Every year, the university investigates how satisfied its former students are with their educations and how many have become employed in a permanent position after graduation. Earlier this spring, the report was released on those programme students who studied at the university in 2015-2018. The results show that nine out of 10 students had found employment within six months of graduation. After 18 months, 95 per cent had done so.

Peter Sigrén of the Department of Educational Research and Development is the project manager for the report, Boråsakademiker, which this year was carried out for the eleventh year in a row.

"The trend we are seeing is that the rate of establishment in the labour market is increasing. Our students find employment, and these jobs are, moreover, within their field of education. We also see that the students who graduate are earning higher starting salaries, which is very interesting to me," said Peter Sigrén.

When it comes to how satisfied alumni are with their educations, they give the university a high rating both for their educations and their choice of higher education institution. Among the university's Faculties, the former students of the Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare are the most satisfied.

What do you think our alumni are so happy?

"I think we have the right kinds of educational programmes and they are a good fit for our times.  We do not have so many theoretical programmes, rather vocational programmes that lead to jobs. There may also be a correlation between 50 per cent of this group being from Borås or the local region. They may be pleased that there was a university nearby where they could go so they didn't have to move.”

According to the report, alumni think they have a lot of use of their educations in their professions. Developing analytical abilities and IT skills is considered important by the alumni and these skills were promoted well by their programmes.  However, they believe that project management skills are in greater demand than they were given the opportunity to learn at the university.

"What you see is that competence in project management is in great demand in working life, which does not surprise me at all, but this is delivered to a lesser extent in the educational programmes.”

Why is it important for the university to do these kinds of surveys?

"This shows that an education at the University of Borås leads to employment and good starting salaries, which I think is important. The fact that the students are satisfied also gives the university a good reputation, which hopefully can encourage more people to apply here.”

About the report:

• Boråsakademiker is a report on the rate of establishment in the labour market and quality of education when it comes to alumni. It has been carried out at the University of Borås since 2010.
• In this year's report, more than 1,100 former programme students who studied at the university in 2015-2018 responded to the survey.
• Satisfaction with the university was measured when it comes to access to restaurants, computers, group rooms, lunch rooms, and student support. On a five-point scale about satisfaction, alumni gave the university an average of 3.8.
• In the rating of reputation – how satisfied alumni are with their education and choice of higher education institution – the university received an average of 4.2 on a five-point scale.
• The most satisfied students are former students of the Faculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare.
• In general, women are slightly more satisfied with university than men.

Read more:

See the full report on DIVA (link)