Tag: Beyond Graduation

A recap of my PhD and a thank you to all those who have taken part so far. 

Thank you too all those who have taken part in this study so far.  My PhD experience would not be the same if I did not have the chance to listen to and read about the experiences of other graduates in north Wales. Thank you 🙂

For those who have came to my blog for the first time here is a recap of my study.

I am conducting research into the destinations of graduates from north Wales. This study is being carried out in conjunction with the School of Social Science, Bangor University and is funded by the Economic Social and Research Council. This study aims to gain a thorough understanding of the experiences of north Wales graduates, post graduation, so as to help university careers services deliver careers advice and guidance that is responsive to what local graduates need.

Whilst I am mainly focusing on those who graduated in 2008, with a degree in either Engineering & Technology; Social Studies or Business & Administration from north Wales,  I am always interested in speaking to graduates from north Wales and beyond – no matter what your degree subject was.  I am however concentrating on people who graduated within the last five years.

Where I am up to with this research.  At present I am carrying out interviews with north Wales graduates to discuss their post graduation experiences.  I am also setting up interviews with University and College Careers Services to discuss issues relating to careers advice and guidance for graduates.

Details of the study.  Please see below for links to the letter to respondents;  information sheet and online survey.

Letter to potential respondents –  https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Mjl-rGaFkyV7pW2EvbHRo0-XOjICN8AtZCX4cRj18u0

Information sheet – https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1I9_Ovkn1kR6OzMz2zsKcDcvqOKrz84WXbpfQgy9oFeI

Online questionnaire – https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHdyNklFb2Rzb3FGaWw0OWhGai02WVE6MQ#gid=0

Further details.  If you would like to be kept up to date with the progress of this ESRC study or if you have any further questions you are welcome to email me on sopc2c@bangor.ac.uk, get in touch via this blog, or through Twitter @Beyond_Grad

Thank you.

Teresa

My current research looks at the experience of graduates in north Wales, however  I am also interested in what has happened to graduates across the UK, five years after graduation as I feel there is too much emphasis on getting people into university, but less so on “what happens next”.  I would like to conduct a comparison study on the experiences of graduates from north Wales with another area in the UK, thus I am looking for case studies of graduates across the UK so I can provide a wider, and more informed picture of graduate destinations.  If you would like to share your stories of what has been your experience post graduation, please feel free to contact me.  Take a look around my blog as I discuss elements of my ongoing PhD research on north Wales graduates.  If you have any further questions, email me on sopc2c@bangor.ac.uk; contact me through my blog or through Twitter (Beyond_Grad)

Thanks, Teresa 🙂

Beyond Graduation.
Widening participation, a flagship policy of the New Labour government in 1997, has led to a noticeable change in student demographics. Wales is an interesting case study as Welsh Higher Education institutions consistently attract a wide social mix of students, perhaps due in part to a distinctive ‘Welsh culture’ which confers a high status on education and educators. However literature on widening participation often focuses more on ‘getting them into’ higher education’ and less on subsequent post graduation experiences. This study will evaluate graduate opportunities across North Wales.

Graduate trajectories are often influenced by socio economic characteristics. Female graduates appear to benefit less in economic terms from their degrees, although male graduates are often more likely to be unemployed. The possession of a university degree can remove employment disadvantages for mature graduates however, ‘middle class’ graduates are more likely than ‘disadvantaged’ graduates to be in graduate jobs and not to feel overqualified. Research also suggests that first generation graduates encounter greater difficulties in the labour market compared to those who have a family tradition of attending university and ethnic minorities who often earn less than 90% of the average wage of a white undergraduate. Although graduates with unseen disabilities gained graduate employment in ways similar to those experienced by non disabled graduates those with mental health issues or mobility difficulties encountered greater difficulties in the labour market and experienced higher rates of unemployment. Additionally, students from post-1992 universities were less likely to undertake postgraduate study in line with their greater likelihood of having vocational career plans.

There are additional factors affecting graduate trajectories. Research has found that leading employers appear to have a strong preference towards graduates from traditional or elite institutions. As such these graduate are more likely to be employed in managerial positions and also feel that they have the opportunity to use skills gained through their degree9. Subject choices with the highest labour market value are computing and medicine as well as engineering and law. Those with the least favourable outcomes are areas such as art, humanities and languages or biology. Those that choose ‘practical’ or vocational courses often gain “degrees of lower labour market value” . The Welsh language is a considerable asset in gaining employment in Wales as a survey of employers in Wales found there was a shortage of people with bi-lingual skills in the Police, Careers Advice and Nursing

Pierre Bourdieu, the French sociologist and philosopher, pioneered investigative frameworks such as social and cultural capital for understanding graduate trajectories. Cultural capital affects the type of institution attended and subject studied, whilst the central thesis of social networks is that ‘relationships matter’. Those whom attend the ‘right’ school (private education followed by an elite university); study the ‘right’ subject (academic as opposed to vocational); make the ‘right’ contacts (individuals working in prestigious professions) are more likely to have greater opportunities, post graduation. My research will evaluate how these additional factors affect graduate opportunities in North Wales.

