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Measuring & Promoting Graduates' Subjective Wellbeing

Dr Glen Crust Careers & Employability Service

The University of Plymouth PL4 8AA glen.crust@plymouth.ac.uk

Dr Helen Hicks

Careers & Employability Service The University of Plymouth PL4 8AA

helen.hicks@plymouth.ac.uk

Abstract Graduate Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) may be used as an indicator of broad socioeconomic return on investment in higher education, testing popular political discourse that promotes graduate employment, recorded using the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s annual Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey, as universities’ primary purpose. UK Office of National Statistics (ONS) data suggests that graduate populations report greater SWB than non-graduate populations. Collecting SWB data in conjunction with the DLHE survey reveals correlates of graduate SWB such as subject of study and degree grade, job titles, and characteristics of the students themselves. We describe an initial attempt to “close the loop”, employing the data with students to coproduce practical improvements in their own wellbeing.

Keywords Core economy, DLHE, Graduates, Productivity, Self-regulation, Students, Subjective wellbeing, Systems thinking, University

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Context Marketised higher education casts students as consumers paying £27,000 fees for the degree that is most likely to improve their earning potential, while branding universities as providers of the necessary services; but higher education is a peculiar business. The raw materials, customers, products and producers are all the same people: students, who are also entrepreneurs moving their time and energy out of lower and into higher productivity and yield. They adopt and adapt the rites, rituals and structures of student life in a cashless social or gift economy (Eisenstein, 2012) that co-produces (Stephens et al, 2008) love, caring, coming to one-another’s rescue, informal study groups, underwater hockey teams, experimental living and a civil society. The principles of creating reputational wealth through gift, reciprocity and fair play (de Waal, 2012) resonate through the campus economy. Transformational rituals, structures and processes that emerge through experiment, error, accident and play in this complex adaptive system pass between student generations through cultural exposure (Savage-Rumbaugh, 2007). By making-things-happen-in-student-life HEIs risk undermining diversity, resilience, organisation and pattern that emerge spontaneously in the student ecosystem. Appendix 1 illustrates the role of SWB in promoting students’ individual self-directed transformation. For students seeking to experience wellbeing rather than pursuing happiness through drugs, shopping, TV and masturbation, university life offers opportunities to coproduces positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and purpose and accomplishment (Seligman 2011). Current mainstream political and media discourse frames higher education in terms of the mainstream cash economy. League tables describe graduates’ employment outcomes. What do we teach students about higher education when we ignore wellbeing and measure outcomes in terms of job titles and salaries?

Method Between 7 January and 8 March 2013 the University’s DLHE telephone surveyors asked four Office of National Statistics (ONS) subjective wellbeing (SWB) questions (described in Appendix 2) in addition to 31 DLHE questionnaire items (HESA, 2012a) about employment six months after graduation. The data set contains 2,595 responses (50.8% of the SWB survey population) that combine DLHE and SWB data with demographic information from the university’s student record system.

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Preliminary Results & Outline Discussion Variation in Wellbeing with Salary Graduate earnings were correlated with SWB to examine whether an increase in earnings correlates to an increase in SWB (Table 1). Table 1: SWB and Salary: Results of statistical significance testing Pearson’s Product-Moment)

Variables Correlation Co-efficient P value

Overall SWB & Earnings 0.139 <0.01 (significant)

Satisfaction & Earnings 0.247 <0.01 (significant)

Worthwhile & Earnings 0.226 <0.01 (significant)

Happy & Earnings 0.038 0.164 (NOT significant)

Anxiety & Earnings 0.017 0.538 (NOT significant)

The data indicates a significant correlation between salary with overall wellbeing, satisfaction, and worthwhile but not with happiness and anxiety. These trends are illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The relationship between SWB and salary for graduates six months after graduation

Higher salaries may be available for professional roles that involve more satisfying problem solving and more worthwhile (i.e. values-aligned) activity; but other processes might explain this data. For example, graduates who experience their lives as more generally satisfying and worthwhile may be better able to compete for better paid roles. Higher education might seek to entrain students into a virtuous cycle of the values-aligned goal selection and productive goal striving suggested by Parkes and Guay (2009).

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SWB and the Transition into Work Respondents were questioned about their reasons for accepting their jobs. The responses ‘It was the only job offer I received’ and ‘It fitted my career plan exactly’ are compared to SWB responses in Figure 2.

Figure 2: SWB by Main Reason for Taking Early Graduate Job

By comparison with graduates who accepted their only job offer, graduates who chose their job because it fitted into their career plan or was exactly the type of work they wanted scored higher on all four measures including anxiety. Greater control in lifestyle transitions may lead to lives that seem more satisfying, worthwhile and happier, but are a little more anxious. Again, the data invites alternative explanations. For example, graduates who experience their lives as more generally satisfying, happy and worthwhile, and who are a little less laid-back may be more successful in employers’ selection interviews.

