Graduate Careers Australia
The Graduate Grapevine – Number 4, June 2006
GDS Enhancement Project Update
Over the last decade, Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) has continually worked to review and improve its research efforts. Most recently, the Graduate Destination Survey(GDS) Enhancement Project was conducted in 2005 and early 2006 through funding provided by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST).
The Enhancement Project was led by GCA Executive Director Cindy Tilbrook and managed by Dr Hamish Coates (now at the Australian Council for Educational Research).
The overarching aim of the Enhancement Project was to increase the authority and validity of GCA’s Australian Graduate Survey (AGS), which includes the Graduate Destination Survey, Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) and Postgraduate Research Experience Questionnaire (PREQ). It was conducted to design and develop the processes, resources and ideas needed to generate a new era of research into Australian student experiences and graduate outcomes.
During the Enhancement Project, Hamish consulted widely with the sector regarding a variety of issues related to the methods employed in the AGS. The project included a suite of studies and two software development projects. Ten universities took part in a national study of survey non-response, six in a national review of survey engagement, 12 helped to test the redesigned survey instrument and nine participated in an analysis of coding validity.
Representatives from all institutions attended a series of workshops at the start of the research, participated in reviews and consultations throughout the year and attended a national forum to discuss preliminary findings from the research. The 2004 national survey data was analysed, and around 7000 students and graduates provided direct input into the Enhancement Project.
As these activities suggest, while the research was led by GCA, it involved extensive collaboration with all institutions and relevant stakeholders in Australian higher education. The approach reflected GCA’s ongoing work with institutions, and took account of the existing devolved but controlled survey process. It sought to identify and address the concerns of key stakeholders, and to develop mechanisms for enhancing confidence in the surveys.
Key Recommendations
The Enhancement Project report made 10 primary recommendations, largely based on one key recommendation:
GCA survey methods must be standardised in ways that are likely to enhance the authority, validity, consistency and efficiency of the surveys.
The remaining recommendations covered specific elements of a standardised survey process, proposed mechanisms for greater engagement of students in the survey process, recommended that institutions adequately resource the conduct of the survey and proposed greater training and support for institutions in respect of the survey. The recommendations were put forward by GCA in the belief that they present the best theoretical approach to the survey operation and as a model of best practice in survey technique.
GCA also recognised that any move towards adoption of the recommendations would not only require consultation, cooperation and approval from all involved in the survey process, but would also involve an increase in the resource base (human and financial) both within GCA and within individual institutions.
As GCA operates in a collaborative fashion with survey institutions, it is therefore considered essential that the implications and ramifications of any adoption of the recommendations are fully considered by GCA and the sector overall.
Action Plan
The final report has now been submitted to DEST and signed off by the Minister. Actions planned over the coming months include:
- The establishment of a stakeholder committee between GCA and the AVCC which can consider the report and recommendations in detail prior to wider publication within the sector.
- The committee meet over a consolidated period of two/three days to determine:
- what standardisation means in practical terms
- what are the resource implications of taking the recommendations forward
- the format and wording of a new standard recommended methods document (SRM), based on a standardised survey process, and representing the joint GCA/AVCC response to the Enhancement Project report recommendations.
Forward, to the Future
All of us at GCA are excited about where the Enhancement Project recommendations will take the AGS in the next year or two. Future editions of Graduate Grapevine will document developments as they are confirmed.
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