International Student Tracking Study
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has asked i-graduate to carry out work looking at the geographic and occupational destinations of non-EU international students who graduate from UK higher education institutions (HEIs).
The key aim of the International Student Tracking Study is to improve our knowledge of what international students do after they graduate, what affects their decision making on this, what their future intentions are towards the UK and what their experiences of studying in the UK were.
The Department is very keen to encourage all institutions to participate so that the information obtained can build a picture across the nation and allow all HEIs to benchmark their position across the sector.
The aggregated outputs of the International Student Tracking Study will be valuable to both your institution and the sector as a whole, and the study has the support and active involvement of Universities UK, the Higher Education Statistics Agency, Research Councils UK and the UK Border Agency.
The study will also be used to assess the feasibility of including this group within future Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) surveys conducted by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). At this stage, this pilot project is not intended as an international version of the existing DLHE survey. i-graduate aim to replicate the processes used for the existing DLHE as closely as possible, but for this pilot stage it may not be feasible to extend the existing DLHE study to include international graduates.
The consultation phase - your input counts
A key aspect of the development of the ISTS project is consultation. Your input and feedback is critical, and i-graduate are seeking to gather and utilise the experiences of institutions themselves.
During the consultation phase, i-graduate will conduct a number of round table discussion groups around the UK, with staff in careers, alumni, and internationalisation roles, to gather information about perceptions and feasibility of the project.
i-graduate will substantiate these findings with an online consultation survey, to which representatives in all UK HEIs will be invited to respond, on the questions of what information should be collected, in what form and with what resources. Should you wish to register to take part in the online HEI consultation survey, please contact us.
Proposed questionnaire topics
The International Student Tracking Study will be UK-wide and will cover those who have studied at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Elements that the study is likely to address include:
- Occupational type and earnings
- Further study
- Location of graduate
- Factors influencing the decision to remain the UK after graduation
- Experience of the visa system
- Expectations/intentions of future links with the UK and with their HEI
- Experience of study in the UK - academic and pastoral
- Wider experience of living in the UK
Proposed timeframes
The proposed timeframes for the International Student Tracking Study are as follows:
Consultation with UK HEIs: December 2009 - January 2010
Questionnaire development and liaison with HEIs: January - March 2010
Fieldwork - ISTS survey launched: April - May 2010
Analysis and report writing: May - June 2010
Reporting: Autumn 2010
Over the coming weeks, i-graduate will be making contact directly with all HEIs in the UK to ask them to participate in the International Student Tracking Study. Any involvement in the study will be on the basis that no individual HEI's results or individual graduates can be identified in any published reports about this study.
Please download our FAQs document for further information about the study.
To register your institution's participation in the International Student Tracking Study, please click here.