A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya

91

October 2018

The report on the satisfaction of recent graduates from Catalan universities shows that they rated their satisfaction with the degree courses they took as 7 (out of 10). This is one of the main conclusions in the first report on The satisfaction of graduates from Catalan universities [Catalan] presented by the Director and President of AQU Catalunya, Martí Casadesús and Josep Joan Moreso, at a press conference today.

AQU Catalunya produced this first report on graduate satisfaction in Catalonia after interviewing around 17,000 graduates from the seven public universities and four private universities in Catalonia. The survey study was based on interviews with graduate cohorts from the 2015-2017 academic years.

The main conclusions of the report, amongst others, are as follows:

• According to field of knowledge, the graduates with the highest level of satisfaction are in Experimental Sciences and Health Sciences (7.5), with the lowest level among first degree graduates being in Engineering and Humanities (6.7), although the reasons for the low level of satisfaction were different.
• Graduates were particularly satisfied with the learning outcomes (6.9), which cover three areas of skills: personal skills (self-directed learning, solutions to emerging problems, critical analysis), professional skills and communication skills.
• Graduate satisfaction with teaching staff (6.4), libraries (7.1) and the virtual campus (7.0) in particular stand out.
• Indicators linked to the teaching and learning process (tutorials, course coordination and the systems used for assessment, amongst others) are the aspects that were rated the lowest. Graduates nevertheless give them a pass rating (5.7).
• Graduate satisfaction with university was practically the same for everybody. There were no significant differences in graduate student satisfaction with degree studies as regards socio-demographic characteristics and the path of admission. The level of satisfaction of those who worked while studying (study and work combined) however was slightly lower than the average.
• The procedures for producing and reviewing proposals for new degree programmes (ex-ante accreditation) were sufficient to assure the quality of proposed new programme designs, with satisfaction with curricular structure being rated at 6.3. First degrees (bachelor's) can therefore be considered to be robust programmes.

The findings can be viewed on the EUC Data web portal, which provides indicators according to degree programme and degree subject, with aggregate data from the last three surveys (2015-2017).