Australian Creative Graduate Tracking Studies

Dr Ruth Bridgstock

‘Say Goodbye to the Fries’ study

n=403

Phone surveys of QUT graduates 2000-2010

23 degrees: media/comms, mass comms, journalism, humanities, cultural studies

‘Say Goodbye to the Fries’ studyDestinations of Australian humanities graduates

80% full-time employment

70% at degree level or higher

25% embedded; 39% specialist; 3.3% support (media/com grads high levels of embeddedness)

62% directly related to area of study

65% private sector; 29% government

film, tv & radio

publishing

music

performing arts

visual arts

Cultural production disciplines

precarious creative labour

creative graduate oversupply

creative value

Graduates 2006-2013Cross-sectional retrospective

N = 913 graduates

<1 to 6 years after course completionWeb survey

Queensland University of Technology

Griffith University

James Cook University

University of Sydney

University of Melbourne

Curtin University

University of Tasmania

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Edith Cowan University

Swinburne University

University partners

1. Early career trajectories

2. Career patterns – the ‘creative trident’ & the portfolio career

3. Career aspirations

4. Creative value-add through career

5. Capabilities, reflections on course experiences

6. Creative diaspora & career movements

7. Career building strategies

8. Process of career identity growth and transformation

Topics covered

Preliminary top-level findings

Multi disciplinarity

Embedded work

Creative value in ‘non-creative’ work

Prior / subsequent tertiary study

Subsequent study339 (37.01%)

Prior / concurrent study 269 (23.37%)

55.4%

13.0%18.6%

12.3%

25.3%

14.1%

Cultural ProductionEducationSTEM, HealthBusiness/Man-agementHumanitiesCreative Services

38.94%

28.91%

22.42%

11.50%

9.44%

7.96%

more than half have formal qualifications outside their discipline of cultural production

Career patterns

CI Sectors Non-CI SectorsCI Occupations 33.99% 10.94%Non-CI Occupations

7.95% 47.12%

Current jobsavg = 1.4 jobs per graduate

46.77% in full-time employment

1-5 employability rating M=4.12 (SD=1.02)

Career patterns

44.93% current jobs = ‘creative occupations’

‘Non-creative work’ vs ‘creative work’?

64.4% of participants with ‘non-creative’ jobs say that at in at least one of these jobs they add significant creative value

‘administration officer’

‘teacher’

Adding creative value in ‘non-creative’ jobs

creative value career satisfaction

public speaking / performance

visual aesthetic / design input

writing / editing

critical thinking

imagination / creative views / ideas

0.00% 20.00% 40.00% 60.00% 80.00% 100.00%

37.00%

40.10%

42.00%

52.60%

57.10%

Australian Creative Graduate Tracking Studies

Dr Ruth Bridgstock