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Futuretrack update Feb 09: stage 3 data collection

STOP PRESS: Futuretrack stage 3 data collection is happening now

A message from Kate Purcell and Jane Artess:
 
We are contacting students via three methods:
 
i) Those who have completed stages 1 and 2 have been sent the stage 3 questionnaire to their personal email address; by the time you read this, they will also have been sent a reminder.
 
ii) Final year students who applied to study full-time in 2005-6 and have not participated in Futuretrack before will be able to access the questionnaire via a link at the end of the NSS survey – it’s a smart link, so will not be visible to those in i) above.
 
iii) Another link to the questionnaire will be placed on the Futuretrack.ac.uk website in the week beginning March 2nd to coincide with a range of publicity initiatives being led by the NUS.
 
As in previous years students will be able to enter the prize draw for prizes of £500 and £1000.

With the help of HEI colleagues, we also plan to do a final generic mailing after Easter to all third year students via their HEI email addresses and/or to persuade HEIs to have a notice with the link to the questionnaire on the student page of their intranet sites.
 
Any help you and your colleagues are able to provide to ensure maximum response will be very much appreciated.   For example,

1. When you are in contact with students (in the 2006 cohort of entrants) please ask them to check their emails.
2. If they have not participated please encourage them to do so, or to contact the research team at  futuretrack2006@warwick.ac.uk if they have not been sent an email and would like to participate.
3. Confirm that IER and HECSU are independent, working on behalf of the sector - Futuretrack provides a chance to contribute to the debate about career. 
4. Some services have been able to email students to remind them to look out for the questionnaire.

It is important to us that we maximise response from those who have already participated, as this enables information to be linked longitudinally.   We also welcome participation from those who have not done so before because, as you know, the larger the level of response then the more robust the findings will be for this Stage 3 survey - and as a foundation for Stage 4 two years later, to provide really hard evidence about the transition out of HE to the graduate labour market.

Thank you very much for any help you can give.  At stage 2, careers services provided a great deal of support to Futuretrack - for which we were very grateful.  Information on the research, including preliminary findings is posted on Futuretrack, HECSU and Warwick IER websites.  To contact us, Kate.Purcell@warwick.ac.uk or j.artess@prospects.ac.uk