The Graduate Outcomes Results Guide 2017/18 focuses on two main metrics, rates of Activity and of Graduate Level work. This section describes how these metrics are calculated
Activity
The Graduate Outcomes Survey asks graduates to list the activities that they were undertaking on the survey's Census week, selecting one as their most important activity. This data is then used to calculate the activity category the graduate falls in to.
" This field describes the activity of a Graduate from the survey results, based on a matrix of the most important activity, All activities, together with Employment, Self-Employment and Study" - HESA data specification for Graduate Outcomes Activity
Further details about the calculation of Activity can be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/collection/c17072/derived/xactivity
These calculated activity categories are then summarized in this report as:
Work - Full-time employment, Part-time employment, Unknown pattern of employment, Voluntary or unpaid work
Work and Study - Employment and further study
Study - Full-time further study, Part-time further study, Unknown pattern of further study
Unemployed - Unemployed and due to start work, Unemployed and due to start further study, Unemployment
Other - Other including travel, caring for someone or retired
Graduate Level Work
The graduate level work rate is only calculated for graduates who selected Work as their most important activity. As such some graduates who are in the Work and Study activity category will not be included in the calculation of Graduate Level Work rates, due to them selecting Study as their most important activity.
It is important to note that the graduate level work rate is giving a percentage of a group (those who selected Work as their most important activity) which is not described in the Activity tables. As such, when quoting data from this report ensure that it is made clear that Activity and Graduate Level Work rates are calculated separately using different methods and do not directly relate to one another
