Education and Skills Impact Framework (ESIF) - university provision: contextual summary report 2022

Context

Student Characteristics

This section sets out the characteristics of students enrolled on qualifications considered in this analysis. Figures are provided for academic year 2020-21. This reporting period was impacted by the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemicwhich presented a unique and significant external shock to the further and higher education systems in Scotland.

The majority (61.3%) of the 40,225 Scottish domiciled first- degree entrants in 2020-21 were aged 21 or less. Postgraduate taught qualifications were evenly split between entrants aged 22-30 (47.8%) and 31+ (46.9%). Only 1,105 of the total 20,770 postgraduate taught entrants were aged 21 or less. Numbers for postgraduate research qualifications follow a pattern with 1,355 Scottish domiciled entrants aged 22+ and only 65 (4.5%) aged 21 or below. Table 1 contains Scottish-domiciled entrants in 2020-21 by qualification and age group.

In academic year 2020-21, 61.8% of Scottish domiciled entrants to first degree, postgraduate taught or postgraduate research courses were women. This figure is greatest for postgraduate taught courses at 65.6%, however women make up the majority of entrants to courses at each level.

In 2020-21 9.6% of Scottish domiciled entrants to courses at University were from Asian; Black, African or Caribbean; Mixed or multiple ethnic groups; or other ethnic groups. This figure is consistent across levels of study.

Individuals from the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland areas made up 16.9% of entrants to first degree programs in 2020-21. By comparison 25.4% of Scottish domiciled entrants came from the 20% least deprived areas.

Social and Wellbeing Impacts

It is widely recognised that education will have benefits beyond earnings and employment. Such benefits may include improved health outcomes,greater social mobility,increased civic engagement and reduced crime(BIS,2013). Other notable benefits from post-school education include greater job satisfaction,increased community engagement (DfE, 2019). These benefits are particularly important for lower-level qualifications where individuals may face multiplechallenges and originate from more deprived backgrounds.

In order to more fully understand the non-economic benefits resulting from education, a social returns workstream investigated the relationship between education and wellbeing, a non- economic outcome associated with a wide range of other positive outcomes.

Research

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the social and wellbeing workstream focused on measuring individual wellbeing using already available datasets: the Annual Population Survey, the Apprentice Wellbeing Survey and the Graduate Outcomes Survey. Datasets were restricted to individuals who hold a Scottish school-level qualification, and a regression analysis carried out to identify marginal wellbeing returns across different learner groups and qualification types.

All findings are associations – it was not possible to determine if education itself caused improvements in wellbeing.

Findings

Analysis suggests that possessing any form of qualification is associated with reporting higher levels of personal wellbeing. Respondents with no qualifications at all consistently reported lower wellbeing than the Scottish average.

Overall, the findings suggest that there is a relationship between acquiring qualifications and individual wellbeing, however further work is needed to understand if the changes in wellbeing can be attributed to education.

Next Steps

Investigating non-economic impacts of education is at an early stage, however these initial findings are a first step in recognising education gives value beyond that captured in wages and employment status. The research to date provides the building blocks for possible future work to support decisions that take a wider definition of value into account.

Short-term Outcomes and Average Earnings

This section summarises existing information on earnings and employment outcomes associated with the completion of qualifications at Scottish universities, from the individual perspective.

University Short-term Outcomes

15 months after completing their university studies, students are asked to complete the Graduate Outcomes Surveywhich then provides data on the destinations of graduates across the UK. Of Scottish domiciled first degree graduatesin the 2019-20 graduating cohort:

• 82.4% were employed
• 7.9% engaged in further study
• 5.4% were looking for work
• A total of 90.3% achieved positive destinations.

Of Scottish domiciled postgraduate taught and research students in the 2019-20 graduating cohort:

• 88.8% and 87.3% respectively were in employment, respectively. Employment rates for both were higher than for first degrees
• Employment rates were both higher than for first degrees
• 3.1% and 3.0% were engaged in further study
• 4.1% and 3.0% were looking for work
• A total of 91.9% and 90.3% were in positive destinations.

University Short-term Earnings Outcomes

The Scottish Government's Graduate Outcomes (LEO) statistics (2021) provide median earnings following completion of a first degree. Five years after graduating, the median earning of a UK domiciled graduate from a Scottish university was £28,500 for the 2012-13 graduating cohort. For men in this graduating cohort the median income was £29,900, £2,500 higher than for

women who received a median income of £27,400. Earnings are highly variable by subject of study. Graduates with degrees in the medicine and dentistry subject group received a median salary of

£49,600, whereas the median income for graduates with degrees in creative arts and design was £21,200.