Importance of University name for an employer

[jayobird]

Hello,
I am planning to start studying for an Actuarial Science degree in at Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh, UK in September 2010.

Recently, I was discussing with another student, about the importance of the "name" of a University you graduated from when applying for an Actuarial Job.

He said: "you need a good uni for CV building; an London School of Economics graduate would be at an advantage when compared to Kingston, Kingston might be amazing, but it's the name of the university that matters the most at graduate level."

To what extent do you think this is true ?

Because I think (from what I have read here and elsewhere) that Exams are what matters the most.
And if a university like Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh, UK has the longest history of doing Actuarial Science in the UK, it offers 8 exemptions from actuarial exams on sucessfull completition of the degree (which is maximum you can get, to my knowledge) and it only requires grades ABB-AAB from A-levels.
It shouldn't look much(if at all) worse on CV for an employer than London School of Economics which requires AAA, (probably has a more demading a difficult course contents) and is more prestiogious in UK and world scale, as long as you get the same exemptions from both.

I hope that somebody will be able to give me a valid opinion on this, because I noticed that there are mostly posters from America, so they may not know so much about the situation in UK(assuming it is different).
Anyway, no matter where you live, please share your experience and knowledge about this matter, it will be much appreciated.

Thank you in advance, for your opinions

[Stodd]

I live in the U.S. This problem was initially one of my concerns. I go to a relatively mediocre public school with no actuarial science program. However, it has been my experience that employers couldn't care less where I'm going to school, or even what I'm majoring in, so long as my resume and success on exams indicate that I have the prerequisite aptitudes and commitments for career success. The UK could very well be vastly different though, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt...