Joint UC alumni survey - Pre-announcement

This year, the Dutch university colleges will conduct the very first joint UC Alumni Survey. Alumni of all UC’s will be invited to take part in the general survey to reflect on their education and provide information on topics such as the further education they pursued and employment situation. For alumni of University College Utrecht, this entails that the joint UC alumni survey replaces the biennial UCU Alumni Survey that was scheduled to take place in 2017 as well.

The Dutch UC’s have decided to perform a joint survey because, in addition to gaining valuable insights into the life and career paths of the alumni of the individual colleges, it will enable them to compare the inter-UC results and detect trends and differences within the Dutch UC alumni populations.

The last UCU alumni survey was held in the winter of 2015-2016. Approximately 600 UCU alumni completed the questionnaire, a response rate of around 22%. The main outcomes of that survey demonstrated that:

  • Further education Over 90% of the UCU alumni continued to pursue a degree after completing their programme at  UCU. The majority of recent graduates continue their education in the Netherlands (70%). The UK is by far the second most popular destination for UCU alumni to continue their studies (25%)
  • Connection to the Master programme The number of alumni doing premasters has dropped slightly, and most of the respondents (87%) indicated they didn’t need to complete extra academic work, a pre-master or another Bachelor for their preferred continued path of education.
  • Satisfaction with UCU education Alumni are very positive on the academic skills and quality of education at UCU. They generally felt well prepared for their future education. 90% of the respondents would, in retrospect, choose to study at UCU again.
  • Employment The largest sectors of employment of UCU alumni remain Research (28,5%), General Management and Policy Making (18%) and Education (17%). There was a significant increase in jobs in Communication (14.9%).
  • Alumni events Overall, alumni reported enthusiasm for a general and social UCU ‘homecoming event’, and reported interest in smaller, themed events, that could offer them networking, skills and training, or other benefits. Respondents also indicated they are interested in local, smaller events in their cities or countries of residence.

The launch of the upcoming joint UC alumni survey is scheduled later this year. Alumni will receive an invitation to take the survey by email. We encourage all UCU alumni to participate. Knowing more about where our alumni end up, and how your look back on your time at UCU, is extremely valuable and can help up improve UCU’s education and services!