1.10.2024
Åbo Akademi graduates are satisfied with their education and jobs
Every year, a career follow-up survey is conducted. It is a national survey in which all Finnish higher education institutions participate. The survey is aimed at those who graduated five years ago to get their feedback on their education and how it has benefited them in their working life. Also of interest is the type of jobs graduates have found and their earnings. The survey also measures the quality aspect of employment, i.e. how well the graduates feel that their job picture matches the expectations created by their studies.
This year’s surveys will open on 1 October. Everyone who graduated in 2019 will receive a message, by text message, email or letter post. The message will contain a link to the Arvo survey tool, starting with arvovastaus.csc.fi. Each link is personalised, but responses are treated anonymously. The deadline for responding to the survey is 9 December. In addition to the joint national survey, Åbo Akademi University is conducting its own quick survey for the graduates of year 2023.
The alumni’s experiences of how well the education matches the demands of working life provide valuable insight for the entire organisation when designing new course and education plans. Thus, the survey results provide an important basis for higher education institutions to improve their operations and teaching.
– Another, more practical, reason is that each individual survey response provides financial support to HEIs. Of the total amount allocated to universities by the Ministry of Education and Culture, EUR 36 million depends on the number and quality of responses to these surveys, says Matias Erlund, coordinator at Career Services.
HEIs compete for funding
The exact amount that HEIs will share varies from year to year, depending on how well Åbo Akademi University and other HEIs manage to collect responses, both numerous and positive. The Ministry’s aim is to reward universities for positive feedback on the relevance of education to working life. On average, each individual survey response in 2018-2020 was worth around €5,400 to Åbo Akademi University.
The educational institutions recognise that getting alumni to respond to surveys is not always easy. At the same time, all universities compete for the same government funding. Therefore, certain rules have been adopted to ensure fair play in the race for survey responses.
– We will send out the invitation by e-mail if we have that information, otherwise by post. A reminder about the survey goes out after one month by letter, if you have not responded by then. But we don’t start phoning people up, for example, that is the agreement, says Erlund.
On the whole, satisfied alumni
While a university education is not a guarantee of employment, it is a pretty safe bet. Alumni also tend to place themselves in jobs that are less sensitive to the economic cycle. According to this year’s report, despite the general national situation regarding the economy and job opportunities, the unemployment rate among university graduates has decreased slightly.
You can find this year’s and previous years’ reports on this (Swedish language) page. The report summarises the results partly at a general level but also has faculty-specific chapters.
When alumni are asked whether they are satisfied with the programme they attended, 90% give a positive answer, which is in line with how the same question was answered by older cohorts. When asked if they would make the same choice if they were to start their studies now, the majority answered in the affirmative. What the alumni would like to do differently is mainly based on taking advantage of the opportunities for internships and exchanges that Åbo Akademi University offers. On a more personal level, they express a wish that their own study discipline could have been better.
If you want to dig deeper, all the data is online
For those who really want to dive into all the figures and data, Vipunen, the statistical service of the education administration, is the place to go. Vipunen data goes back to the survey conducted in 2017. Some working knowledge of Finnish or Swedish is required.
You can find all the figures on the “Career monitoring” page. On that page, under the heading “Visualizations”, you will find links to the results of the survey for masters and doctors.
The presentation views may make you feel like you’re in over your head at first, but by filtering and choosing which bars and graphs to display, you should eventually get to grips with the tool.