Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
This study examined the migration patterns and motivations of recent graduates from Scottish higher education. Increasing the retention of these predominantly young people is important at a time when Scotland's population is both declining and ageing, and in light of the Scottish Executive's ambitions to attract and retain more highly qualified people. Scotland is very successful in retaining graduates who lived in Scotland prior to commencing their studies, but much less successful in retaining those who came to Scotland to study from elsewhere. Little is known, however, about graduates' motivations for making migration decisions. The study aimed to help fill this knowledge gap and inform future policy to improve the retention of these highly skilled people. One particular cohort was investigated: year 2000 first degree graduates from the University of Edinburgh. Two phases of primary research were conducted, generating quantitative and qualitative data. A postal survey, conducted in 2005, established basic information on respondents' background, employment and migration history, primary motivations for migration, and perspectives on possible future migration, together with demographic and educational data. A stratified sample of 80 survey respondents were then interviewed, divided into four groups determined by whether or not they were domiciled in Scotland prior to attending university, and whether or not they were currently domiciled in Scotland. These interviews aimed to give a more detailed understanding of the relative influence of, and interaction between, economic and non-economic factors as reasons behind graduate migration decisions. Overall, the research aimed to identify the kind of graduates who choose to stay in or leave Scotland, and the reasons which underlie these decisions. This dataset includes the quantitative survey data only; the qualitative interview data have not been deposited.
Main Topics:
Topics covered include respondents' migration history (primary place of residence during the three years before commencement of their undergraduate degree); their location at the time of the survey (summer 2005); their location approximately six months after graduation, in January 2001; any additional locations of residence (exceeding three months) between 2001 and 2005. Information concerning respondents' current employment status, and their status in 2001 was also collected, and on primary motivations for migration at the time of graduation, and the factors deemed important when making decisions about where to live and work at the time of the survey. For those not living in Scotland at the time of the survey, perspectives on possible future return migration to Scotland were recorded. In addition, demographic data (gender, age, marital status, dependent children, social class background, ethnicity) and educational data (type of school attended, subject area and class of degree, postgraduate qualifications obtained or being pursued) were also collected.
No sampling (total universe)
Postal survey
