Graduate Outcomes

The survey is delivered by the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited (HESA) to help universities and colleges (HE providers) fulfil their legal requirement to report on the outcomes of higher education to the higher education funding and regulatory bodies. The funding and regulatory bodies commission the Graduate Outcomes survey and require HESA and HE providers to work together to deliver the survey.

HESA supports the advancement of the higher education sector by collecting and publishing timely and reliable data about the industry. HESA is working in collaboration with all UK higher education providers to deliver the survey.

To support the survey, we are required to hold accurate contact details for you, including at least one telephone number, a personal email address, and a postal address (this could be a parental/guardian address as provided to the University whilst you were a student).

The easiest way to stay in touch and keep your details up to date would be to join our alumni network, where you can connect and engage with other professionals and we can keep you informed of the Graduate Outcomes survey and when you may be contacted.

Graduates will be grouped across the year into four cohorts based on the end date of your course. Depending on when your course ended, you will receive your survey invitation around 15 months later. For example, if your course ended between August to October, you will receive the survey in December of the following year.

Cohort A

• Course completion: August - October
• Survey period: December - February of the following year (15 months later)

Cohort B

• Course completion: November - January
• Survey period: March - May of the following year (15 months later)

Cohort C

• Course completion: February - April
• Survey period: June - August of the following year (15 months later)

Cohort D

• Course completion: May - July
• Survey period: September - November of the following year (15 months later)

You will receive an email from Graduate Outcomes with the University of West London name in the email address inviting you to complete the survey online. As an example, graduates will receive an email from theuniversityofwestlondon@graduateoutcomes.ac.uk. This is the quickest and easiest way to take part. You can take the survey on most devices so you can complete it on the morning commute, on your lunch hour over a sandwich or when you get a spare few minutes in your day.

You can save your place in the survey and come straight back to where you left off – just do not forget to complete it in full. If you start the survey but do not complete it, you will receive a reminder. If you do not want to finish the survey, we will keep your answers if you completed the core questions or delete everything if you did not get that far.

You may also be contacted by telephone. HESA is delivering the survey, and it has appointed IFF Research to call graduates to encourage survey participation over the phone. They will identify themselves as calling on behalf of the University of West London.

If you are not contactable by email, text or phone, HESA may seek the answers to the survey from a third party, such as a family member who answers the phone. If someone else completes the survey on your behalf and you would rather provide your own answers, you can still complete the survey yourself and over-write the third-party answers. Please contact info@graduateoutcomes.ac.uk if you want to complete your own survey in place of a third-party response.

It is essential to ensure your details are up-to-date so that HESA and IFF Research can get in touch with you:

• Current students can update their details on MyRegistry
• Alumni can update their details on the Alumni website

Please be assured that all responses will be anonymised and HESA have provided detailed information about how your data will be processed, who will receive it, and what they will use it for.

The University of West London will use your anonymised cohort responses to provide statistical summaries for academics and for current and prospective students of the University, who may be interested in what our students do after leaving the University. Information may also be used in University publications, such as the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Prospectus, publicity materials produced by the University or on official University web pages, again this will be anonymised. You can view some of the sector-wide statistics on HESA’s Graduate Outcomes survey results page.

It is not compulsory to complete the survey, but we hope you understand the benefit that your input will have for the future of education.

To opt-out, please email info@graduateoutcomes.ac.uk with this instruction, or let IFF Research know when they call you.

You can also request to opt-out of the survey by contacting the University of West London directly: graduate.outcomes@uwl.ac.uk

HESA has published more information for students as well as guidance on how your contact details will be used in the form of a Student Collection Notice. 

If you do have any further questions about the Graduate Outcomes survey, you can contact HESA using the following details:

• Email: info@graduateoutcomes.ac.uk
• Telephone: 01242 388513
• Address: HESA, 95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ

If you have any other questions specifically about data protection, please see the data protection section of the HESA website or contact HESA's Data Protection Officer:

• Email: data.protection@hesa.ac.uk
• Tel: 01242 388513
• Address: HESA, 95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