The Graduate Impact Survey (GIS) is a regular survey that evaluates the impact of Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) programmes on the personal and professional development of their graduates.
It analyses the experience of three different cohorts of EMJMD graduates. In the GIS 2020/21, graduates from cohorts 2010/11, 2015/16, and 2019/20 were invited to participate by e-mail and 2.015 of them completed the survey. Data weighting measures were taken to enhance the representativeness of the sample. The results thereby reflect on all graduates who received an EMJMD scholarship.
Main findings
Overall, graduates from all cohorts reported high levels of satisfaction with their EMJMD as a whole. When asked about specific study conditions, most graduates were very satisfied with the study infrastructure and attitudes towards international students at all host universities. However, they also reported a lack of educational guidance and pedagogical methods in at least one of their host institutions.
The latest cohort (2019/2020) reported more practical experiences, internships, and exchanges with potential employers during their EMJMD, as well as a higher satisfaction level in each of these activities. This was a major point of criticism in previous GIS.
For most graduates, their EMJMD impacted greatly their own career and intercultural competences. Likewise, they reported an improvement in personal and intercultural development due to the EMJMD in aspects such as openness and curiosity about new challenges and tolerance of others’ values and opinions.
In the first 6 months after graduation, about 39% of graduates from the observed cohorts left higher education and started or continued working, 21% continued studying, 6% worked and continued studying, 26% started a job search, and 7% engaged (exclusively) in other activities. Currently, 79% of graduates from all cohorts are employed.
Graduates who started a job search after graduating from their EMJMD are less often successful and take longer to find a job when only searching in EU countries.
Martin Unger on behalf of the Service Provider
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