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SWB and the Nature of Work Graduates’ job titles may be coded using SOC(DLHE) 2010 as professional/managerial or non-professional/managerial, according to job title (HESA, 2012). SOC codes beginning with a 1, 2 or 3 are described as professional / managerial.

Figure 3: Comparing SWB in Professional & Managerial roles with SWB in Non-Professional & Non-Managerial roles

Professional and managerial occupations are associated with higher scores across all four SWB measures including anxiety. A range of processes might explain this data. For example, the SWB scores may be influenced by the nature of the work. Alternatively, those graduates who tend to seek happy, satisfying, worthwhile lives at the expense of a little anxiety may tend to seek professional and managerial roles.

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Table 2: mean satisfaction, worthwhile, happy and anxious scores ranked by aggregate SWB score (see appendix 2). Professional and managerial roles are grouped towards the top of the table. These are indicated by dark shading in column 1.

SOC Occupation n S W H A SWB

2 Physiotherapists 13 8.77 8.85 8.69 2.46 33.85

2 Further education teaching professionals 9 8.33 9.00 9.44 3.22 33.56

2 Management consultants and business analysts 8 9.38 9.00 7.50 3.00 32.88

2 Chartered surveyors 12 8.25 8.25 8.25 2.33 32.42

2 Chartered and certified accountants 12 8.33 7.75 8.42 2.17 32.33

2 Health professionals n.e.c. 14 8.29 8.50 8.07 2.71 32.14

2 Nurses 70 8.20 8.70 7.77 2.69 31.99

2 Midwives 10 8.40 8.70 7.80 3.10 31.80

2 Primary and nursery education teaching professionals 47 8.17 8.53 8.02 3.11 31.62

2 Podiatrists 12 7.92 8.67 7.75 2.92 31.42

1 Managers and directors in retail and wholesale 24 7.79 7.88 8.08 2.38 31.38

3 Paramedics 16 8.25 8.69 7.75 3.31 31.38

6 Educational support assistants 11 7.82 8.36 7.27 2.09 31.36

3 Graphic designers 13 7.92 8.08 7.85 2.62 31.23

4 Book-keepers, payroll managers and wages clerks 11 7.82 7.45 7.91 2.27 30.91

6 Teaching assistants 37 7.84 8.35 7.57 2.92 30.84

6 Animal care services occupations n.e.c. 13 7.77 7.54 7.77 2.38 30.69

3 Human resources and industrial relations officers 22 8.14 7.59 7.73 2.77 30.68

2 Programmers and software development professionals 9 7.67 8.33 7.56 3.00 30.56

3 Architectural and town planning technicians 14 8.29 8.07 7.50 3.43 30.43

3 Conference and exhibition managers and organisers 8 7.88 8.25 7.38 3.13 30.38

6 Nursing auxiliaries and assistants 13 7.77 8.54 7.23 3.23 30.31

3 Welfare and housing associate professionals n.e.c. 43 7.60 8.07 7.60 3.00 30.28

1 Restaurant and catering establishment managers and proprietors 12 7.67 7.42 7.58 2.42 30.25

4 Sales administrators 11 8.00 7.73 7.82 3.64 29.91

3 Artists 9 7.67 8.67 8.00 4.67 29.67

2 Social workers 11 7.55 8.09 7.55 3.55 29.64

3 Sports coaches, instructors and officials 12 7.00 7.67 7.92 3.00 29.58

4 Other administrative occupations n.e.c. 48 7.50 7.67 7.52 3.35 29.33

9 Waiters and waitresses 36 7.00 7.50 7.42 2.67 29.25

6 Sports and leisure assistants 9 7.00 7.44 7.11 2.44 29.11

2 Design and development engineers 14 7.79 7.79 7.14 3.64 29.07

4 Receptionists 14 7.21 7.36 7.29 2.79 29.07

3 Business and related associate professionals n.e.c. 8 7.75 7.13 7.00 3.00 28.88

3 Business sales executives 15 7.53 7.53 8.13 4.53 28.67

9 Kitchen and catering assistants 30 7.13 7.03 7.40 2.93 28.63

7 Customer service occupations n.e.c. 10 7.50 7.60 8.00 4.60 28.50

6 Care workers and home carers 24 6.75 7.58 7.08 2.92 28.50

7 Sales and retail assistants 160 6.93 6.79 7.14 2.63 28.23

7 Sales supervisors 14 7.00 6.71 7.21 2.93 28.00

3 Marketing associate professionals 19 7.89 7.95 6.95 4.79 28.00

1 Publicans and managers of licensed premises 8 7.50 7.25 6.63 3.63 27.75

9 Bar staff 42 6.64 7.02 7.26 3.33 27.60

7 Call and contact centre occupations 13 6.77 7.08 6.85 3.15 27.54

7 Retail cashiers and check-out operators 14 6.64 6.14 7.57 2.86 27.50

3 Sales accounts and business development managers 9 7.89 6.89 5.78 3.67 26.89

