The Role of Data and Insight in Enhancing Employability in UK Higher Education Institutions
Data and insight can help to support graduate outcomes and employability in higher education. We explore how careers professionals can use it to enhance service delivery.
In today's competitive job market, universities are under increasing pressure to ensure that their graduates are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need to secure employment. The introduction of the Graduate Outcomes Survey in 2018, which replaced the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey, indicates how universities are being increasingly evaluated on their ability to enhance the career outcomes of their students, by both regulatory bodies and the students themselves.
Key to this is understanding the impact of careers and employability support throughout the student lifecycle. Data and insight can play a vital role in helping careers professionals to measure the success of their services and identify areas for improvement. This information can then be used to inform decision-making and improve the effectiveness of employability services.
In this article, we explore a number of ways that careers and employability professionals in UK higher education institutions are using data and insight to measure success and improve their services.
1. Tracking Student Employment Outcomes
Many institutions use data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) to track the employment rates of their graduates, including the results of the Graduate Outcomes Survey. This data can be used to identify trends and compare performance with other institutions.
The Graduate Outcomes Survey isn’t just a way to indicate to prospective students how successful your institution is in enhancing career opportunities for graduates (although that can be an important part of it). You should also use the intelligence it gathers about outcomes at your university and the graduate labour market generally to design your careers service delivery.
For example, the 2020/21 survey found that 84% of graduates felt that their current activity was meaningful. However, let’s say a provider found that only 75% of graduates from their institution thought so. The service leaders might then work to develop activities and interventions that supported students to identify the kind of work they found fulfilling, such as career planning sessions early on in the student lifecycle.
Providers can also use the data to ensure that they are providing support for the kind of careers their graduates actually do. If a certain number of your students enter into particular professions or industries, you can ensure that your service offers ample opportunities for students for further develop the skills and abilities they’ll require to succeed in those roles.
Of course, Graduate Outcomes data provides a snapshot, not the whole story, so it’s important to contextualise the results. Not all your graduates will enter what HESA defines as ‘graduate level employment’ following university, but this could mean many things. For example, do lower levels of professional employment for graduates at your institution indicate that students require more support to understand the graduate labour market? Or are many of them going on to be self-employed, freelance or work in the creative industries, and therefore could use further guidance on navigating those kinds of careers?
2. Conducting Employer Feedback
Employers can provide valuable feedback on the skills and qualities they are looking for in graduates. Careers and employability professionals should seek qualitative feedback from these key stakeholders to identify areas where their services could be improved.
This could take many forms. The obvious example is via surveys, which are quick to distribute. However, also consider the potential benefits of other forms of feedback gathering. For example, by holding research calls with employer partners to understand their needs and priorities, perceptions of graduate employability and the visibility of your careers service, you can foster stronger relationships for future partnership working.
Make sure to integrate feedback mechanisms into all of your work with employers, whether it’s a one-off industry panel on campus or an internship scheme that has been running in your institution for several years. Especially in the case of the latter, showcasing the ways in which you have responded to previous feedback will be crucial in establishing continuous employer engagement; for example, through the use of annual reports that are distributed to employers.
Thinking about changes in the sector at large, it’s also important to consider the growing centrality of lifelong learning. The Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE) is scheduled for introduction in 2025, following which we can expect a growing focus on addressing skills gaps in local and regional economies across the UK. Careers services can be proactive in this challenge by working with their employer partners to build greater understanding of their needs, supplementing both graduate employability and a sector-wide challenge to support the economy.
3. Analysing Student Feedback
While Graduate Outcomes data is insightful, it’s important to remember that it represents years gone by. So, it’s equally crucial to look at your current students and gather feedback from them to get a greater sense of what’s working currently within your institution.
When you run activities and interventions, collect qualitative and quantitative data: collect event registration and attendance data and ask participating students to feedback their thoughts via surveys or focus groups. A 2022 report by AGCAS and Symplicity found that professionals’ and students’ perceptions of challenges to employability were generally aligned, but that there were some barriers to engagement such as students feeling overwhelmed at certain careers events. Understanding what feels manageable and supportive for your students will help you to design and deliver activities and interventions that meet the requirements of your student body and lead to the most impact.
Engaging students in this regard can be a challenge. Students are much more likely to feedback if they feel like their input will lead to valuable changes to careers service delivery, so, provide examples of how student feedback has helped to tailor services in the past. The Open University have put together a short animation that explains to students exactly how their feedback is taken onboard and implemented.
For further guidance, see AdvanceHE’s guide to collecting and using student feedback.
4. Using Data Visualisation Tools
Dealing with large datasets can often be overwhelming and make it difficult to communicate the most relevant information. Data visualisation is now being considered a form of data democratisation – essentially, a way to make data and insight accessible to careers staff (and beyond) to support decision making. This can also make it easier for professionals to communicate their findings to stakeholders and articulate the value of their services – and justification for increased resources.
Professionals across the sector are working with data visualisation tools to support them in the strategic planning and delivery of services. For further inspiration on how this could support your careers service department, there is plenty of guidance online, such as this article from EDUCAUSE Review.
From Data to Delivery on Graduate Outcomes
The action points and examples outlined in this article demonstrate the power of data and insight to improve employability services in UK higher education institutions. By using data in a proactive way, careers and employability professionals can help to ensure that their graduates are well-prepared for the workplace and have the best possible chance of success in their careers.
At HE Professional, we are always exploring the latest ideas and innovations in supporting student experience and outcomes. Explore our content on graduate employability and browse our full range of live events.
