Higher Education Graduate Outcomes Statistics: UK, 2019/20 This Statistical Bulletin is the annual first release of Graduate Outcomes survey data. These experimental statistics cover UK higher education providers (HEPs) including alternative providers (APs) and further education colleges (FECs) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Data is collected approximately 15 months after HE course completion. While the first two cohorts of 2019/20 finished their higher education courses before the start of the pandemic, the Covid-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020, as the third cohort of the 2019/20 survey year was finishing their studies; the final cohort completed their higher education courses between May and July 2020, during the gradual easing of the first national lockdown. Conversely, the first two cohorts were surveyed between December 2020 and May 2021, while Covid restrictions of one sort or another were in place across the UK. The third cohort was surveyed as restrictions were gradually phased out, while the final cohort was surveyed against a backdrop of rising case numbers but few legal restrictions on activity. In our investigation of the impacts of the pandemic on the graduate experience, we saw little overall change since the start of the pandemic, and those differences which we have seen have been less marked between 2018/19 and 2019/20 than they were between 2017/18 and 2019/20. This statistical bulletin has been produced by HESA in collaboration with statisticians from the Office for Students, the Department for Education, the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government and the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland. It has been released according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Higher Education Graduate Outcomes Statistics: UK, 2019/20 This Statistical Bulletin is the annual first release of Graduate Outcomes survey data. These experimental statistics cover UK higher education providers (HEPs) including alternative providers (APs) and further education colleges (FECs) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Data is collected approximately 15 months after HE course completion. While the first two cohorts of 2019/20 finished their higher education courses before the start of the pandemic, the Covid-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020, as the third cohort of the 2019/20 survey year was finishing their studies; the final cohort completed their higher education courses between May and July 2020, during the gradual easing of the first national lockdown. Conversely, the first two cohorts were surveyed between December 2020 and May 2021, while Covid restrictions of one sort or another were in place across the UK. The third cohort was surveyed as restrictions were gradually phased out, while the final cohort was surveyed against a backdrop of rising case numbers but few legal restrictions on activity. In our investigation of the impacts of the pandemic on the graduate experience, we saw little overall change since the start of the pandemic, and those differences which we have seen have been less marked between 2018/19 and 2019/20 than they were between 2017/18 and 2019/20. This statistical bulletin has been produced by HESA in collaboration with statisticians from the Office for Students, the Department for Education, the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government and the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland. It has been released according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Higher Education Graduate Outcomes Statistics: UK, 2020/21 This Statistical Bulletin is the annual first release of Graduate Outcomes survey data. These experimental statistics cover UK higher education providers (HEPs) including alternative providers (APs) and further education colleges (FECs) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Data is collected approximately 15 months after HE course completion. The 2020/21 Graduate Outcomes cohort finished their qualifications in the second academic year affected by COVID-19. While Cohort A finished their qualifications during late summer and early autumn 2020, in a period of relatively loose restrictions, restrictions began to increase over the course of the academic year. Cohort B graduated into a period of short national lockdowns, followed by the start of the second national lockdown in January 2021. Cohort C likewise graduated in lockdown, but the progress of the vaccination programme led to a gradual easing of restrictions as spring progressed; by the time Cohort D, the largest Graduate Outcomes cohort, began to finish their qualifications in May 2021, most adults had been offered a first vaccine dose, and restrictions were gradually being phased out across the UK. The circumstances under which 2020/21 graduates were surveyed were quite different. As surveying for Cohort A opened in December 2021, Omicron variant cases were rising and new guidance was being issued requiring masks in indoor spaces and encouraging people to work from home where possible, the new restrictions were considerably more lenient than those which were introduced a year previously. By the time the Cohort B survey period opened in March 2022, all legal restrictions had been lifted in England, and remaining restrictions were phased out in other nations over the next few months. Although COVID cases rose from the start of June to a summer peak in early July, no legal restrictions were in place during the survey periods for Cohorts C and D. An insight briefing provides further detail on analysis undertaken to explore the impact of the pandemic, and the conclusions identified. This statistical bulletin has been produced by HESA in collaboration with statisticians from the Office for Students, the Department for Education, the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government and the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland. It has been released according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.

Higher Education Graduate Outcomes Statistics: UK, 2020/21 This Statistical Bulletin is the annual first release of Graduate Outcomes survey data. These experimental statistics cover UK higher education providers (HEPs) including alternative providers (APs) and further education colleges (FECs) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Data is collected approximately 15 months after HE course completion. The 2020/21 Graduate Outcomes cohort finished their qualifications in the second academic year affected by COVID-19. While Cohort A finished their qualifications during late summer and early autumn 2020, in a period of relatively loose restrictions, restrictions began to increase over the course of the academic year. Cohort B graduated into a period of short national lockdowns, followed by the start of the second national lockdown in January 2021. Cohort C likewise graduated in lockdown, but the progress of the vaccination programme led to a gradual easing of restrictions as spring progressed; by the time Cohort D, the largest Graduate Outcomes cohort, began to finish their qualifications in May 2021, most adults had been offered a first vaccine dose, and restrictions were gradually being phased out across the UK. The circumstances under which 2020/21 graduates were surveyed were quite different. As surveying for Cohort A opened in December 2021, Omicron variant cases were rising and new guidance was being issued requiring masks in indoor spaces and encouraging people to work from home where possible, the new restrictions were considerably more lenient than those which were introduced a year previously. By the time the Cohort B survey period opened in March 2022, all legal restrictions had been lifted in England, and remaining restrictions were phased out in other nations over the next few months. Although COVID cases rose from the start of June to a summer peak in early July, no legal restrictions were in place during the survey periods for Cohorts C and D. An insight briefing provides further detail on analysis undertaken to explore the impact of the pandemic, and the conclusions identified. This statistical bulletin has been produced by HESA in collaboration with statisticians from the Office for Students, the Department for Education, the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government and the Department for the Economy Northern Ireland. It has been released according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.