"The European Network of Graduate Tracking Newsletter" Newsletter Issues

Peer Learning Activity discusses how graduate tracking can be used to inform policy developments and quality assurance at the EU, national, regional and institutional level (26/01/2024)

The second peer learning activity (PLA), organised as part of the European Network of Graduate Tracking, was held in Madrid, Spain, on 7-8 November 2023. The PLA focused on examining the different uses of graduate tracking data and intelligence at the EU, national, regional, and institutional level; and was hosted by the Spanish Ministry of Universities, the Ministry of Education and VET and the National Institute of Statistics.

International conference hosted by AlmaLaurea discusses international mobility and graduate tracking (26/01/2024)

Tracking mobile graduates has become a core issue for institutions and systems at national and cross-border levels. The international conference “Tracking graduates and their mobility: comparing experiences in the international framework”, organised by AlmaLaurea in cooperation with the University of Bologna on 1 December 2023, deepened core themes on the topic.

2022 AlmaLaurea survey reveals that 8.3% of graduates participated in an accredited study abroad experience, with Spain being the most popular destination country (26/01/2024)

The conference also presented some of the most recent findings of AlmaLaurea on the topic of students’ and graduates’ international mobility. Data from the two latest surveys conducted by AlmaLaurea in 2022 covers nearly 1 million graduates (1, 3 and 5 years after graduation) with response rates around 70%.

Cyprus publishes the findings of its first National Graduate Tracking Survey (26/01/2024)

The report of preliminary findings of the first National Graduate Tracking Survey in Cyprus is now published. The publication of the report was an interim target in the context of the project entitled “Development of a National Graduate Tracking Mechanism and Design and Implementation of an Employers’ Skills Survey” which is funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.

The Norwegian experience of participating in Eurograduate 2022 and recommendations for the next European higher education graduate survey (26/01/2024)

The Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU) has published a working paper on the ‘Norwegian experiences with EuroGraduate 2022: Implementation and adaptation’.

Peer Learning Event on ‘Unlocking the Future: Harnessing Graduate Tracking to Address European Skills Priorities’ (26/01/2024)

On 29-30 November 2023 the European Commission hosted a peer learning event on Unlocking the Future: Harnessing Graduate Tracking to Address European Skills Priorities. The event explored how graduate tracking can provide intelligence and insights that can inform national activities around Green and Digital Transitions as well as to create a more dynamic and responsive VET system which matches industry needs.

Small group discussion initiative launched to allow network to discuss shared priorities and challenges (26/01/2024)

An ad-hoc meeting to discuss the launch of the small group discussion initiative in the European Network of Graduate Tracking took place online on 13 December 2023. Launched at the request of countries during the Annual Network Meeting 2023 in Stockholm, the small group discussions are a new initiative to allow the Network to exchange on shared priorities and challenges in a more focused setting. These discussions aim to respond to the heterogeneity of graduate tracking systems and offer additional meeting spaces for Network members to deep dive into shared interests during a set timeframe.

Dates for your diary (26/01/2024)

Future Network activities and meetings

Annual Network Meeting 2023 (25/07/2023)

The 2023 Annual Network Meeting (ANM) of the European Network of Graduate Tracking took place in Stockholm on 10-11 May 2023. It provided an opportunity to share experiences and results from the past year and to identify future priorities and next steps for the Network and its sub-groups.

EUROGRADUATE 2022: project activities, lessons learned and outlook (25/07/2023)

Another major milestone of the project has been achieved with the closing of the EUROGRADUATE 2022 field phase in June 2023. Most countries surveyed graduates between November 2022 and February 2023, but delays in some countries revealed that considerably more time is needed to prepare the field phase. Currently, the project activities focus on data processing by the countries and delivery to the EUROGRADUATE consortium, who will combine the national data submissions to create an international dataset.

The future of higher education and science – A turn of times? (04/10/2023)

On 4 October 2023, representatives of the participating EUROGRADUATE 2022 countries and the EUROGRADUATE consortium will meet in Hanover, Germany. The project meeting will be followed by the international conference ‘The future of higher education and science – A turn of times?’ (October 5-6) taking place in Hanover as well. A session at this conference will be dedicated to EUROGRADUATE 2022, offering an opportunity to discuss research ideas and publications using EUROGRADUATE data.

Peer learning activities on graduate tracking in vocational education and training (VET) (25/07/2023)

The European Commission has organised two online peer learning events on VET graduate tracking in the last few months, as part of the European Year of Skills. The first event focused on ‘Making effective use of graduate tracking surveys at system and local level’ and was hosted by Sweden in May 2023. The second event focused on ‘Using graduate tracking systems within an outcomes-based VET system’ and was hosted by Ireland in June 2023.

