Executive Summary

Why we carried out this assessment and our judgement

ES.1 The Higher Education Graduate Outcomes Data and Statistics, referred to as Graduate Outcomes Data and Statistics within this report, are produced by Jisc and published under the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Jisc was previously called the Joint Information Services Committee, and was renamed to Jisc in 2012. The Graduate Outcomes Data and Statistics are published annually and are designed to help users understand the outcomes and destinations of graduates from Higher Education (HE).

ES.2 In October 2023, Jisc requested the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) to undertake an assessment of the Graduate Outcomes Data and Statistics. This assessment follows a compliance check carried out in March 2021. In requesting this assessment, the statistics team at Jisc has demonstrated its commitment to produce statistics that meet the standards required of accredited official statistics under the Code of Practice for Statistics.

ES.3 Our assessment found that the Graduate Outcomes Data and Statistics adhere to the Code of Practice closely. Through its work on these statistics Jisc shows dedication to the principles of trustworthiness, quality and value.

ES.4 Jisc has a very clear commitment to trustworthiness and transparency. Jisc has a strong understanding of its responsibilities as an official statistics producer including in important areas such as data security, professional capability, and intelligent transparency. By fully maximising the positive relationships with its key stakeholders, Jisc ensures that the needs of users are embedded in the production and development of the Graduate Outcomes Data and Statistics.

ES.5 The quality of the Graduate Outcomes Data and Statistics is very high. The survey is well designed to meet users’ needs and achieves good response rates at a national level. Jisc is very proactive in exploring the quality of its data and undertakes regular work programmes to investigate and implement developments. Jisc is very transparent about the quality of the Graduate Outcomes Data and Statistics and provides a large amount of information to users in the user guide.

ES.6 Jisc has a good understanding of its users and the uses of the Graduate Outcomes Data and Statistics. This is reflected in its engagement with its statutory customers and other key users through the provider forum, steering group and other means. Jisc is also considering areas of the statistics production and publication that could be modernised, such as implementing the principles of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP). In addition, work is currently underway to make the Graduate Outcomes data available for future research, including data linkage, on the Office for National Statistics’ Secure Research Service.

ES.7 Based on these exemplary findings, we judge that the Graduate Outcomes Data and Statistics meet the standards of the Code of Practice and can therefore be given accredited official statistics (called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007) status.