Great Plains College Annual Graduate Survey Executive Summary

Transcription

1 Great Plains College Annual Graduate Survey Executive Summary December 2013

2 Great Plains College Annual Graduate Survey Executive Summary Prepared for Great Plains College 701 Dominion Street Biggar, Saskatchewan S0K 0M0 Attention: Keleah Ostrander Director of Planning Submitted by: rd Avenue South Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7K 1L6 Telephone: Cellular: Contact: Doug Fast Dwayne Schmautz December 2013

3 Executive Summary Between May and July of 2013, Fast Consulting conducted an online/telephone survey of graduates of post-secondary and Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs at Great Plains College. The College surveys its alumni approximately one year after graduating and uses their input to assist in planning, delivering programs and improving student services. A total of 100 surveys were completed out of a sample of 330 graduates. This is consistent with the actual number of completed surveys in 2012 (99: 140 completes minus 41 EAL) vs. 90 completes in 2011 survey. This sample size lets us say with a 95% level of certainty that the overall results of the survey are within plus or minus 8.1% of what they would be if the entire graduating population for the academic year was polled. Margins of error are larger for sub-groups. Disclaimer: Historical numbers provided always include Adult Basic Education and Post-secondary data. However, English as an Additional Language programs have been included in some years but not in others data includes English as an Additional Language (41 surveys) programming. In and EAL was excluded. Profile of Students on Entry Previous Educational Attainment Prior to entering Great Plains College (GPC), more than half (56%) of graduates had completed Grade 12. More than a quarter (27%) had less than Grade 12, while close to a fifth (17%) had post-secondary education. Previous Educational Attainment Post-secondary 17% 28% 27% Grade 12 56% 54% 61% Less than Grade 12 27% 18% 12% Pre-college Activities Most graduates came to GPC from the workforce: 60% were employed (full or part time) prior to attending. Another 28% of graduates transitioned to GPC directly from high school and 3% were taking other education. Approximately 12% of graduates were neither employed nor taking other training/ education. 1 P a g e

4 Great Plains College Annual Graduate Follow-up Survey EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Pre-college Activities Employed (full or part time) 59% 71% 66% Direct from high school 17% 9% 17% Taking other education 8% 3% 4% Neither employed nor taking training/education Moved Into GPC Region for Education/Training 16% 17% 13% More than two thirds of graduates (70%, compared to 76% in ) were from the Great Plains College region. Another 30% (compared to 24% in ). In students numbers, 70 graduates were from the GPC region (106 in ) and 30 relocated to the region (34 in ). Of those who relocated, 25 (27 in ) were from within Saskatchewan and 5 (3 in ) were from out of province. Location of GPC Attendance GPC graduates attended Great Plains College at a variety of locations: close to half (42%) attended the Swift Current campus 20% attended the Warman campus 18% attended the Kindersley campus 14% attended the Biggar Program Centre 3% attended the Maple Creek Program Centre 1% attended the Outlook Program Centre 2% attended GPC s other Program/Training Centre locations. Financial Situation How Graduates Paid for Their Education GPC graduates financed their education in a variety of ways: 40% drew on personal savings 34% had scholarships (31% GPC scholarships, 3% other scholarships) 25% had loans (17% government student loans, 8% private bank loans) 24% had family assistance 15% had agency funding/sponsorship 14% had employment income during their program 18% had a Provincial Training Allowance Approximately 51% of graduates used multiple funding sources to finance their education up significantly from 27% of graduates in P a g e

5 Great Plains College Annual Graduate Follow-up Survey EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Importance of Great Plains College Scholarships Three out of ten (31%) graduates received a scholarship from Great Plains College. More than a third of these graduates (35% or 12 out of 31 respondents) say receiving a scholarship was important in their decision to attend Great Plains College including 7% who say it was very important. Employment during GPC Program graduates were more likely to be employed while taking their program than graduates in previous surveys. Roughly half (48%) were employed, including: 9% employed full-time (24% in , 12% in , 14% in , 15% in ) 39% employed part-time (27% in , 22% in , 28% in , 31% in ). The other half (52%) were not employed while taking their program (49% in , 66% in , 58% in , 54% in ). Post-Program Employment Graduate Employment The majority (84%) of graduates who completed the survey are currently employed. This compares to 89% in , 83% in , 76% in and 79% in Approximately one in five (27%, or 27 out of 100) graduates are employed part-time, with 22 of the 27 working part-time by choice. Another 16% (16 graduates) remain unemployed. Of these, 8 are currently looking for work and 8 do not need to work. Total Monthly Earnings Total monthly earnings for graduates who are currently employed are: Income Levels Up to $999 20% 7% 3% $1,000 to $1,999 31% 28% 22% $2,000 to $2,999 18% 27% 19% $3,000 to $3,999 7% 11% 8% $4,000 to $4,999 4% 7% 11% $5,000 to $5,999 4% 1% 8% $6,000 or more 2% 4% 5% Prefer not to answer 14% 15% 5% 3 P a g e

