Graduate Outcomes Survey
Graduate Outcomes is the biggest UK annual social survey and captures the perspectives and current status of recent graduates.
Graduates who completed a higher education course in the UK after August 2017 will be asked to take part in the survey 15 months after they finish their studies.
The survey aims to help current and future students gain an insight into career destination and development.
Why is it important?
Completing the Graduate Outcomes Survey is an essential step for graduates, providing valuable insights into employment trends, career progression, and skills development.
This helps current and future students make informed decisions about their own career paths.
As the biggest UK annual social survey, the collective graduate voice is powerful, shaping the future of education for prospective students.
By participating, you’ll not only contribute to a broader understanding of graduates’ perspectives but also help University of Gloucestershire understand the choices you’ve made since graduation. This ensures the university can accurately promote its courses and showcase the skills developed during your education.
How does it work?
You will be contacted by either:
- Email: A link to the survey will be emailed to you from [email protected].
- Text message: You’ll receive text reminders from ‘GradOutcomes’ which contain a link to the survey.
- Telephone: If you receive a phone call, it will be from IFF Research who have been appointed to capture survey responses by telephone. They will introduce themselves as calling on behalf of your university.
You’ll have around 12 weeks to complete the survey, which should only take around 10 minutes to complete online.
What will graduates be asked?
Graduates report what they were doing during the census week in relation to employment, study and other activities.
The activities the graduates are asked about include:
- Paid work for an employer
- Self-employment/freelancing
- Running their own business
- Developing a creative, artistic or professional portfolio
- Voluntary/unpaid work for an employer
- Engaged in a course of study, training or research
- Taking time out to travel – this does not include short-term holidays
- Caring for someone (unpaid)
- Retired
- Unemployed
- Doing something else
Recent results
For those who graduated in 2021/22, the survey’s key findings include:
- 95.3% of graduates from the University are employed or undertaking further study
- 72.1% University of Gloucestershire graduates secured employment classified as “highly skilled” or went into further study – this is a 0.6% improvement on last year.
These excellent results represent a continuation of an already strong performance and are well above the sector average, placing the University second in the South-West and 26th in the country for this important measure.
Frequently asked questions
Graduates will be grouped across the year into four cohorts based on the end date of your course. Depending on when your course ended, you will receive your survey invitation around 15 months later. For example, if your course ended in May to July 2024, you’ll receive the survey in September 2025.
The table below shows when you’ll be surveyed if you’re in the class of 2023/24.
| End date of course | Survey invitation |
|---|---|
| August – October 2023 | December 2024 |
| November 2023 – January 2024 | March 2025 |
| February – April 2024 | June 2025 |
| May – July 2024 | September 2025 |
You’ll have approximately 12 weeks to complete the survey and you will be sent emails and texts to remind you to take part.
The survey asks you about what you’re doing 15 months after completing your higher education course. It also asks some subjective questions abut how you feel about your current situation and general wellbeing. The survey includes a set of core questions and your response won’t be used if you don’t answer all these questions.
The subjective wellbeing questions ask the following questions on a scale of 0-10:
- How satisfied are you with your life nowadays?
- To what extent do you feel that the things you do in your life are worthwhile?
- How happy did you feel yesterday?
- Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?
These aren’t mandatory so you don’t have to share this information if you are unhappy to do so. You should take your time to decide if you are happy before providing an answer, but they do add value to your survey answers. Your HE provider won’t receive your answers to the subjective wellbeing questions in a way that identifies you (they will only get aggregated statistical information about the wellbeing questions).
The university will securely pass on your contact details to Graduate Outcomes for the sole purpose of administering the Graduate Outcomes survey. All you need to do is make sure your contact information is accurate – especially a valid email address and phone number. You can do this at any point up to a week before the survey closes. Then make sure you respond to the email survey invitation as soon as you receive it.
- If you are a current student, please ensure your contact details are up to date in Student Records Online.
- If you are a graduate, please update your contact details within your Student Portal Profile.
If you have any difficulties updating your contact details, you can email us with your contact detail changes: [email protected].
The university is actively collaborating with HESA in the delivery of the Graduate Outcomes survey. As part of the set up, the university has/will supply the contact details they hold for you to HESA for the sole purpose of conducting the Graduate Outcomes survey.
This is an additional security measure put in place by Graduate Outcomes to protect your partial survey response. If you wish to amend previously submitted information, please contact [email protected] and we will contact you to arrange this.
National level results have been released as official statistics by HESA and can be found in full on the HESA website. They have shared a snapshot of some of these statistics on the survey results page to help you understand how your participation creates a picture of graduate success that can support the future of higher education.
Your university/college will also have a suite of data for their own graduates which they may use to evaluate and promote their courses.
Privacy and data protection
Your responses will be used by the university, higher education funding and regulatory bodies and some other organisations primarily for research and statistical purposes, but also in the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority. Your individual answers won’t be used to make decisions about you.
In the email invitation, HESA will provide a link to the privacy information page on their website which shares detailed information about how your data will be processed, who will receive it, and what they will use it for. Read more about your privacy
HESA takes information security extremely seriously and is committed to keeping your data secure. HESA is certified to the ISO27001 international standard for information security management, and the UK Cyber Essentials PLUS standard for cyber security. HESA undertakes detailed monitoring and penetration testing of the systems used to run the Graduate Outcomes survey to keep all your information secure.
Further information
The survey is delivered by the HESA, part of Jisc, to help universities and colleges (HE providers) fulfil their legal requirement to report on the outcomes of higher education to the higher education funding and regulatory bodies. The funding and regulatory bodies commission the Graduate Outcomes survey and require HESA and HE providers to work together to deliver the survey.
HESA supports the advancement of the higher education sector by collecting and publishing timely and reliable data about the sector. HESA is working in collaboration with all UK higher education providers to deliver the survey.
The university will provide you with further information about the survey shortly before you are invited to complete it. You can also learn more by visiting the Graduate Outcomes website and you can take part in the dialogue on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
If you have any other questions about HESA and data protection, please see the data protection section of the HESA website or contact HESA’s Data Protection Officer: Email: [email protected] Tel: 01242 388 513 Address: HESA, Clockwise, Festival House, Jessop Avenue, Cheltenham, GL50 3SH. Read more about your privacy
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