What is the Graduate Outcomes Survey?
Graduate Outcomes is a survey of recent graduates, from all universities and higher education colleges in the UK. The survey is aimed at finding out what you have gone on to do approximately 15 months after graduating. The survey began in December 2018.
Why is it undertaken?
All universities are legally required to provide statistical information on the destinations of leavers fifteen months after graduation to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
The information gathered in the survey fulfils this requirement and provides helpful labour market information to assist the University in planning its future provision and helps current students who are making course and career choices.
Will everyone be contacted?
The survey covers full-time, part-time, UK, EU and international graduates from undergraduate and postgraduate courses and the same questionnaire is used for everyone. HESA will tell us who to include in the survey.
We may know what you are doing because you have returned to the University for further study, you may work for us, or you may have kept in contact with your tutor, lecturer, or the
Careers & Employability service, however, we still need you to fully complete the survey.
The survey should take about 10 minutes to complete.
How will I be surveyed?
You will receive an email from HESA on behalf of the University of Plymouth inviting you to complete the survey online. Graduates will receive an email from universityofplymouth@graduateoutcomes.ac.uk
What will I be asked?
The survey consists of a series of questions about the employment and/or further study that graduates are engaged in. The questions are very general and should apply to your situation and to your course, but if you have any problem with any of the questions or are unsure about which option to tick, please get in touch with us and we can help you. Email gosurvey@plymouth.ac.uk or call us on +44 1752 588021. The survey will only take a few minutes to complete.
What if I don’t want to be surveyed?
The University of Plymouth is legally required to provide statistical information to HESA on the destinations of leavers fifteen months after graduation. However, whilst we would like to know what you have been doing since you graduated you do not have to complete the survey.
Even though it is not compulsory to complete the survey, we hope you understand the benefit that your input will have for the future of education. To opt-out please email info@graduateoutcomes.ac.uk with this instruction, or let HESA know when they contact you about the survey.
The University takes your wishes seriously and we will only contact you about the alumni community, benefits and services for graduates if you have opted-in to those communications. You can read our
Data Policy here and contact us at alumni@plymouth.ac.uk if you wish to opt-out of any communications from the Alumni team.
What happens to the information?
Any information you choose to give during the survey will be held securely and confidentially in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018.
Data is used to inform the development of University courses and services and will not be disclosed to external organisations either by the University or HESA.
The University’s data protection statement can be accessed from the
personal information and data protection page on our website.
The Graduate Outcomes survey information is used by HESA for statutory functions and publications. HESA also supply a summary of the data to third parties such as government bodies, academic researchers and journalists.
All data published by HESA and supplied by them to third parties are kept anonymous so that individuals cannot be identified.
How does completing the survey help the University, prospective and current students?
The data is useful to the University, to:
- advise its teaching and learning strategies
- inform its employability strategies
- support its alumni activities and communications.
The data is used by websites such as Discover Uni to present Key Information Set (KIS) tables, and by various publications such as the Guardian University Guide and the Times Good University Guide, which can be used by prospective and current students to:
- make choices around which course to study
- consider potential career paths.
What can I do before I finish my course?
The University is actively collaborating with HESA in the delivery of the Graduate Outcomes survey and will supply the contact details we hold for you to HESA for the sole purpose of conducting the survey. Before you finish your course it would be really helpful if you could make sure that the University has your up to date contact information (personal email address and phone number) so that you get the chance to take part in the survey.
Please complete our online form to update your details.