Backup - Communicating with Recent Graduates: Making Sense of the GDS
The Graduate Destination Survey (GDS), with the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) or Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire (PREQ) attached, is sent to all new Australian university graduates every year. The aim is to take a snapshot of what recent graduates are doing in terms of their post-graduation activities and to gather information from them about their higher education experience.
GDS Overview
Every year, the GDS form is administered to all new university graduates about four months after they complete requirements for a degree. The form for bachelor degree graduates or coursework postgraduates is coupled with the CEQ. A GDS form coupled with the PREQ is sent to higher degree research graduates.
The survey is managed within each institution by a Survey Manager who is responsible for the administration of the survey and (in most cases) the co-ordination of the distribution of the results and data.
Higher education sector representatives sit on the Survey Reference Group (SRG), which advises the GCCA on issues as they relate to the GDS.
A Standard Recommended Methodology (due for an update at the time of writing) is available as part of the GDS Manual (GCCA 2002). This details the timing of the survey, the tasks involved and the relationship between the institutional Survey Manager and the GCCA.
There is also a Code of Practice for the use of the data that addresses issues such as valid comparisons between fields of study and institutions and minimum cell sizes. This document is also available in the GDS Manual (GCCA 2002).
The GDS has been conducted nationally every year since 1972 and the CEQ was added in 1993 followed by the PREQ in 1999. The original aim of the GDS was to gather data to inform students about graduate labour market conditions and employment options and this remains a key focus of the survey.
The GDS form asks respondents about the course they have just completed, their labour market status, details of any employment they are in, and information about any further study being undertaken.
Data collected include:
·whether the respondent is in full- or part-time employment;
·whether the respondent is seeking employment;
if relevant
·the name of the employer;
·the location of the employer;
·the sector in which the employer operates;
·the area of industry in which the employer operates;
·the type of work the respondent is doing;
·the number of hours worked;
·the expected length of employment (permanent, short-term or ‘other’);
·annual salary; and
·whether the position is the respondent’s first full-time job.
Some features of this information (such as employment status and salary) are reported more frequently than others.
The most common themes for analysis centre on employment rates, starting salaries figures and CEQ results. Users should consider the way in which the GCCA conducts the core analysis of GDS, CEQ and PREQ data (as discussed in various GCCA reports). This will demonstrate the most useful and appropriate methods of analysis and include discussion of precautions about differing methods.
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