Promotion of the Graduate Outcomes survey
The Graduate Outcomes survey needs to meet ambitious response rate targets to ensure we have detailed data that is usable for a range of information and regulatory purposes.
Providers play a vital part in the success of Graduate Outcomes. We know from our work looking at response rates, that engagement with the online survey is dependent on recognition of the Graduate Outcomes brand. Providers play a key role in legitimising the online survey via their own direct and trusted engagement routes.
We know that one of the strongest influencers in encouraging students/graduates to complete a survey is their university/college. We are therefore recommending that providers engage in promotional activity through your own channels to raise the profile of the survey with your graduates. Through promoting the survey, you will receive even richer and more granular data to support you in understanding what your graduates go on to do.
Guidelines on promotion
You are able to raise the profile of the survey at any point before or during the contact period. However, no direct contact (e.g. via email or phone) should be made with graduates being surveyed during the contact period. Indirect contact (e.g. via your provider's social media channels) during the contact period can help legitimise the survey.
Best practice suggests that there’s particular value in promoting the survey at the following points:
- During the student’s final weeks of teaching
- At graduation
- During the 15 month period post-course completion
- Shortly before the contact period starts.
To support providers in carrying out the suggested contact with graduates prior to being surveyed, we’ve created a simple graduate contact plan.
Best practice also suggests that there is a value in engaging academic schools and individual lecturers in the promotion of the survey – as students respond better to familiar points of contact.
Promotion should be done only to raise the survey’s profile. You will not be able to direct graduates to complete the survey, as graduates will access it through a unique url provided by Confirmit. Care should be taken when promoting the survey that you do not confuse graduates by suggesting they are eligible to complete the survey when they are not – either because they fall into a different contact period, or because they are not part of the Graduate Outcomes population.
More detailed guidance on promotion of the survey can be found in our communication resources pages.
What we provide
We have provided a large number of promotional materials to help you raise awareness of the survey. These materials include the Graduate Outcomes logo, as well as some template artwork that you can use as is or customise. We have also provided some template emails and some suggested taglines and calls to action that you can use when communicating about Graduate Outcomes.
HESA is responsible for ongoing development and expansion of these resources. We welcome providers' feedback so we can continue to supply relevant materials.