EUROGRADUATE survey 2022: about |

Mission and aims of the project

The EUROGRADUATE Survey was launched with the goal of creating and implementing a regular, comprehensive, comparable and longitudinal European data collection on higher education graduates. It is part of the European Graduate Tracking Initiative of the European Commission and implements the recommendations of the European Commission expert group on graduate tracking on consecutively building a European graduate tracking mechanism. Ultimately, EUROGRADUATE aims at covering all countries of the European Economic Area (EEA).

The EUROGRADUATE project series consists of

The project pursues to monitor educational pathways of graduates, how they evaluate their study experiences, and how that translates into their professional careers and lives as European citizens. EUROGRADUATE addresses the need for comparable and high quality measures and data on graduates of the European education systems.

More specifically the project has the following objectives:

Develop tools and processes for the collection of comparable data in the participating countries
Support the participating countries in all steps of preparing and conducting the data collection as well as in processing, handling, and analyzing the data.
Coordinate the data collection in the participating countries
Process the data and prepare an international micro-level data set covering all participating countries
Analyse the data and prepare a comparative synthesis report on key results across all topics of the EUROGRADUATE survey
Disseminate project results, publications, and outputs, including a scientific use file of the data
Assess the project organisation, data collection, and data quality and derive recommendations and proposals for the further development of the European graduate survey

EUROGRADUATE is funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union. The EUROGRADUATE Feasibility Study, EUROGRADUATE 2018 and EUROGRADUATE 2022 was coordinated by the German Centre for Higher Education Research on Science Studies (DZHW). The current round of EUROGRADUATE 2026 is coordinated by the European Higher Education Sector Observatory (EHESO). Further information on EUROGRADUATE 2026 can be found here.

Methodology

Sampling

EUROGRADUATE surveys graduates approximately one and five years after graduation to monitor both their short-term and mid-term transitions from higher education into employment and further life courses. In each survey round, two graduation cohorts are selected to represent these two observation points. While the methodological concept remains the same across survey rounds, the graduation cohorts are updated accordingly. For example, EUROGRADUATE 2018 surveyed graduates from the academic years 2012/13 and 2016/17, while EUROGRADUATE 2022 covered the cohorts 2016/17 and 2020/21.

The survey generally targets graduates from ISCED 2011 levels 6 (Bachelor's degree) and 7 (Master's degree or long-cycle programmes). ISCED 5 programmes may be included where they are classified as higher education at the national level, and participating countries may additionally include ISCED 8 (doctoral) graduates in their national data collection.

Harmonisation

To ensure that results are comparable across countries, EUROGRADUATE follows a common methodological framework developed by the international consortium. This framework includes the survey methodology, the master questionnaire, methodological guidelines, quality assurance procedures, and continuous support for the participating countries throughout the preparation and implementation of the survey.

The consortium also coordinates the international project, harmonises the national datasets, and prepares the integrated international database for comparative analyses.

National Implementation

The participating countries are responsible for implementing the survey at the national level. This includes drawing the sample according to the common methodological framework, programming the national questionnaire, conducting the fieldwork, and processing the collected data. Where appropriate and comparable, survey data may be supplemented or replaced by administrative register data.

The sampling strategy is agreed jointly by the consortium and the participating countries, taking national data sources and country-specific conditions into account while ensuring reliable results for key population groups.

Results and dissemination

The harmonised data produced through EUROGRADUATE enable both national and international analyses of graduates' educational and labour market outcomes. Participating countries use the data to produce national reports tailored to their higher education systems, while the consortium prepares comparative international analyses that provide evidence for higher education policy and research across Europe.

Results of the EUROGRADUATE 2018 and 2022 pilot survey are available here.

Overview

National Level

European Level

Core Topics

The EUROGRADUATE questionnaire covers a range of topics reflecting the graduates' personal and social background, their educational career, the transition to work and their work history, their skills and job satisfaction as well as social outcomes. The questionnaire is split in three modules: essential (module A), recommended (module B), and optional information (module C). The essentials are covered by all participating countries, whereas countries can choose to cover module B and C . A detailed description of the specific core topics of each module can be found in the graphic below. The EUROGRADUATE 2022 master questionnaire can be found here.

The EUROGRADUATE Countries

EUROGRADUATE aims to cover all EU-countries and those of the European Economic Area. While the project started with 8 countries, it doubled to include 17 countries in 2022.