work in financial services.
A third of women students said they want to work in the media with 20 per cent attracted to academic research. For men, the most popular options are academia (19 per cent).