As employment outcomes and widening participation are more explicitly linked a greater emphasis has been placed on the role of higher education careers services post graduation. The Harris Report (2001), suggested that some students were less likely to use careers services as these services were perceived as having a one size fits all approach to graduate support. This study will also focus on the support that is available to graduates as it is it will become increasingly vital in today’s’ economic climate to help smooth graduate transitions into employment or post graduate opportunities.

Introduction.

The student population has become increasingly diverse following higher education policies developed by the New Labour government since its election in 1997. Welsh HEIs in particular consistently outperform UK averages in attracting a wide social mix of students in university education A degree has become common currency for entry into a rising number of high-level occupations. Despite this the academic and grey literature focuses on accessing to higher education and less on subsequent post graduation experiences.  Research so far has shown that graduate opportunities are heavily influenced by demographic characteristics, the institution attended and subject studied – leaving this new diverse cohort of students negatively positioned. But is this the case in north Wales?

My ongoing research investigates the trajectories of graduates from one of four degree awarding institutions in north Wales.

Here is my poster presented at a conference in 2011

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/92276540/Widening-participation-into-graduate-employment

Beyond Graduation.

I am conducting research into the destinations of graduates from north Wales. This study is being carried out in conjunction with the School of Social Science, Bangor University and is funded by the Economic Social and Research Council. This study aims to gain a thorough understanding of the experiences of north Wales graduates, post graduation, so as to help university careers services deliver careers advice and guidance that is responsive to what local graduates need.

Whilst I am mainly focusing on those who graduated in 2008, with a degree in either Engineering & Technology; Social Studies or Business & Administration from north Wales,  I am always interested in speaking to graduates from north Wales and beyond – no matter what your degree subject was.  I am however concentrating on people who graduated within the last five years.

Where I am up to with this research.  At present I am carrying out interviews with north Wales graduates to discuss their post graduation experiences.  I am also setting up interviews with University and College Careers Services to discuss issues relating to careers advice and guidance for graduates.

Details of the study

Graduate Invitation letter

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mjl-rGaFkyV7pW2EvbHRo0-XOjICN8AtZCX4cRj18u0/edit

Graduate Information Sheet https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I9_Ovkn1kR6OzMz2zsKcDcvqOKrz84WXbpfQgy9oFeI/edit

Further details.  If you would like to be kept up to date with the progress of this ESRC study or if you have any further questions you are welcome to email me on sopc2c@bangor.ac.uk, get in touch via this blog, or through Twitter

Thank you.

Teresa

Beyond Graduation – Information Sheet.

Introduction.
I am conducting research into the post graduation experiences of graduates in north Wales for the purpose of my Ph.D. This study is being carried out in conjunction with the School of Social Science, Bangor University and is funded by the Economic Social and Research Council.

Supervision.
This project is supervised by Professor Howard Davis. Please feel free to contact him via email h.h.davis@bangor.ac.uk if you would like to have any further information about the project.

About the study. 
Focusing on individuals who graduated in 2008, with a degree in either Engineering & Technology; Social Studies or Business & Administration from north Wales.  This study aims to inform developments in policy, practice and service provision. Findings and recommendations will assist organisations in north Wales to:

• gain a thorough understanding of the experiences of north Wales graduates, post graduation, and, in turn;
• deliver careers advice and guidance that is responsive to local graduate need.

Methodology.
To be completed over a twelve month period and involve:

• Analysis of HESA statistics on graduate destinations
• Interviews with north Wales graduates to discuss their post graduation experiences, concentrating on issues relating to employment, unemployment and post graduate studyFurther details.
  If you would like to be kept up to date with the progress of this ESRC study or if you have any further questions regarding the study you are welcome to email me on sos403@bangor.ac.uk or trecrew@gmail.com. I can also be contacted via my Twitter account @Beyond_GradThank you.

  Teresa

Hello World!!

Seeing as this is my first post I thought I would give a quick introduction to this blog.  My name is Teresa Crew and I am a 2nd PhD student conducting research on what graduates in north Wales (2008 cohort) have being doing since leaving uni.  This research is intended to provide a more rounded approach to the research on graduates destination which generally concentrates on giving a UK picture of graduate destinations.

I will be using my blog to provide

• updates to my ongoing PhD research,
• discussions of topics such as research methods; employment; inequalities i.e gender, age, ethnicity, disability, language; cuts by Tory government and Government support programmes that are not fit for purpose i.e ‘Workfare’
• other research I have carried out.

I would like this blog to be interactive so if there is anything that you would like to see with regards to my main interests of graduates, employment and inequalities, then please leave a comment.  I am also on Academia.edu (Teresa Crew); Twitter (Beyond_Grad) and  Linked In (Teresa Crew).  If you would like to follow me, I always follow back.

Hope you enjoy the blog

Teresa 🙂