Latest UCL graduate destinations now available through UCL Tableau

You can now explore the new UCL graduate destinations data through Tableau dashboards on the UCL Tableau portal. You’ll also find historic destinations data from past years there too, along with a wealth of other UCL data from admissions and awards to league tables and research statistics, presented in formats that can be readily understood and which you can filter to find your student group of interest.

Graduate Outcomes survey (GOS) replaced the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey, and the data on 2017/18 graduates was released in June 2020. There are differences to survey methodology meaning that we cannot compare data sets directly. So, there are no time series yet, but if you are interested in trends, that is available in the DLHE dashboards, which surveyed graduates up to 2017. 

The key differences between the two surveys are that GOS speaks to graduates 15 months following graduation, whereas DLHE caught up with them six months following graduation. This has meant a drop in response rates (45.5% of graduates responded in 2017/18, compared to 58.5% in 2016/17). Furthermore, GOS is conducted centrally by IFF Research, on behalf of Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), to ensure more consistent data than was achieved in the days of DLHE, where universities ran the DLHE survey themselves.

Some of the promised features of the new survey, such as linked data from HESA’s own student records, have yet to appear, and the new performance indicators, such as employability – likely to be adopted in assessments like TEF – have been delayed by COVID-19 home-working arrangements – until October at the earliest. Consequently, league tables and Discover Uni (ex Unistats), will make up their own metrics to rank on employability, based on GOS results.

Despite these shortcomings, the new survey provides interesting insight down to course level, and you can explore it through the new interactive dashboards in the UCL Tableau portal. You can look at unemployment rates, compare to Russell Group competitors on important metrics, and download lists of your graduates’ employers and further study institutions. If you don’t yet use the Tableau portal, please get in touch to request access. For further information on graduate destinations, contact Katy Coyte, Data Analyst in UCL Careers.