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Graduate Outcomes Survey Employer Toolkit

The Graduate Outcomes Survey (GOS) is a national survey sent to all graduates 15 months after they finish a Higher Education course. It captures information about graduates’ and apprentices' experiences and their employment status.

The survey is delivered by The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), which contacts graduates directly via email, text message or telephone.

It begins with our second largest group of graduates, Cohort A (surveyed between December and February), and ends with our largest group of graduates, Cohort D (surveyed between September and November), which is why your support all year round is important.

Why it's important for NTU and NTU employers

Graduate Outcomes Survey Make a difference hero image featuring four students

Graduate success is central to our educational mission – to create opportunity for students to forge meaningful and rewarding careers.

It's important for us to ensure that our survey results are accurate because:

  • NTU uses GOS data as a critical indicator of our success.
  • the Office for Students uses GOS data to assess the quality of our courses.
  • many major league table providers use the data to rank institutions.
  • GOS data is used by prospective students to choose where to apply to study.

How can you support the Graduate Outcomes Survey?

  1. Follow and engage with NTU’s social media channels:

    LinkedIn Facebook Instagram

  2. You could also follow and engage with HESA’s Graduate Outcomes social media channels:

    LinkedIn Facebook Instagram

If you follow these accounts, you’ll be able to repost GOS messages on your personal/professional social media accounts throughout the year to remind NTU alumni to fill out the survey – the nature of the survey means that one of our graduates is always being surveyed.

Please note: HESA rules state that providers must not contact graduates directly (e.g. by personal email, phone, or text) while they're in the survey period. Therefore, resharing messages from NTU or HESA is the best way to support this campaign.

Example copy you can use when resharing our social media posts:

  • To all recent graduates at – your voices matter. When you get the Graduate Outcomes Survey, please take a few minutes to fill it out. A few minutes of your time could help current and future students make decisions about their career paths.

Other ways you can help

Throughout the year, please share this page with recent NTU apprentices or graduates in your organisation.