What Do Graduates Do?Scotland

Putting Research into Practice 12th June 2007

Presentation content

• Project background • Advisory Group• Data resources• Areas for (further) research and

development • Format of final product• Editorial aspects to final product• Report • Feedback & evaluation• Future

The What Do Graduates Do? [Scotland] project was established with two clear objectives:

• to provide an information resource for prospective and current Higher Education (HE) students, parents and careers guidance professionals to help with the decision making process; and

• to provide an accessible source of Scottish data for labour market researchers, policy makers, employers, and recruiters for HE in Scotland and the media.

By producing a pilot Scottish product that is broadly equivalent to the annual national WDGD publications, this pilot project has had clear beneficial outcomes:

• prospective undergraduate and postgraduate students will be able to make a more informed choice on university course options in Scotland;

• guidance professionals, HE recruiters and all who advise potential students have a reliable, accessible source of information, based on Scottish data;

• enquiries from labour market researchers, policy makers, employers and the media seeking an overview of Scottish graduate destinations can be more readily answered by HE careers services and enquirers will also be able to access the data directly online; and

• this pilot may pave the way for other national or regional versions for example Welsh, Irish or English regional publications.

Advisory Group

• Representatives of user groups– Advice on types of information sought– Advice on best formats

• Representatives of policy makers– Advice on which kinds of analysis are relevant to

policy makers’ needs– Advice on directions of future research to be

recommended at conclusion of this project

• Communication with our professional network

What do graduates do? Scotland

Advisory Group Members:

Barbara Graham – Convenor

Gavin McCabe – Project Officer

Representatives from 3 SHEI’s – Strathclyde, Glasgow, Aberdeen

Charlie Ball – HECSU

John Duffy – Scottish Funding Council

Peter Swan – Careers Scotland

Patrick Watt – Futureskills Scotland

Beverley Whitehead - HELOA

Funding

• HECSU Practitioner Research funding

• Futureskills Scotland

• Careers Scotland

• Strathclyde University Careers Service

Existing data resources - UK

Key national publications for queries relating to destinations of UK HE graduates:

– What Do Graduates Do?– What Do Postgraduates Do?

• Masters graduates• Doctoral graduates

– What Do PhDs Do?

Existing data resources - Scotland

Key sources of data and publications for Scottish perspective:

– Careers Scotland*– Futureskills Scotland*– Scottish Executive– Scottish Funding Councils*– Teaching Quality Information website

* members of Advisory Group

Existing data resources

TQI• Access information for individual course and HEI

combinations– Destinations (e.g. Working, Studying, Unemployed)– Job category (Graduate, Non-graduate, Unknown)– Most common job types

• Overall picture for all Scottish HE graduates or for particular subjects difficult to obtain

Existing data resources

• Other publications focus on overall Scottish picture, ranging in level/type of information given, e.g.:– Background information & issues within (graduate)

labour market– Age, gender, occupation, employment sector, salary

and underemployment indicators for Scotland’s HE graduates

– Regional information on occupations & education level

• Rarely delve to subject/subject family level

• Users need to be careful of HE/FE data merger

UK and Scotland data comparisons2005 datasetUK-domiciled first degree graduates from universities in:

Scotland UK

Total 24,955 256,460Respondents 19,805 206,965Response rate 79.4% 80.7%

Gender mix:

Scotland UKFemale 60.9% 57.7%Male 39.1% 42.3%

Scottish destinations – all subjects (DRAFT)

a: In UK Employment 63.8%

b: In overseas employment 2.2%

c: Working and studying 7.7%

d: Studying in the UK for a higher degree 6.4%

e: Studying in the UK for a teaching qualification 2.7%

f: Undertaking other further study or training in the UK 5.2%

g: Studying overseas 0.2%

h: Assumed to be unemployed 5.0%

i: Not available for employment study or training 4.2%

j: Other 2.6%

g0.2%

f5.2%

h5.0%

i4.2%

j2.6%

e2.7%

d6.4%

c7.7%

b2.2%

a63.8%

UK & Scotland comparisonDestination – all subjects (DRAFT)

