Context
In 2000, AQU Catalunya and the seven public Catalan universities (Universitat de Barcelona, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Universitat de Girona, Universitat de Lleida and Universitat Rovira i Virgili) agreed to an ambitious project to carry out a transversal assessment of university graduate placement in the labour market. This pioneer project, which for the first time included all of the universities, involved harmonisation of the methodology used to compare and integrate the information and extract reliable conclusions in reference to the situation in Catalonia. The project involved three main processes:
- The establishing of a frame of reference for the evaluation of the state of graduate placement according to the different forms of university education in Catalonia, Spain and Europe.
- Preparation of a methodology to assess the process of university graduate placement in the labour market.
- A survey on graduate placement and the collection of information.
One overarching aspect of the project was an evaluation of the labour market outcomes of graduates, which had a two-fold objective, the drawing up of plans to enhance the process itself in the universities and its usefulness in decision-making for each degree course, according to the survey results.
Given the importance of the survey as an instrument, periodic repetition and gathering of information were estimated to be a positive way of establishing records that would show the ongoing development of graduate placement and allow for the analysis of trends.