6 Great Plains College Annual Graduate Follow-up Survey EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Relevance of GPC Program to Current Employment The vast majority of graduates (91%) say Great Plains College prepared them to work in their field of study, including: 41% who say GPC prepared them very well 26% who say GPC prepared them quite well 24% who say GPC prepared them well. Approximately half (52%, or 52 out of 100 graduates) are currently employed in a position related to their training at Great Plains College. Moved Out of GPC Region for Employment Eight out of ten (83%) graduates found employment within the GPC region, while two out of ten (17% or 14 out of 84 employed graduates) moved out of the region for employment. Of the 14 who relocated: 7 cite better employment opportunities outside region, 5 cite personal reasons, 5 could not find employment in the region and 3 had always planned to relocate after training. Most (13 graduates) moved elsewhere in Saskatchewan and 1 moved to Alberta. Summary of Post-program Employment GPC prepared them to work in field of study 91% 97% 82% Graduates currently employed 84% 89% 83% Currently employed in position related to GPC training/education 52% 62% 67% Currently employed in GPC region 83% 81% 78% Further Training When GPC graduates are asked if they would consider continuing their education in the next one to three years, more than half (53%) say they are considering the option. Roughly two thirds (64%) of graduates would consider taking another program or class at Great Plains College. Among employed graduates, 23% (or 23 out of 100 graduates) have taken further training since completing their program at Great Plains College. Of these, 14 say they took further training because they thought it would be valuable for employment, 8 because it was required by employer, 7 for personal reasons, 2 say re-training voluntary career change and 1 say re-training could not find work in the area of training taken at the college. 4 P a g e

7 Great Plains College Annual Graduate Follow-up Survey EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Satisfaction with Great Plains College We asked graduates to use a 10-point scale (where 1 means not at all likely and 10 means extremely likely ) to rate the likelihood of their recommending Great Plains College to a friend, colleague or family member. The vast majority (90%) of graduates are likely to recommend GPC to a friend, colleague or family member including 49% who are extremely likely to do so. This translates into a mean score of 8.64 (down slightly from 8.73 in ). This is in the very good to excellent range. Satisfaction with GPC Likely to recommend GPC to friends, colleagues or family 90% (7-10) 92% (7-10) 96% (7-10) Attitudes toward Alumni & Donating The majority of GPC graduates (84% or 84 out of 100 respondents) consider themselves an alumnus/alumna of Great Plains College up from 73% of GPC graduates. Of these, 21% (or 18 out of 84) are interested in participating in alumni activities consistent with 21% in When asked about making a donation to Great Plains College, 13% (or 13 out of 100) of GPC graduates say they would be likely to do so including 3% who would be very likely to do so. This is down from 18% the previous year. Out of the 13 potential donor graduates, 8 would like to see their donation directed toward program development, 4 had no preference and 1 would like to see it go toward scholarships. 5 P a g e

8 Methodology Great Plains College surveys its alumni approximately 11 to 19 months after graduation, and uses their input to assist in planning, delivering programs and improving student services. Between May and July of 2013, Fast Consulting conducted a combined online and telephone survey of 100 Great Plains College graduates. Sample Development A sample of 338 potential interview candidates was assembled by Great Plains College. This included graduates of post-secondary and Adult Basic Education programs at Great Plains College. English as a Second Language (EAL) programs were excluded. Eight names were removed from the original list of 338 graduates due to duplication or lack of contact information. Of the remaining 330 graduates, 100 completed either an online or telephone survey. This is consistent with the number of completed surveys in 2012 (99: 140 completes minus 41 EAL) vs. 90 completes in the 2011 survey. Our firm continues to use online & social media tools to engage graduates and encourage participation in surveys. Survey disposition for the Graduate survey: Completed surveys 100 graduates Student refusal 97 Answering machine 71 Not in service 35 No answer 22 Wrong number 5 Duplicate record 5 No contact information 3 Data checking procedures were used at all times. Fast Consulting uses computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) software in order to provide a streamlined approach to data collection and analysis. Statistical analysis of the survey data was done using the industry standard SPSS program (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). 6 P a g e