2 Teaching and other educational professionals n.e.c. 13 6.38 8.31 6.62 4.92 26.38

3 IT user support technicians 8 7.38 7.13 6.75 5.13 26.13

9 Elementary storage occupations 8 5.88 5.00 6.75 2.13 25.50

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SWB and Degree Grade We also examined the relationship between the degree grade obtained by the graduate and their SWB scores six months after graduation.

Figure 4: Graduates with higher degree grades seem to experience marginally more happiness and satisfaction, and experience the things that they do in life as marginally more meaningful.

Table 3: Results of statistical analysis of SWB criteria against degree class using One-way Anova and Tukey’s Post-Hoc testing. F P Significance

group 1 Significance

group 2 Significance

group 3

Overall SWB 5.39 0.01 1st, 2:1 2:1, 2:2, 3rd n/a

Satisfaction 8.52 <0.01 1st, 2:1 2:2, 3rd n/a

Worthwhile 14.07 <0.01 1st 2:1 2:2, 3rd

Happy 1.73 0.158 Not significant

Anxious 0.59 0.623 Not significant

Graduates with firsts have significantly higher overall wellbeing scores than those with thirds. Graduates with firsts and 2:1s have significantly higher satisfaction scores than those with 2:2s and thirds. Graduates with firsts have significantly higher worthwhile scores than those with 2:1s, who in turn have significantly higher worthwhile scores than those with 2:2s and thirds. There is no significant difference in happiness or anxiety across all degree grades. It may be that a common factor such as ability to identify criteria (Kleinmann et al, 2011) determines a student’s academic performance and their success in finding a personally appropriate occupation as a graduate.

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SWB and Subject of Study Table 4 describes the SWB profiles describing the life experience of graduates from programmes within thirty five subject groups.

JACS Level 2 Subject Group Count S W H A SWB

Nursing 132 8.16 8.57 7.71 2.80 31.64

Initial Teacher Training 76 8.17 8.34 7.82 3.28 31.05

Medicine and Dentistry 19 7.79 8.63 7.42 3.11 30.74

Education studies 130 7.90 8.28 7.68 3.15 30.71

Medical Science and Pharmacy 37 7.73 8.05 7.92 3.11 30.59

Civil, Chemical and other Engineering 37 7.92 7.76 7.51 2.76 30.43

Psychology 113 7.64 7.80 7.53 2.72 30.25

Sports Science 47 7.40 7.49 7.66 2.53 30.02

Electronic and Electrical Engineering 18 7.61 7.67 7.78 3.17 29.89

Other subjects allied to Medicine 62 7.68 8.34 7.29 3.45 29.85

History and Archaeology 74 7.54 7.61 7.82 3.22 29.76

Social Work 83 7.37 8.06 7.49 3.22 29.71

Mathematical Sciences 25 7.40 7.48 7.68 2.96 29.60

Other Creative Arts 65 7.37 7.66 7.28 2.85 29.46

Human and Social Geography 34 7.65 7.50 7.26 3.03 29.38

Agriculture and related subjects 76 7.17 7.37 7.61 2.78 29.37

Business 180 7.54 7.56 7.33 3.14 29.29

English-based studies 65 7.46 7.68 7.43 3.29 29.28

Sociology, Social Policy and Anthropology 78 7.45 7.59 7.19 3.06 29.17

Technology 69 7.65 7.94 7.14 3.59 29.14

European Languages and Area studies 7 7.14 6.57 8.29 2.86 29.14

Architecture, Building and Planning 84 7.63 7.64 7.45 3.62 29.11

Tourism, Transport, Travel and others… 91 7.62 7.64 7.42 3.57 29.10

Politics 27 7.67 7.52 7.48 3.59 29.07

Physical Science 79 7.47 7.65 7.24 3.37 28.99

Physical Geography & Environmental Science 103 7.48 7.60 7.19 3.34 28.93

Performing Arts 77 7.35 7.77 7.65 3.87 28.90

Mechanically-based Engineering 30 7.73 7.70 7.57 4.23 28.77

Computer Science 91 7.42 7.25 7.24 3.20 28.71

Biology and related Sciences 120 7.00 7.18 7.33 3.23 28.28

Art and Design 205 7.09 7.35 7.30 3.48 28.26

Finance and Accounting 87 7.47 7.29 7.51 4.02 28.24

Law 103 7.13 7.48 7.04 3.80 27.84

Management 47 7.32 7.53 7.06 4.51 27.40

Economics 24 6.58 6.92 6.33 3.88 25.96

It seems likely that some programmes tend to recruit students with particular SWB profiles, and some courses tend to develop graduates with particular SWB profiles. Healthcare and education programmes are clustered towards the top of the table.