CINOP publishes research paper on graduate tracking and organises workshop with Dutch VET stakeholders (25/07/2023)

CINOP, the Dutch NRP from the European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET) Network, recently published a research report providing guidelines, best practices and lessons learned on VET graduate tracking. The paper examines different ways in which alumni (both graduates and early school leavers) are tracked in the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The case studies examined graduate tracking on three different levels:

• national level;
• institutional level; and
• programme level.

Dates for your diary (27/07/2023)

Peer Learning Activity on ‘Combining and linking administrative data and surveys for graduate tracking’ (18/10/2022)

The first Peer Learning Activity of the European Network of Graduate Tracking was organised by the European Commission, in cooperation with the Support Service, in October 2022. It was hosted by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in Prague, Czech Republic, and gathered 30 participants, including national graduate tracking reference points from 16 countries and European-level stakeholders and social partners.

Developing graduate tracking at European level (26/01/2023)

The European Parliamentary Research Service recently published an overview on the development of graduate tracking at European level.

EUROGRADUATE 2022 field phase successfully launched! (06/02/2023)

The European pilot survey on higher education graduates EUROGRADUATE 2022 has successfully started the data collection in all participating countries (launched between October 2022 and January 2023). The data collection ends in February 2023. Experiences and challenges will be discussed thoroughly to provide recommendations on how to best implement a future common European higher education survey. To stay up to date, subscribe to the EUROGRADUATE Newsletter following the URL below (first issue in January 2023). You can also view and download the master questionnaires used in the 2022 pilot survey from the EUROGRADUATE website.

Very high response rate of EUROGRADUATE survey in Austria (26/01/2023)

The Austrian EUROGRADUATE survey conducted by Statistics Austria reached a response rate of 55%. An overview of the sampling strategy, the process of contacting the respondents and the weighting shows how such a comparatively high response rate has been achieved. The article also shows how different register data will be used for weighting and analysis of survey data. Finally, there is an outlook on the potential of linking survey and register data for the purpose of analysis.

Start of the EUROGRADUATE field survey in Croatia and the launch of a national EUROGRADUATE website (26/01/2023)

The Croatian national research team announced the implementation of the field phase of the EUROGRADUATE survey in Croatia at a national event hosted by the Ministry of Science and Education in December 2022. In connection with the event, a national EUROGRADUATE website was also launched.

The Development of a National Graduate Tracking Mechanism in Cyprus (26/01/2023)

The Department of Higher Education (DHE) of the Cyprus Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth has received funding from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) for the development and implementation of a National Graduate Tracking Mechanism along with a National Employers’ Skill Survey. In the context of the RRF project, Cyprus will also fund its participation in two waves of EUROGRADUATE survey (2022 and 2025).

Statistical portrait of the first steps in the labour market of the 2017 Generation in France (27/01/2023)

The 2020 survey, the latest wave of the so-called "Génération" surveys carried out by Céreq to analyse the professional integration of young people in France, is pursuing its objective of knowing and understanding the first steps into the labour market of young people who left the education system in 2017. By alternating observations at a given date and analyses of longitudinal data, more than a hundred indicators make it possible to update, consolidate or contradict perceptions of a given generation's entry into the labour market.

Release of the 2022 Irish Graduates Outcomes Survey Report – Class of 2021 (26/01/2023)

The Irish Graduate Outcomes Survey is a nationally representative annual survey of graduates from 23 higher education institutes (HEIs). It was released on 23 November 2022. It is the fourth iteration of the report, following the class of 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021. The class of 2019 was not surveyed in 2020 due to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The response rate for this national survey was just over 50% and sees record graduate employment in Ireland with 81.9% of graduates in employment 9 months post-graduation.

What impact has the Covid-19 pandemic had on the 2020 cohort of graduates in Italy? (27/01/2023)

AlmaLaurea Interuniversity Consortium recently conducted its annual survey on graduates’ profile and occupations in Italy. According to the results, the Covid-19 crisis had severe consequences on the university experience, but it did not fully affect the 2020 cohort. Mobility abroad for study and training increased in participation numbers and the report shows to what extent these experiences affected mobile and non-mobile graduates. Among graduates interviewed one year after graduation, the Covid-19 pandemic had an impact on the employment opportunities, while at five years after graduation the effects of the pandemic on the indicators analysed appear marginal.

New research from the Czech Republic on (potential) international differences in skills self-assessment: ‘Juxtaposing Acquired and Required Skills: Latent Class Analysis of Self-Assessment Scales in an International Survey’ (27/01/2023)

Ensuring comparability of Likert-style items across different countries is a widespread challenge for authors of large-scale international surveys. Using data from the EUROGRADUATE pilot survey, this study employs a series of latent class analyses to explore which response patterns emerge from self-assessment of acquired and required skills of higher education graduates and how these patterns vary between eight participating countries. Results show that countries differ in the number of classes which most accurately fit the data structure. The effort to overcome national specifics by combining the levels of acquired and required skills into a single measurement of skill surplus/deficit reduces heterogeneity of patterns across countries and slightly increases comparability, yet the notion that respondents understand the scale in the same way across countries (measurement invariance) is not supported.

