Universities New Zealand – Te Pōkai Tara (then the NZVCC) previously conducted an annual Graduate Destinations Survey to capture the employment outcomes of recent graduates (those who had graduated in the previous year).
A review of the survey in 2008 concluded that a combination of low response rates and the timing of the survey undermined the value of the data generated, and that the survey should be discontinued. Instead of undertaking an annual survey, the review proposed that a longitudinal study replace the survey in order to gain understanding of the longer-term impacts of university study.
With this in mind, and with funding support from the New Zealand government’s Tertiary Education Commission, Universities NZ commissioned the National Centre for Lifecourse Research, a multi-university group headquartered at the University of Otago, to undertake a longitudinal study of university graduates - the Graduate Longitudinal Study New Zealand (GLSNZ).
Between July and December of 2011, the GLSNZ conducted its baseline survey. 8,719 final-year students (undergraduate and postgraduate) across all eight universities – representative of the approximately 40,000 students who completed their studies at New Zealand universities during 2011 – completed a comprehensive on-line questionnaire. The same individuals will be approached for follow-up surveys in two, five, and 10 years’ time
More information, including the GLSNZ baseline report and summary, can be found on the GLSNZ website
Data from the final Graduate Destinations Survey undertaken in 2007 is available here.