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Figure 5 illustrates the range of SWB profiles for graduates from two degree programmes: one with the highest and the other with the lowest mean aggregate SWB score.

Opportunities may exist to work bring together students from better and worse performing programmes to examine questions such as “What one thing can you do to raise your satisfaction with your current student lifestyle?”

Conclusions & further work Methodological problems distort our data. For example, collecting SWB data immediately after DLHE employment data may cue graduates to rate their wellbeing with reference to their working lives. Graduates with lower SWB scores may tend to decline the survey, although we expect this effect to be reduced by the high response rate. We intend to improve graduate SWB data, for example by repeating the Plymouth survey in future years, adding a social trust question consistent with Michaelson et al (2012), and inviting other HEIs to collect similar data. The data set will support a range of analyses. We plan to compare our results and trends with the ONS SWB dataset, map using location data using GIS and use factor analysis to explore hidden variables. The data set will support a range of applications intended to improve students’ and graduates wellbeing. An example is outlined in Appendix 1.

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Appendix 1: Promoting Students’ Self-Regulating Performance Development In our experience, showing students mean satisfied, worthwhile, happy and anxious scores in conjunction with a list of DLHE job titles, employer names and salaries reported by recent graduates from their own programme increases students’ motivation to plan their graduate lifestyles and careers. When we invite school-leaver undergraduates to prepare for a graduate working life on the basis of DLHE data alone we ignore Saul Alinsky’s (1989) rule for community organisers: never work outside the expertise of your people. Students have many years’ experience of happiness, anxiety, satisfaction and how worthwhile the things in their life feel. In our experience, students seem to value narratives that frame graduate employability as an outcome emerging naturally from engaged higher education. For example: Many school leavers arrive at university from school with few on-site friends. Living in shared accommodation establishes friendships and builds a social network expanded through their course. Disinhibited social life develops happy positive relationships which promote experimental activity (Holland et al., 2011). Students join with like-minded like-motivated friends, passing freely between intermeshing social networks. Students occupy their time with experimental goal setting, inadvertently investigating their values, and developing an effective goal-striving style that responds to their personality. Through this “occupational choice” students learn to favour activities aligned with their values (Holmes et al, 2011), establishing a habit that they can maintain in their graduate occupational choice (Knafo and Sagiv, 2004). As they engage with activities that resonate with their values and about which they care, students are likely to exhibit attitudes such as curiosity, initiative, leadership, drive and resilience used as selection criteria by many graduate employers. Experimental student living builds occupational choice habits that shape graduate lifestyles that feel worthwhile. This sense of meaning and purpose drives students’ organisation of activities, alliances, collaborations, clubs and societies through which they develop skills such as negotiation, coaching and project management, used as selection criteria by many graduate recruiters. Setting and achieving increasingly challenging goals throughout higher education establishes habits for a satisfying graduate life. Finally, the taught curriculum presents increasingly challenging coursework and examination experiences through which students work together to learn the habit of responding to unfamiliar problems with collective problem solving strategies, rather than entering a spiral of anxiety feeding reduced performance feeding anxiety. In these ways engaged higher education teaches the habits of a happy, low-anxiety, satisfying and worthwhile graduate life. We promote opportunities for such self-directed transformation through career development workshops and using online resources produced in partnership with students and recent graduates (Crust, 2012).

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By comparison with self-directed personal transformation, curriculum-based performance development tends to alienate the student from their development. Academics rather than students design outcome characteristics and how these are achieved, while the taught programme employs students to bring about prescribed, standardised changes in themselves. Figures 6 illustrate the difficulty of managing student performance development through a conventional institutional education development process. Figure 7 outlines the role of SWB data in promoting each student’s individual self-directed performance development process. Figure 6: universities’ student performance development plan-do-check-improve cycle tends to be interrupted by personnel changes

Figure 7: using SWB data to promote students’ self-directed performance development

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Appendix 2: The Office of National Statistics SWB Instrument The four ONS subjective wellbeing questions measure and benchmark universities’ broader socioeconomic outputs and the broader returns on investment enjoyed by students. These questions are: On a scale of zero to ten…” 1. “Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?” 2. “Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile?” 3. “Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday?” 4. “Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?” Overall subjective wellbeing is calculated by summing the scores for satisfaction, worthwhile and happiness to ten minus the anxiety score i.e. S+W+H+(10-A). This provides a range of available values between 0 and 40.

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