stories from across the pond how uk career services collect and use destinations data

Stories from across the pond: How UK Career Services collect and use

destinations data

Lucy Hawkins, Careers AdviserUniversity of Oxford

Learning objectives

• Knowledge of processes used for collecting UK destinations data

• Knowledge of UK best practice in presenting and using destinations data

• Awareness of issues faced by UK relating to destinations data

• Confidence in interpreting further UK resources

Background

University of Oxford Careers ServiceFounded 1892~21,000 students12 Careers Advisers

Our Career Center

Our Career Center

Some UK parameters

• HEI = Higher Education Institution• ‘Postgraduate (PG) student’ = ‘Graduate student’• Completed Bachelors = ‘graduate’• Average graduate starting salary (pre tax)– Oxford - £25,000 (~$39,000)– UK - £21,000 (~$32,000)

Our website

Our destinations data

What destinations data do we have...

... And how do we collect it?

DLHE

Every UK HEI 2 graduation groups One ‘test date’ for each ~6 mo. after Target response rates:– 80% UK– 50% EU–40% Int’l*

DLHE

UK GovernmentUniversities

set up

designsanalysespublishes

collection by

CollectionTelephone

Postal survey

Email survey link

CostTime

(c.Nov –> Feb)

Collection methods

In-house• Student phone banks• ‘DLHE Coordinator’ role,

integration year-round• Valuable experience for

students• Less efficient, more

accurate?

Outsourced• No capacity issues• Removal of non-

completion risk• Independent• Economies of scale

Both cost ~$55000 for a leaving class of ~ 9,000

DLHE pros and cons

• Easy comparisons between universities

• Fantastic information for students/alumni

• Great source of alumni contributors

• Allows for targeted follow up with unemployed group

• Great to use with employers

• ‘Graduate jobs’ definition

• Misleading %s for small courses

• Over-emphasises ‘6 months out’

• Uneditable content• Classification issues

How is destinations data published?

... And what’s university best practice?

Directly published on...

• HESA site• HESA app• Unistats• Course

pages

Indirectly published...

Career Centers

• No obligation to publish their destinations data

• But good practice to do so, and helpful for guidance encounters...

Best practice

Oxford: Tableau Reader

See the live tables at http://bit.ly/OxDLHE

How is destinations data used?

... By the career center?

Labour market information

Reclassification by hand!

Identifying trends

• Salary• Gender• Field• Study

Alumni engagement

• Sourcing panel speakers• Inviting alumni to become career mentors• Assessing alumni career needs• Unemployment

follow up

The future?

Questions

Lucy HawkinsCareers Adviser@CareersLucy

www.linkedin.com/in/lucyhawkinswww.careerslucy.wordpress.com