63.8

%

2.2

%

7.7

%

6.4

%

2.7

% 5.2

%

0.2

%

5.0

%

4.2

%

2.6

%

61.2

0%

1.7

0%

8.8

0%

6.2

0%

2.6

0%

4.9

0%

0.2

0%

6.2

0%

4.9

0%

3.2

0%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

In UKEmployment

In overseasemployment

Working andstudying

Studying inthe UK for a

higherdegree

Studying inthe UK for a

teachingqualification

Undertakingother further

study ortraining in the

UK

Studyingoverseas

Assumed tobe

unemployed

Not availablefor

employmentstudy ortraining

Other

Perc

en

tag

e o

f R

esp

on

den

ts

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

In UKEmployment

In overseasemployment

Working andstudying

Studying inthe UK for a

higherdegree

Studying inthe UK for a

teachingqualification

Undertakingother further

study ortraining in the

UK

Studyingoverseas

Assumed tobe

unemployed

Not availablefor

employmentstudy ortraining

Other

Scotland

UK

UK & Scotland comparisonTypes of work – all subjects (DRAFT)

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0%

Marketing, Sales and Advertising Professionals

Commercial, Industrial and Public Sector Managers

Scientific Research, Analysis & Development Professionals

Engineering Professional

Health Professionals and Associate Professionals

Education Professionals

Business and Financial Professionals and Associate Professionals

Information Technology Professionals

Arts, Design, Culture and Sports Professionals

Legal Professionals

Social & Welfare Professionals

Other Professionals, Associate Professional and Technical Occupations

Numerical Clerks and Cashiers

Other Clerical and Secretarial Occupations

Retail, Catering, Waiting and Bar Staff

Other Occupations

Unknown Occupations

%

Scotland

UK

Destination Data Format:• Similar structure for WDPD results to ensure

comparability with UK data, will match WDGD & WDPD publication data analysis structures

• Breakdown of destinations of graduates from Scottish HE first degree courses by:– Subject family, e.g. “Science”– Most popular subjects, e.g. “Chemistry”

• Number graduating (male/female)• Number of respondents (male/female)• Destinations for all respondents• In employment/Work & study

– Number men/women; Type of work

Further developments

• Illustrative occupations for variety of subjects: covered in part by links to Prospects’ “Options with your subject”(?)

• Possible additional inclusions:– Employment sector at each level of data– Destinations additionally at subject family level– Size of organisation– Location of employment– ……

Format of final product

• UK & Scotland comparisons side-by-side or as an addition?

• Web-based

• Different levels of publication?– Simple snapshot fuller document, suitable for

different audiences

Format & locations of web-product

– Copy on HECSU website• Series of webpages• PDF file

– Should be possible to have a copy on Prospects website also(?)

– Other possible locations: AGCAS Scotland, Careers Scotland, Futureskills Scotland, SFC, Universities Scotland

Editorial content – WDGD Scotland

• Introduction, ‘health warnings’ associated with interpretation of destinations data, and the Elias & Purcell definitions of graduate job types

• ‘It still pays to get a degree’• Underemployment • Employability Skills • Whole of Scotland picture • Scottish regional economy information • Links to other sources of information

Project evaluation and feedback

• Who we need to ask?

• What we need to ask?

• How we will ask?

• When we will ask?

Content of report

• Background• Existing resources• Access to data• Methodology

– Project methodology– Technical methodology

• Output of data analysis• Evaluation and feedback• Dissemination/Availability• Issues for further research• Recommendations

Dissemination

• Promotion of the new website

• Distribution of the report

• Event/Events

Future: Continuing the research

• Parallel output in future years• Aspects of recommended analysis and content not

included in this project:– Different levels of product– Data– Analysis– Editorial

Recommended development

Data

• Illustrative occupations & employers – postgraduate data

• Illustrative courses of further study – undergraduate and postgraduate data

Recommended development

Analysis• More detailed regional analysis & commentary

• Graduates who were unemployed or underemployed

• Graduate premium in Scotland, also by subject

• Statistical significance of UK/Scotland differences

Recommended development

Editorial

• Case studies

• Progression – positive overall Scottish progression against OECD countries

• Articles targeted towards International Student market, including FTI

• More detailed regional analysis & commentary