Study title

From Higher Education to Employment: Bachelors of Engineering 1998

Dataset ID Number

FSD2302

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2302
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2302

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Korhonen, Kristiina (University of Jyväskylä. Institute for Educational Research)
• Mäkinen, Raimo (University of Jyväskylä. Institute for Educational Research)
• Valkonen, Sakari (University of Jyväskylä. Institute for Educational Research)

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Jokinen, Minna (University of Jyväskylä. Institute for Educational Research)

Abstract

The survey series charts the employment situation of polytechnic and university graduates of various disciplines after graduation. In this survey, the respondents were Bachelors of Engineering graduated from polytechnics, i.e. engineers. The main themes included studies, current employment situation and estimates of future employment prospects.

First, the respondents were asked to give basic information about their degree, including the year when they began to study, their polytechnic, the number of credits, and whether they had graduated on schedule. The respondents' basic and vocational education was queried, as well as their work experience before beginning studies. In addition, their practical training, working and other connections to the labour market during the studies were canvassed, as well as whether they had ever considered dropping out of polytechnic and for what reason. The respondents estimated their language skills and the extent to which various skills and abilities they had acquired during their studies (e.g. independent initiative, computer skills, communication skills, ability to think theoretically) and different characteristics of polytechnic studies (e.g. the teachers' labour market contacts, interdisciplinary nature of studies) support their transition to and succeeding in working life.

Next, the respondents' current employment situation was surveyed. Their economic activity was also examined, and those who were employed at the time of the survey were asked about their employer, industry of employment, job title, gross income, status in their workplace, number of employees in their workplace, and the estimated stability of their job. They were also presented with a set of attitudinal statements on their work, as well as asked to give reasons for involving in entrepreneurship if they were self-employed. Those who were studying were asked what they studied. In addition, the respondents estimated what their employment situation, status and gross income would be after five years. They also estimated their future employment opportunities in various geographical regions, their future status in the labour market compared with other applicants holding other degrees, and whether they were going to study more in the future in order to pursue another degree. Finally, the respondents were presented with a set of statements on career and life, such as "I want my job to be challenging" and "My objective is to find a stable job". In addition, the respondents had a chance to freely tell about their degree and education as the basis for their future career.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, year of birth, marital status, and number of children aged under 18.

Keywords

ability; education; employment; engineers; graduates; higher education institutions; job characteristics; job description; occupational life; qualifications; transition from school to work

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Employment (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Higher and further education (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Korhonen, Kristiina (University of Jyväskylä. Institute for Educational Research)
• Mäkinen, Raimo (University of Jyväskylä. Institute for Educational Research)
• Valkonen, Sakari (University of Jyväskylä. Institute for Educational Research)

Data Producers

• University of Jyväskylä. Institute for Educational Research
• Ministry of Education

Time Period Covered

1998

Collection Dates

1998-11 – 1998-12

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Bachelors of Engineering graduated between 1997 and 1998 from Finnish polytechnics (excluding two Finnish polytechnics)

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The survey was conducted in all but two Finnish polytechnics producing Bachelors of Engineering between 1997 and 1998. The respondents' personal information was retrieved from the polytechnics' student registers and their addresses from the Population Register Centre in November 2008. The addresses of 1,549 Bachelors of Business Administration graduated from 13 polytechnics were found. 1,021 of them responded.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

65.9

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

2.0

Related Datasets

FSD2300 From Higher Education to Employment: Bachelors of Business Administration 1997

FSD2301 From Higher Education to Employment: Bachelors and Masters of Science in Economics and Business Administration 1997

FSD2303 From Higher Education to Employment: Masters of Science in Technology 1998

FSD2304 From Higher Education to Employment: Social and Health Care Professionals 1999

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The following variables connected to the open-ended questions have been removed from the data because of missing labels: k8, k9, k17 (only the open-ended answers of the type "Where?" removed), k28, k37, k38, and k47 (only the open-ended answers of the type "Where?" removed). Variables k5_1 and k5_2 indicating the respondents' municipality of residence have been removed because of data protection issues. The data do not include answers to all open-ended questions of the type "Other, what?".

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Korhonen, Kristiina (University of Jyväskylä) & Mäkinen, Raimo (University of Jyväskylä) & Valkonen, Sakari (University of Jyväskylä): From Higher Education to Employment: Bachelors of Engineering 1998 [dataset]. Data version 2.0 (2018-07-13). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2302; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2302

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Materials

Korhonen, Kristiina & Mäkinen, Raimo & Valkonen, Sakari (2000). Insinöörin tutkinnolla työelämään. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto. Koulutuksen tutkimuslaitos. Tutkimusselosteita; 9.

Related Publications

Korhonen, Kristiina & Mäkinen, Raimo & Valkonen, Sakari (2000). Insinöörin tutkinnolla työelämään. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto. Koulutuksen tutkimuslaitos. Tutkimusselosteita; 9.