Study title

Finnish University Graduates of Year 2012: Career and Employment Survey 2017

Dataset ID Number

FSD3455

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3455

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Aarresaari network of the Academic Career Services in Finland

Abstract

The survey charted the career and employment situations of people who had graduated from Finnish universities with a lower (BA/BSc or equivalent) or higher (MA/MSc or equivalent) degree in 2012. The survey was conducted five years after graduation.

The first part investigated the respondents' education and work history. They were asked whether they had, after graduation, participated in job-related training, career guidance or any additional professional qualification or higher education studies. The respondents were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with a set of attitudinal statements regarding their degree and its usefulness for employment. Further questions covered how many employers the respondents had had, whether the respondents had been entrepreneurs, self-employed or freelancers, and whether they had been outside the labour market because of a family leave or unemployment.

The respondents' satisfaction with their career thus far was charted, along with current occupational status, type of employer, and type of current work tasks. The respondents were also asked whether their current job required an academic degree, whether it was commensurate with their qualification, and if not, why they had accepted the job. It was also examined to what extent the respondents had been able to utilise knowledge and skills gained during their university studies. Monthly gross income at the time of the survey was charted.

Next, the respondents were asked which factors had had an impact on their employment after graduation (e.g. major/minor subjects, internship, work experience, personal networks). Questions also covered how important certain skills and know-how were in the respondents' current job and how well their studies had developed these skills (e.g. theoretical or practical knowledge of their field, problem solving, managerial skills, negotiation skills, project management, and communication in English).

Background variables included the respondent's gender, age at the time of graduation (categorised), monthly gross income (top-coded), NUTS3 region of residence, the university they attended, and information on the degree (field of study, number of credits required for the degree, degree level).

Keywords

appointment to job; career development; educational certificates; employment; employment opportunities; graduates; job satisfaction; temporary employment; tertiary education (first stage)

Topic Classification

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

Series

Career and Employment Survey of Finnish University Graduates

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (C) available only for research including master's theses.

Data Collector

• Aarresaari network of the Academic Career Services in Finland

Time Period Covered

2012 – 2017

Collection Dates

2017-11 – 2018-01

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Bachelor, Master and Licentiate of Medicine graduates of 2012 from Aalto University, Hanken School of Economics, Lappeenranta University of Technology LUT, Åbo Akademi University, University of the Arts Helsinki, University of Helsinki, University of Eastern Finland, University of Jyväskylä, University of Lapland, University of Oulu, University of Tampere, University of Turku, and University of Vaasa

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The survey was sent to all graduates whose contact information was available. The graduates were approached by SMS, post or email.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

38

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

1.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

To prevent identification of respondents, open-ended variables were removed from the data. Additionally, 9 respondents were removed because of an uneven gender distribution in their field of study or because their field of study did not have many students. Respondent's age (bv3) was categorised into five-year age groups, income (q21) was top-coded, and municipality of residence (bv10) was coarsened to NUTS3 region of residence.

To anonymise the data, the researcher removed the following variables: q15 respondent's job title, q16 name of respondent's employer, and q17 municipality where the respondent's workplace was located. 9 respondents were removed from the data at FSD to prevent identification.

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

Aarresaari network of the Academic Career Services in Finland: Finnish University Graduates of Year 2012: Career and Employment Survey 2017 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2021-02-17). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3455

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

Kurlin, Ari & Suorsa, Outi & Carver, Eric & Taulu, Heikki & Akava & Aarresaari-verkoston uraseurantaryhmä (2018). Yliopistojen maisteri- ja tohtoriuraseurantakyselyiden 2017 tulokset.

Related Publications

Kurlin, Ari & Suorsa, Outi & Carver, Eric & Taulu, Heikki & Akava & Aarresaari-verkoston uraseurantaryhmä (2018). Yliopistojen maisteri- ja tohtoriuraseurantakyselyiden 2017 tulokset.

Suorsa, Outi & Sainio, Juha (2020). Osaamisesta yliopistojen maisteriseurantakyselyiden 2017 - 2019 pohjalta [verkkodokumentti]. Aarresaari. Yliopistojen työelämä- ja urapalveluiden verkosto. https://www.aarresaari.net/download/98/uraseurantaraportti_osaamisesta_2020/pdf [viitattu 10.8.2020].

Huijala, Maija & Knutas, Antti & Hynninen, Timo (2020). Uraseurantakyselyiden ja kandipalautteen avointen palautteiden analyysi (2017-2019). Suomen yliopistojen rehtorineuvosto UNIFI ry.

Ronja Sandbacka, Does family leave have an effect on the career? An empirical analysis of highly educated women's labour market outcomes. Master's thesis in Economics, Åbo Akademi University, 2022.

Sandbacka, Ronja (2022). Does family leave have an effect on the career? : An empirical analysis of highly educated women's labour market outcomes. Master theses of economics. Helsinki: University of Helsinki.