Compared to previous ‘pandemic years’, the 2020/21 Graduate Outcomes respondents were surveyed at a point when the impact of the pandemic on daily life was decreasing steadily.
New experimental statistics show disparities in degree attainment between most and least deprived areas narrowed during COVID in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but widened in Wales.
The majority of Graduate Outcomes survey respondents graduated in summer 2020 as restrictions were easing from the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. These cohorts were surveyed in Autumn 2021 when case numbers were high and the vaccination programme underway.
The COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020, roughly two thirds of the way through the 2019/20 academic year.
This year's Graduate Outcomes data reflects the circumstances under which it was collected. Data was collected in a year in which unemployment rates rose across society and most travel was prohibited. This insight brief is part of our range of support to help users contextualise this year’s data.
