About this study
You are invited to take part in a research study. Please read the description below carefully.
What is the purpose of this study?
Graduate attributes are high-level qualities and skills that students acquire during their university journey. Different universities and programmes have their own sets of graduate attributes or skills, but there is little shared understanding across institutes about how these map to employer needs, student awareness, and academic activity. We would like to learn more about your understanding of which graduate attributes are most valuable within your industry/sector/business.
What is involved in the study?
This study asks you to complete an online questionnaire containing questions about the following:
• Your organisation/business/company industry sector and size.
• Which skills you think are most important for graduates who want to succeed in your sector.
This questionnaire can be completed at any time in the next week. It should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete this questionnaire, but the whole questionnaire must be completed in one sitting as it is not possible to save and return to your answers.
What if I don’t want to take part?
It is up to you to decide whether you would like to participate. Your participation is completely voluntary. You can withdraw from the study without having to provide any explanation and withdrawing at any time will not impact on your relationship with the institute who contacted you. You can also choose to skip any questions within the questionnaire by answering 'prefer not to answer' or typing 'X' or 'no answer' in the free text boxes. If you choose to withdraw while completing the questionnaire, simply close your web browser page before submitting. Please be aware that we will not be able to remove your responses after you have clicked to submit as they will no longer be identifiable to the research team.
Are there any possible negative effects of my participation?
It is not expected that this study will result in any distress or offence.
You may wish to save this information for future reference.
We will collect, process, store and retain your data in accordance with General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) 2018. In accordance with data protection legislation, the data will not be used for any purpose other than that in which it was initially intended.
This questionnaire is being run through PsyToolkit. Once all responses have been collected, the data will be downloaded and stored in a secure folder which can only be accessed by the research team. All data collected will be anonymised and we will not be collecting your IP-address. After downloading the data, we will ensure that any identifiable details will be removed. To help with this process, please do not disclose any personal or identifiable details about yourself which could lead to your identification. We will strip out your email address, if you have provided it for the prize draw. Your email address will be stored separately and used only for the purposes of the prize draw. However, please also be aware of the limits of anonymity and confidentiality: disclosures of a criminal nature or disclosures which indicate potential risk of harm to self or others may need to be shared with the relevant authorities. Please ensure that you do not make such disclosures in the open comments of this questionnaire if you do not wish further action to be taken.
The data and results of the study will be used to produce a report on employability for the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. This report will be disseminated across UK universities and used to guide career developments in the sector. Any publication that involves your data will not identify you individually. Your responses and data will be treated in the strictest confidence. Your original data may be stored securely for up to seven years before being destroyed.
Contact information
Information about this study:Who is running the study?
This questionnaire is being completed as part of a collaborate project funded by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. The collaborating institutes are Bangor University, Aberystwyth University, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Wrexham University, and Pembokeshire College. The study has been approved by the Bangor University Academic Research Ethics Committee.
Who do I contact if I have any questions about this study?
If you wish to contact the researchers of this study, please email Prof Fay Short at f.short@bangor.ac.uk.
Who do I contact with any concerns about this study?
If you have any concerns or complaints about this study or the conduct of individuals conducting this study, then please contact Bangor University's Senior Research Governance and Policy Officer, Colin Ridyard, c.h.ridyard@bangor.ac.uk
You may wish to save this information for future reference.
Contact email: f.short@bangor.ac.uk