Special Issue on European Higher Education Graduates in Research in Comparative and International Education (27/01/2023)

A special issue on “European Higher Education Graduates – Formation, Acquisition, and Suitability of Skills” edited by Katarina Wessling, who is a member of the EUROGRADUATE consortium, will be published in March 2023 in Research in Comparative and International Education. It is dedicated to provide an international -in particular European - perspective on skills with a specific focus on higher education graduates. It particularly aims to provide room for research on less studied European countries to create a more complete picture of skill utilisation. Additionally, the special issue is geared towards methodological issues in surveying skills on higher education graduates in different national contexts and in an internationally comparative perspective. In this context, at least three of the seven articles featured in the Special Issue base their results on data from EUROGRADUATE 2018.

Register now for the Webinar on ‘Sharing practice and experience in relation to European surveys and data protection’, 30 March 2023 (27/01/2023)

There are a number of European surveys focusing on learners, citizens and graduates. This webinar is an opportunity to discuss how European surveys operate and how they have addressed data protection issues. The experiences of existing European surveys can offer opportunities to learn and think about the organisation of the next European higher education graduate survey.

Dates for your diary: upcoming Network activities and meetings (27/01/2023)

27 February 2023 First meeting of the Working Group on ‘Tracking mobile graduates’ (online)

30 March 2023 Webinar on ‘Sharing practice and experience in relation to European surveys and data protection’ (online) Registration now open

10-11 May 2023 Annual Network Meeting in Sweden (face-to-face) Registration opening soon

Launch of the European Network of Graduate Tracking (30/08/2022)

The newly established Network of Graduate Tracking, created by the European Commission, was officially launched at the first Annual Network Meeting in May 2022 (see below). The main objectives of the Network are to support EU Members States and EEA countries with the implementation of the Council Recommendation on tracking graduates and promote the cooperation and learning in the European graduate tracking initiative. This newsletter aims to bring you the latest news from the Network, European-level discussions and policy developments, recent national initiatives and dates for your diary.

First Annual Network Meeting of the European Network of Graduate Tracking (30/08/2022)

The first Annual Network Meeting of the European Network of Graduate Tracking took place virtually on 5-6 May 2022 and brought together nearly 100 participants representing Member States/EEA countries (National Reference Points - NRPs), the European Commission and European-level stakeholders and social partners.

Working Group on ‘Preparing for the next European higher education graduate survey’ met for the first time (30/08/2022)

A preliminary meeting of the Working Group on ‘Preparing for the next European higher education graduate survey’ took place online (Teams) on 14 July 2022, and was attended by 19 participants representing 9 Member States/EEA countries (NRPs), the European Commission and European-level stakeholders and social partners.

Update on the Eurograduate pilot survey 2022 (30/08/2022)

Eurograduate 2022 is the second phase of the European pilot survey on higher education graduates. Seventeen countries are currently preparing for the launch of the online survey (planned for October 2022), making it the largest European graduate survey to date. An important challenge is to start the survey at about the same time in all countries following a tight schedule.

Update on graduate tracking activities in vocational education and training (VET) (30/08/2022)

National level administrative data sources contain a lot of information that could be used for providing comparable linked administrative data or for delivering a survey of VET graduates. At the request of DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL), a study, covering each EU Member State, was carried out on such information. The study is due to be finalised in the Autumn 2022.

Update on “Capacity Building for the European Graduate Tracking Initiative” project (30/08/2022)

In the framework of the “Capacity Building for a European Graduate Tracking Initiative” project, the European Commission in cooperation with Ecorys and 3s (and a network of national graduate tracking experts in all EU Member States and EEA countries) have implemented several capacity building activities to support national stakeholders to strengthen their skills and competence to implement the European Graduate Tracking Initiative and to stimulate international cooperation on this topic.

Future Network activities and meetings – dates for your diary (30/08/2022)

First meeting of the Working Group on ‘Preparing for the next European higher education graduate survey’ (04/10/2022)

Peer Learning Activity (PLA) on ‘Combining and linking administrative data and surveys for graduate tracking’ (18/10/2022)

Webinar on ‘Sharing practices and experiences in relation to European surveys and data protection’ (working title) (07/12/2022)

Second meeting of the Working Group on ‘Preparing for the next European higher education graduate survey’ (01/12/2022)

Third meeting of the Working Group on ‘Preparing for the next European higher education graduate survey’ (01/03/2023)

Annual Network Meeting (01/05/2023)