careers, skills and professional perspectives of doctoral graduates: 3 years on alison mitchell,...
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Careers, skills and professional perspectives of doctoral graduates:
3 years on
Alison Mitchell, VitaeVitae®, © 2011 The Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) Limited
Vitae vision and mission
“For the UK to be world-class in supporting the personal, professional and career development of researchers”
Influence the development and implementation of effective policy relating to researcher development
Enhance higher education provision to train and develop researchers
Empower researchers to make an impact in their careers
Evidence the impact of professional andcareer development support for researchers
Researchers’ careers
What do researchers do? – First destinations by subject– Career profiles of doctoral graduates– Career profiles of doctoral entrepreneurs– Doctoral graduate destinations and impact three
years on
Career stories portal– Database of careers stories– Career stories on film with icould
Employers’ briefings– Targeting the postgraduate
and researcher market– Researchers’ skills and
competencies
What happens to doctoral graduates?
Where do they work?
Value of a doctorate
Use of knowledge, skills and experience
Benefits to workplace, careers and beyond
Finding and securing employment
Impact
Employers views
What do researchers do? three years onSurvey of doctoral graduates
EU/UK graduates only (2004/05)
Census date 24 November 2008 – 3.5 years on
All DLHE research postgraduates
2,501 responses (45%)
– 2,073 doctorates
‘
What do researchers do? Doctoral graduate and impact three years on
Value of the doctorate (82% said it is requirement or important)
Employability– 2% unemployed– 54% have changed jobs– £34,000 median gross annual salary
Satisfied with career to date (93%)
Undertaking research (40% most of the time)
Use of research (82%) and generic skills (91%)
Impact on employment (94%) and beyond (89%)
Unique doctoral occupations
6 occupational clusters (86% in 5 of these)
Destinations three years on
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
HE research occupations
Research (not in HE sector)
Teaching and lecturing in HE
Other teaching occupations
Other common doctoral occupations
Other occupations
Doctoral graduates Masters graduates First degree 1st/2:1
Clusters over time
13%
22%
6%
27%
19%
14%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
HE research occupations
Research (not in HE sector)
Teaching and lecturing in HE
Other teaching occupations
Other common doctoral occupations
Other occupations
3.5 years (L DLHE) 6 months (DLHE*)
* DLHE data for corresponding L DLHE respondents only
Changes over time
Other common doctoral occupations
Health professionals (accounting for 18% of the cluster),
Functional and production managers and senior officials (25%);
Engineering professionals (14%),
ICT professionals (10%),
Business, finance and statistical professional and associate professional roles (15%)
Occupational cluster by discipline
Income by discipline
Clusters over time
13%
22%
6%
27%
19%
14%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
HE research occupations
Research (not in HE sector)
Teaching and lecturing in HE
Other teaching occupations
Other common doctoral occupations
Other occupations
3.5 years (L DLHE) 6 months (DLHE*)
* DLHE data for corresponding L DLHE respondents only
Value of a doctorate
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Qualification type
Subject
Skills and competencies
Relevant workexperience*
Formal requirement Important Not very important but helped
Not important Dont know
Importance of doctorate, skills and competencies for current employment
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
DOCTORAL QUALIFICATION
All
HE research
Other research
HE teaching and lecturing
Other teaching
Common doctoral occupations
Other occupations
SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES
All
HE research
Other research
HE teaching and lecturing
Other teaching
Common doctoral occupations
Other occupations
Formal qualification Important Not very important but helped Not important
Conducting research and beinginnovative in the workplace
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
CONDUCT RESEARCH
All
HE research
Other research
HE teaching and lecturing
Other teaching
Common doctoral occupations
Other occupations
BE INNOVATIVE
All
HE research
Other research
HE teaching and lecturing
Other teaching
Common doctoral occupations
Other occupations
Most of the time Some of the time Occasionally Not at all
Use of knowledge, skills, experience
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Conduct research
Interpret research data
Critically evaluate research findings
Use the research skills developed
Draw on detailed research degree knowledge
Use general disciplinary knowledge
Use the generic skills developed
Work autonomously
Work as part of a team
Work under close supervision
Have responsibility for others
Most of the time Some of the time Occasionally Not at all
Use of knowledge skills and experience
Potential impact
Economic & social impact
• Innovation
• Generic skills
• Research/subject skills
• Influencing others
Impact on the individual
• Passport to a (first) job
• Greater employability
• Salary and job security
• Career progression and satisfaction
• Quality of life
Employers’ expectations of researchers’ performance (high and very high)
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4
Data analysis 100% 100% 91% 91%
ProblemSolving
100% 88% 89% 83%
Drive andMotivation
100% 84% 59% 74%
ProjectManagement
83% 36% 70% 39%
InterpersonalSkills
67% 56% 39% 26%
Leadership 67% 28% 24% 17%
Commercialawareness
50% 20% 28% 22%
Overall 81% 59% 57% 50%
Employer categories
Group 1: actively target doctorates
Group 2: strong interest
Group 3: some interest, occasionally recruit
Group 4: no interest
Recruiting researchers, 2009, 104 employers
Future Vitae activities
Developing excellent researchers and enhancing the researcher experience
Embedding researcher development in HEI practice
Improving employability– demonstrate the unique value of researchers to non-HE employers– further engagement and dialogue to bridge the communication gap– empowering researchers to take responsibility for their career development
Researcher Development Framework • Major new approach to researcher development
– describes knowledge, behaviours andattributes of researchers at different stagesof development
– provides a language for communicatingresearcher qualities
– consistent with European competencies
• Researcher Development Statement
– policy document endorsed by key26 UK stakeholders, including RCUK, UUK, FCs, QAA
• RDF website– resources, FAQs – researcher profiles
• Professional development tool
• RDF lenses
www.vitae.ac.uk/rdf
Researcher feedback on using the RDF
‘I have always though of myself as being quite ambitious, driven and focussed on what I want, but the framework made me realise I can have a much larger vision’
‘I found it very user friendly. It was useful to reflect on it because it helps to identify your skills and think about them in a more reflective manner’
‘I thought I didn’t have the time to fill in the RDF but it is really important to get a sense of what it is I want to achieve and why I’m doing all the other things and what my ultimately goal is’