Degrees of Advantage? A longer-term investigation of the careers of UK graduates

The Futuretrack longitudinal research has been tracking the cohort of students who applied to university in 2005/2006, most of whom graduated in 2009/10. The fifth stage of the study was a survey conducted in summer and early autumn 2019, followed by 200 detailed telephone interviews conducted from September 2019-early January 2020. The data collected has been analysed and a report written and submitted to the Advisory Group and the Nuffield Foundation, which funded that stage of the research, and the report 10 Years On - The Futuretrack Graduates can be downloaded above.

However, as the team were analysing the data, the Covid-19 pandemic struck. We realised that many of the plans and aspirations outlined by many Futuretrack respondents in 2019 may have been disrupted, and our findings would provide at best a rather partial and potentially outdated account of their career outcomes and future opportunities. It is an extraordinary situation, with huge policy implications.

We are delighted that the Nuffield Foundation agreed to fund an additional ‘updating’ research exercise, to enable us to go back to the respondents with a brief online enquiry followed by a short survey to investigate the impact of the Covid restrictions and the evolving recession on their employment security and perceptions of their future options. As a result, in September 2000 we were able to recontact the 2019 respondents and follow this up with a short survey to ask about the impact of the Covid-19 restrictions and the economic affects on their work and careers. This sixth stage of the study, following the initial contact, consisted of a short online survey conducted at the very end of 2020, and 20 case study interviews with respondents who exemplified different categories of graduate experience. The report of this research Covid-19 and Graduate Careers, can also be accessed above, along with a summary report outlining findings from both stages of the research.