Universities New Zealand – Te Pōkai Tara (then the NZVCC) began conducting an annual Graduate Destinations Survey in 1973 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 funding support from the Tertiary Education Commission, the Graduate Longitudinal Study New Zealand (GLSNZ) has been developed and will begin surveying final-year students later in 2011. These same students will be approached for follow-up surveys two, five and ten years later.
More information can be found on the GLSNZ website and in the GLSNZ newsletters:
Data from the final Graduate Destinations Survey undertaken in 2007 is available here.