Increasing insights and the future of HESA’s destinations data
This summer sees a wealth of valuable data released on the destinations of graduates. This data provides real evidence about the employability and progression of students at a time of increasing uncertainty.
We want you to know exactly what data is being released, when it will be available and how you can get the most from it.
While some of our releases may be familiar to you, we are changing the way they look and some are completely new as we strive to make our data more open and accessible. We want you to know exactly what data is being released, when it will be available and how you can get the most from it.
An initial snapshot: The Statistical First Release and Performance Indicators
The Statistical First Release will provide the most up to date picture on the next steps for graduates six months after graduation.
The first release, on June 29, is the Statistical First Release (SFR) of the 2015/16 Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) data. This release will provide the most up to date picture on the next steps for graduates six months after graduation, and will offer insight into the occupations they’re going into. We will also gain an understanding about those going into further study as well as those seeking employment. As the first real indicator of how a cohort is faring after graduation, the Statistical First Release is sure to provoke a lot of discussion among the higher education (HE) community and beyond.
This release is closely followed by the 2015/16 edition of the UK Performance Indicators (PIs) for employment of leavers on the 6 July. This release tells us the proportion of UK domiciled graduates who are in work or further study out of all those who are working, studying, unemployed or seeking employment. The PIs are broken down by HE provider so will be of interest across the sector in an increasingly competitive marketplace. We will also be publishing an experimental SFR and Performance Indicators release later in the year which will include alternative providers for the first time. This will make for fascinating analysis as the HE sector continues to diversify.
Additional detail: Destinations publications
The Longitudinal DLHE publication provides a fascinating overview of what graduates are doing three and a half years after graduation. This can be very different to what they were doing six months after graduation.
A couple of weeks later we see some more detailed data as the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education 2015/16 publication is released on the 20 July. This provides information on the industries and occupations that graduates are entering as well as data split by subject which invariably sparks debate. The publication can be pre-ordered now.
We then pause for breath (and hopefully a summer holiday) until 10 August which sees the release of results from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Longitudinal Survey for 2012/13 graduates. Including provider level breakdowns for the first time, this free publication is often under-used as a data source but can provide a fascinating overview of what graduates are doing three and a half years after graduation. As you can imagine, this can be very different to what they were doing six months after graduation and writes the next chapter of a graduate’s story.
Enhancing insight: Research and analysis
Our Analysis team can provide additional insight and reveal the context behind the numbers through a range of analytical outputs.
While the above releases provide a useful snapshot, our Analysis team can provide additional insight and reveal the context behind the numbers. We can link the longitudinal data to previous data, such as the six-month DLHE survey, to uncover a wealth of additional information and undertake a range of statistical analysis. Our data can also be used in research projects as we continue to increase the relevance of our analytical outputs. You can contact myself or other members of the Analysis team for more information at [email protected] or 01242 211 115.
Looking forward: A bright future for Destinations data
HESA releases to come will provide vital context to LEO data, as well as providing further meaningful insight into graduate progression.
I want to finish by looking at further releases and to the future. The Department for Education recently released the next tranche of Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) on 13 June which shows employment earnings split by degree subject and university attended. The HESA releases to come will provide vital context to this data, as well as providing further meaningful insight into graduate progression.
While this summer sees a packed release schedule, there is a lot to look forward to in the coming years as we see our destinations data overhauled completely. It will see a new graduate outcomes survey that is more efficient to collect, generates more data than ever before and that will be linked to other sources to increase its effectiveness. We firmly believe that these developments will make a real difference to our users and the wider higher education sector.
We want you to get the most from our data as we progress into the next phase of our destinations data journey.
As users of the data we also want to hear from you. We want to know how we can do more to support you and what services you would find useful. We want to know if you think we should be doing something that we currently aren’t, so if you have any ideas then please get in touch with me at [email protected] or 01242 211 465. We want you to get the most from our data as we progress into the next phase of our destinations data journey.
"A wealth of valuable data": HESA provides an overview of upcoming information on #GraduateOutcomes
