the future of tracking graduates – two approaches on why we track graduates

Dr. Dominic OrrAffiliated researcher at DZHW Hannover (http://www.dzhw.eu/en)Affiliated researcher at FiBS Research Berlin (http://fibs.eu/en/)[email protected] and @DominicOrr

The future of tracking graduates – two approaches on why we track graduates

Graduate tracking: prospects and applicationsMOSTA 1 October 2015

The Meccano Bridge built by Queen's University civil engineering students at

Clarendon Dock, Belfast. Pic: Stephen Davison/Pacemaker.

mailto:[email protected]

2MOSTA Vilnius, 1/10/2015@DominicOrr#graduate_tracking

Contents

1. Growing importance of tracking

2. View of graduates as “human capital”

3. Graduates as “new citizens” / more comprehensive view

4. Graduates attributes / comprehensive view

5. Is “human capital approach” just a straw-man argument?

6. What do national ministries expect from graduate studies?

7. Conceptual and operational challenges for tracking


1. Growing importance of tracking

• Recent survey carried out by Eurydice showed that practically all EU member countries carry out a graduate survey of some kind, be it regular or ad-hoc

• Governance constellations – steering at a distance – moving from a focus on inputs (number of students, academics,…) to outputs (teaching and research performance).

• Teaching performance / impact of higher education can be seen in the trajectory of graduates

• 2008 crisis led to 2 contradictory views on higher ed:- The only way out of the crisis- Underperformance in context of participation growth one cause

of high youth employment• Graduate tracking is about seeing whether higher education can fulfil

its promises / provides a legitimation for public & private spending on higher education


2. View of graduates as “human capital”

• Growth in participation means that HE is a major feeder of the labour market – therefore labour market transition and success should be monitored

• Typical questions:- Do graduates get jobs?- Are these appropriate to their qualification level?- How do they view the impact of HE on their transition?

• Additionally, new graduates are bringing new skills onto the labour market, therefore it is also common to ask:- Do graduates think they are appreciated by their employer?- Have they got chances to develop?

Human Capital is the value that the employees of a business provide through the application of skills, know-how and expertise (Wikipedia)


3. Graduates as “new citizens” / more comprehensive view

• UNESCO: “At no time in history has it been more important to invest in higher education as a major force in building an inclusive and diverse knowledge society and to advance research, innovation and creativity” (UNESCO, 2009).

• OECD: “Better policies for better lives” – progress = well-being in terms of material living conditions (housing, income, jobs) and quality of life (community, education, environment, governance, health, life satisfaction, safety and work-life balance).

“It is not knowledge that will carry them [i.e. the graduates] forward but their capacity to embrace multiple and conflicting frameworks and to offer their own positive interventions in that milieu” i.e. they should obtain the ability to cope and create in a complex world (Barnett, 2000).


3. Measuring well-being

Source: OECD 2015


4. Graduates attributes / comprehensive view

• Government sponsored projects in Australia and Scotland to encourage HEIs to develop their understanding of graduate attributes

• Definition: “the skills, knowledge and abilities of university graduates, beyond disciplinary content knowledge, which are applicable in a range of contexts and are acquired as a result of completing any undergraduate degree.” (Barrie 2006)

• Two main types: translating-level attributes enabling-level attributes


4. Graduates attributes / comprehensive viewType of attributes

Description (Barries 2006)

HEI examples (from Scotland) (Hounsell 2011)

Translating-level attributes

Abilities which allow learners to change or transform discipline learning outcomes

Personal and intellectual autonomy: “able to flexibly transfer their knowledge, learning, skills and abilities from one context to another, utilising their understanding of the issues pertinent to each situation”Ethical, social and professional understanding: “willingness to participate and contribute in their career fields and their communities, with self-assurance, a professional attitude and an ethical approach”Communication: “effective use of oral, written and visual means to critique, negotiate, create and communicate understanding”

Enabling-level attributes

A reusable framework that enables graduates to acquire and shape new knowledge. The keys to inquiry and learning in many aspects of life, not just formal study.

Global citizenship: “an understanding of the global business, cultural and physical/ natural environment and ability to apply their knowledge in an international context”Lifelong learning: “respect and an appetite for learning which continues far beyond university studies”


5. Is “human capital approach” just a straw-man argument?

Q: Are there really approaches to tracking, which only focus on whether a graduate gets a job?

• A: Certainly, there are short-termist policies at the moment, which have this focus and relate it back to the HE system e.g. Denmark, Hungary,…

• We also see this commonly in complaints of employers (recently in Netherlands, UK, Germany etc.)

Robin Ellis on Flickr, CC BY-ND


Source: EUROGRADUATE Feasibility study. Mean values on 5-point scale (1=“strongly disagree”, 5=“strongly agree”).

Topics National ministries responsible for HE

• Transition to labour market 4.6

• Generating & sustaining employability 4.5

• Skills mismatch 4.4

• Competencies during studies 4.3

• Quality of HE 4.0

• Returns to education 3.9

• Mobility of graduates 3.9

• Equity 3.8

• Competencies after graduation 3.8

• Mobility during studies 3.4

• Comparison of individual HEIs 3.1

6. What do national ministries expect from graduate studies?



• Graduate tracking is confronted with the task of setting priorities for topic areas


Individuals (graduates)

HE institutions

Labour market

Society



…but there are time and sequence elements to the question: e.g. when are we measuring the outcomes?


HE institutions

Labour market

Individuals’ (graduates’) life course

Individuals’life outside of HE and labour market


Graduate studies always look back – that means planning for graduate studies always has to look forward

This means it is important to ask 4 key questions of any graduate study:

? What does it assume a graduate looks like? ? What does it assume higher education looks like? ? What does it assume the labour market looks like? ? What does it assume society looks like?



Appendix: Further reading

Barnett, R. (2000). Realising the university in an age of supercomplexity. Open University Press.Barrie, S. C. (2006). Understanding What We Mean By Graduate Attributes. Higher Education, 51(2),

215–41. Retrieved from http://www.itl.usyd.edu.au/GraduateAttributes/barriepaper.pdfHounsell, D. (2011). Graduates for the 21st Century: Integrating the Enhancement themes - Synthesis

of work 2010-2011. Retrieved from http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/docs/report/synthesis-of-work-of-the-theme-end-of-year-report-dai-hounsell.pdf?sfvrsn=24

OECD. (2015). Skills for Social Progress: The Power of Social and Emotional Skills. OECD Publishing. http://doi.org/10.1787/9789264226159-en

UNESCO. (2009). 2009 World Conference on Higher Education: The New Dynamics of Higher Education and Research for Societal Change and Development (Communique). Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/ED/pdf/WCHE_2009/WD3_Outline_29June09 (2).pdf