Study title

Finnish University Graduates of Year 2016: Career and Employment Survey 2021

Dataset ID Number

FSD3681

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3681
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3681

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Aarresaari network of the Academic Career Services in Finland

Other Identification/Acknowledgements

• Tampere University. Research Stats Service TUPA

Abstract

The survey charted the career and employment situation of individuals who had graduated from Finnish universities with a lower (BA/BSc or equivalent) or higher (MA/MSc or equivalent) degree in 2016. The survey was conducted five years after graduation. Main themes of the survey included the respondents' satisfaction with their degree, career path stages, current employment situation, the quality of employment, and the importance of university education for employment.

The first part investigated the respondents' education and work history, and satisfaction with the degree. They were asked whether they had, before or 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 family leave or unemployment.

The respondents' satisfaction with their career this 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 the job was commensurate with their academic qualifications, and if not, why they had accepted the job. The extent to which the respondents had been able to utilize the knowledge and skills gained during their university studies was also examined, and 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, NUTS3 region of residence, the university 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; higher education institutions; job satisfaction; 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
• Tampere University. Research Stats Service TUPA

Time Period Covered

2016 – 2021

Collection Dates

2021-09 – 2021-12

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Bachelor, Master and Licentiate of Medicine graduates of 2016 from Aalto University, Hanken School of Economics, Lappeenranta-Lahti 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 out to all graduates for whom a current email address, phone number or address could be found.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

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, the open-ended variables and the location of the workplace (q17) have been removed from the data at FSD. For the same reasons, the age variable (bv3) has been categorised every five years, the municipality of residence has been coarsened to a NUTS3 region of residence (bv10) and the amounts of income (q21) above EUR 10 000 have been combined into one category. In addition, individual identifier responses have been removed from the field of study variable (bv11_1).

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 2016: Career and Employment Survey 2021 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2023-08-11). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3681

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.

Other Material

See downloadable files at the top of the page.

More information on career monitoring for the Master's degree graduates.

An overview of the series on the Aarresaari network website.

Related Publications

Räsänen, Satu (2022): Tutkinto, työelämä ja tyytyväisyys - Pohdintoja yliopistojen urakyselyn tuloksista. Blogiteksti maisterien ja tohtorien uraseurantakyselyn v. 2021 tuloksista. [verkkodokumentti]