What could a European graduate study look like? EUROGRADUATE feasibility report now available

In time for the final seminar of the EUROGRADUATE project, the feasibility report is published and available for download.

High hopes are placed in the social and individual outcomes of higher education which is expected to boost innovation and growth, foster employability and reduce unemployment, and add to social inclusion by being available to an ever larger proportion of the population. At the same time hardly any comparable data on Europe’s HE graduates exists to monitor and analyse if and how higher education can have the expected benefits.

The EUROGRADUATE feasibility study set out to explore whether this lack of information could be filled and how a potential European graduate study (EGS) would need to be designed to best support decision making of policy makers and higher education institutions (HEIs) and serve the requirements of stakeholders. A wide range of topics could be covered by a European graduate study (EGS), e.g. the transition to the labour markets, employability throughout the working life, international mobility, or skills and competences of graduates. The EUROGRADUATE feasibility study has investigated which topics are seen as most relevant by stakeholders.

In the course of the feasibility study, the EUROGRADUATE consortium employed multiple research methods:

• Desk research on existing international data sets
• Surveys of national ministries, National rectors’ conferences (NRC), and graduate researchers
• Interviews with European level stakeholder organisations such as the European Commission (EC), the European University Association (EUA), the European Association of Institutions in Higher Education (EURASHE), the European Students’ Union (ESU), BUSINESSEUROPE, EUROCHAMBRES, European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE), and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
• Interviews with large-scale comparative survey projects, such as the European Social Survey (ESS), EUROSTUDENT, the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Research Into Employment and Professional Flexibility (REFLEX), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and U Multirank.