The EC published evidence that shows how tertiary level graduates are doing and how Europe could improve access to comparable information on graduates’ careers.
Good quality information on what graduates do after obtaining their qualifications is key to improving education and training systems. A report, prepared for the European Commission (EC) and published now, shows that about two thirds of the EU Member States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein have system-level graduate tracking in higher education and vocational education and training (VET) in place, but that other countries will have to make considerable improvements to establish such tracking systems. The report also shows that there is room for improvement in general, particularly when it comes to: a) the coverage of the whole graduate population in both vocational education and training and higher education; b) the inclusion of all (including cross-border) graduates and drop-outs; and c) having a longitudinal approach to tracking. The report provides evidence on how the EU Member States are doing in view of the council recommendation on tracking graduates that EU education ministers adopted in November 2017 as a follow up to the 2016 Skills Agenda and that proposes to make progress on the establishment of graduate tracking systems by 2020.
A second report illustrates that it was possible to collect comparable data across eight participating countries (Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Norway) in a Eurograduate pilot study. The Eurograduate pilot study looked at how graduates from higher education and VET are doing in terms of employment, personal skills and active citizenship in the pilot countries. The results suggest, for example, that an experience abroad, an ‘activating learning environment’ (where lectures are complemented with problem-based and work-based learning), and study-related work experience are key to improve study outcomes. Based on the experience from the pilot, the authors argue that a full rollout of a European graduate survey would be feasible in a clear majority of the Erasmus+ countries and would make sense.
In its press statement, the EC underlined that it is important to know which types of learning and qualifications promote professional success and personal fulfilment, and it highlighted the contribution of the European Universities Initiative, a flagship of the European Education Area, in promoting student-centred and challenge-based learning. The EC is expected to present a new Skills Agenda on 8 July and a communication on the European Education Area in September.