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Dissemination - Products and services

Our current suite of outputs and dissemination routes derived from analysis of the Graduate Outcomes survey data are as follows:

Graduate Outcomes 2019/20: data and statistics

Formerly comprising two separate products (the statistical bulletin and open data), from the 2019/20 combined edition this provides the single annual release of data and statistics drawn from the Graduate Outcomes survey.

This release includes highlights and national summary analysis drawn from the data, with associated commentary to give context to the data presented. It also provides a more extensive suite of open data tables including disaggregations by HE provider. The product is delivered as a range of interactive tables and charts with accompanying data downloads.

The publication date for the annual Graduate Outcomes: data and statistics product is announced via the Upcoming data releases page on the HESA website. The exact publication date may vary from year to year and will be agreed in advance with the UK’s education departments, devolved administrations and the Office for Students. Release dates are listed on the webpage advised above on the HESA website and on the UK Statistics publication hub at least four weeks prior to release. Release happens at 09:30am on the chosen day.

Ad-hoc blogs and research papers

HESA undertakes specific research and analysis activities from time to time to inform and support internal operational improvement and to deliver insights for our users. We anticipate that research outputs relating to Graduate Outcomes data will be published on an ad-hoc basis, serving purposes such as:

Quality assessment of survey data (e.g. understanding quality in the context of survey methods or comparisons with other related data sources such as LEO, to support survey improvement)
Addressing novel insights into areas of policy or topical interest.

These materials will be available on our Open Data – Graduates or Research areas of our website.

Microdata for Statutory purposes undertaken by HESA’s statutory customers

HESA makes full curated files of quality-assured microdata, including derived fields, available to its statutory customers according to an agreed schedule, and subject to the processing notice under which the data was collected. The transfer of this data is subject to the legal agreements between HESA and its statutory customers, which specify inter alia the lawful grounds for processing the data under the GDPR/Data Protection Act 2018.

Each statutory body receives microdata covering constituencies of HE providers and a range of data fields that aligns with their statutory powers and public functions.

Microdata for HE providers on whose behalf data is collected

HE providers that have subscribed to HESA and that have graduates eligible for the survey receive a file comprising the microdata for their own survey respondents on an individual level basis (except for subjective wellbeing data which is delivered in aggregated and anonymised form).

All data is provided through the ‘Graduate Outcomes provider portal’ – an online portal collecting graduate contact details and delivering access to Graduate Outcomes survey data.

ONS Secure Research Service

HESA’s intention is to provide access to microdata for academic researchers through the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service in due course. Discussions between HESA and ONS to enable this are underway, but there are some complex issues to be resolved before this access mechanism can be launched. A target timeline for this is yet to be agreed.

Heidi Plus

This online analytics service is delivered for the primary benefit of HE providers subscribed to HESA, and other not-for-profit organisations operating in the UK HE sector. HESA has appointed Jisc to be its data processor in operating Heidi Plus. The service will include new datasets comprising a range of data drawn from the Graduate Outcomes survey. The intention is for these datasets to be available to users as soon after publication of the open data release as possible.

Tailored Datasets

The Tailored Datasets service provides data and analysis to customers’ exact requirements. Data drawn from the Graduate Outcomes survey will be made available via this service, as soon after publication of the open data release as possible.

As with Heidi Plus, HESA has appointed Jisc as a data processor in delivering the service.

Jisc ‘interactive insights’ products

Jisc is developing new interactive data dashboards that will aim to deliver insights for staff in HE providers responsible for careers guidance and strategic planning. More information on these will be available by contacting Jisc at [email protected].

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Dissemination - Products and services