1. Tracking of VET graduates Presentation for the EQAVET Annual Network meeting 20 June 2018
Koen Bois d'Enghien
DG EMPL unit E3 VET, apprenticeships and adult education

2. Overview presentation
Key elements of the Council Recommendation on tracking graduates
State of play of the EU pilot survey of tertiary education graduates
Findings of the mapping study on VET graduate tracking measures

3. Council Recommendation on tracking graduates –
Member State commitments
Creation or further development of graduate tracking systems (administrative data and longitudinal surveys)
Participation in a network of experts - mutual learning and discussing comparability of data
Dissemination and exploitation of graduate tracking information 3

4. Council Recommendation on tracking graduates – Commission commitments
Development of a pilot European tertiary graduate survey
Mapping study on VET graduate tracking measures in the Member States
Mutual learning/capacity building such as peer reviews and exchange of good practices
Support the use of EU funding such as Erasmus + Forward looking projects call , EQAVET NRP call, etc 4

5. Pilot European graduate survey
Topics:
Labour market relevance
Skills
(International) mobility
Democratic values
Further study
Target population:
Tertiary short cycle, Bachelor- and Master-level programmes, Long-distance programmes
Graduates 1 and 5 years after graduation (all graduates of the academic years 2012/13 and 2016/17)
All nationalities who graduated in the respective country of all ages
All institutions (public and private)

6. Pilot European graduate survey
– 8 pilot countries
Norway
Greece
Austria
Germany
Hungary
Croatia
Czech Republic
Lithuania 6

7. Pilot European graduate survey
– timeline
January 2018 Kick off
April 2018 Questionnaire
Summer 2018 Test phase
Autumn 2018 Fieldwork
October 2018 Reporting phase

8. Mapping study VET tracking measures - key findings
Member States with VET tracking measures
24, of which 19 have national measures
Member States with at least one regular VET graduate tracking measure
19 ( AT, BE, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, HU, IE, IT, LU, MT, NL, PT, SE, SK and UK)
Member States with regular measures that cover IVET and CVET
8 (AT, DE, DK, FI, FR, IE, NL and UK)
Member States with regular measure(s) cover employment and educational indicators
17 (AT, BE, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, HU, IE, IT, LU, MT, NL, PT, SE and UK)

9. Methodology used to collect VET graduate tracking data
Of the 85 measures identified in the study:
59 measures used surveys
35 measures used Administrative data
9 used both

10. Main indicators: education-related
Most tracking measures collect information on graduates’ participation in further education
Few collect information on satisfaction rate

11. Main indicators: employment-related
Nearly all measures capture information on employment status and over half capture information on employment type
Few collected information on salaries and match between jobs and qualifications

12. Categorisation of VET tracking measures
Eight types can be distinguished, with most classified either as Type 4 or as Type 1.
Dimension 1. Type of data
Dimension 2. Representation of the population
Dimension 3. Measurement strategy / tracking methods
Single measurement point
Multiple measurement points
Discrete information on the educational activities, qualifications achieved, and employment subsequent to graduation (single programme/cohort and year)
(65)
Sample
(29)
Systematic (8)
BE-fr2, IT1, IT3, IT4, SE1 5
DE1, HU1, IE1 3
Random (6)
DE4, FR1, NL5, NL6 4
DE2, DE3 2
Convenience (14)
AT2, AT3, AT4, AT5, DE5, DE7, IT2, MT1, MT2, MT3 10
FR2, FR3, PL2*, PT1
Other (1)
FR4 1
Type 1 19
Type 2
Total reference population of the VET graduate tracking measure
(36)
BE-fr3, ES2, ES3, HU2, HU3, HU4, LU3, NL1, NL4, NL7, SE2, SE3, SI1, SI2, SI4, UK4 16
AT1, BE-nl2, CZ3, DE6, DK1, DK2, DK3, EE1, ES1, FI1, FI2, LU1, LU2, NL2, NL3, PT2, RO1, UK5 18
Type 3
Type 4
In (broad) categories (e.g. information classified by ISCED levels)
(19)
Sample (11)
Systematic (3)
UK6
CZ2*, IE3
Random (2)
FR5
CZ1*
Convenience (6)
BE-fr1, CZ4, EE2, HR1, LT2, PL3 6 --
Type 5 8
Type 6
Total reference population of the VET graduate tracking measure (8)
IE2, LT1, SI3, UK2, UK3
BE-nl1, SK1, UK1
Type 7
Type 8

13. Strengths and weaknesses
Administrative data
More accurate, as removes respondent bias
More comprehensive, as can draw on larger population data
More stable, which makes it easier to compare between years and conduct longitudinal analysis
Provides better opportunity to compare VET graduates with peers
Does not have granularity on different types of VET programmes
Data protection issues inhibits countries from using administrative data
Survey data
Allows the capture of qualitative data (e.g. fit of qualifications with work, perceptions of course)
Can provide more up-to-date insights on emerging needs
Respondent bias
Costly to facilitate a control group to measure the counterfactual

14. What are the gaps in policy and practice on VET measures
Some countries do not have regular and systematic VET tracking measures
The quality of measures is variable in terms of their measurement techniques, timing of measurement and outputs
Admin data is not used alongside survey data in over half of Member States
Key educational and employment indicators are not universally collected
Graduates are not universally tracked at multiple points
Availability of tracking data is variable (both discrete and summary data)

15. Thank you