Futuretrack

Career Making is the umbrella name for HECSU's Career Making research programme. There are two major longitudinal studies running as part of Career Making; they are Futuretrack and Futuretrack:part-time students.

Both studies will look at the motivations, expectations and aspirations of students and at what interventions affect their careers decision making. The results of this research will be invaluable to careers advisers, staff in universities and colleges and policy makers within the sector.

Find out more about these projects and follow their progress below.

Futuretrack is tracking the 2006 cohort of UCAS applicants for five years, starting from their initial application to higher education. By surveying them four times in this period, Futuretrack will shed light on the relationship between higher education, employment and how students’ views of career options change during their studies.

Stage 4 Stop Press

Furutretrack Stage 4 is now available to students who registered with UCAS for their courses in 2005/6.  Any students or graduates who think they are eligible should visit  the IER Futuretrack site.  Eligible participants who take part in the survey have the opportunity to win one of 10 prizes of £1000 or 100 prizes of £100.

Stage 3

Futuretrack Stage 3 will be published as a series of working papers.

Working Paper 1: Analysing the relationship between higher education participation and educational and career development patterns and outcomes.

A new classification of higher education institutions

Stage 2 

The  Futuretrack Stage 2 Report, Plans, aspirations and realities: taking stock of higher education and career choices one year on looks at the experiences of the students at the end of their first year of study.

Stage 1

130,000 applicants responded to the first questionnaire about their experiences of the application process for HE and the choices they made. The full report of their experiences and a summary of the results of this, the first stage of the Futuretrack study, can be downloaded from the following link: Applying for HE - the diversity of career choices, plans and expectations.

'Futuretrack:part-time students' is a four year study looking at two samples of students: 1st years and final years in the 2007/8 cohort. They will be questioned in 2008 and again in 2010. The study will also include a longitudinal survey of employers who employ part-time students, and in-depth interviews with both students and their employers.

Follow the Futuretrack:part-time students link for details as this project starts.