Does Higher Education Matter? Lessons from a Comparative Graduate Survey

Renewed public interest in the relationships between higher education and the world of work and a deficient data base contributed to the decision to undertake a major comparative study on graduate employment and work. In the framework of the CHEERS study, supported by the European Commission's TSER programme, some 40,000 graduates of the academic year 1994/95 from 11 European countries and Japan were surveyed about four years later. The study paid attention to the transition to employment, the employment situation during the first four years after graduation, the links between competences acquired and work tasks, as well as the professional impact of values and orientations. Altogether, the findings indicate major North-South differences of graduate employment in Europe, but less clear findings as far as work assignments and retrospective views of higher education are concerned. They show on average a more favourable employment and work situation than the public debates suggest, few signs of European convergence, for example with respect to preference for generalists or professionals, and a high weight of intrinsic values.