Graduate survey
In the University of Siegen's graduate survey, all graduates of the previous examination year are surveyed annually about their completed studies at the University of Siegen and their (professional) career.
It provides insights into the experiences of our graduates with regard to their studies and the transition to employment or further studies. We use the results to further develop the degree programs and study conditions.
The graduate survey is part of the nationwide "Cooperation Project Graduate Studies" (KOAB project) and is coordinated by the Institute for Applied Statistics (ISTAT).
Further information
In the cooperation project Graduate Studies (KOAB), universities are working together to establish a system of decision-oriented graduate studies that will contribute to the quality development of higher education (course development, quality management, reaccreditation).
Many universities in Germany are currently looking for ways to introduce a system of graduate studies, prompted in particular by reaccreditation and quality assurance requirements. Attempts are often made to "reinvent the wheel". This leads to a considerable workload and unnecessary costs. In addition, there is a risk that ad hoc surveys are not sufficiently oriented towards scientific standards and often do not allow any comparison between study programs and universities.
ISTAT coordinates the project and advises the universities on the design of the study, the development of the questionnaire and the evaluation of the results. ISTAT is also responsible for conducting the online survey and integrating the individual university surveys into a common data set and provides the universities with ready-to-print tabular evaluations of the surveys. In addition, ISTAT analyzes in detail the effect of study conditions and offers on the further life path and career success of graduates.
All universities participating in the KOAB use centralized core questions, which make it possible to compare the results of the individual universities. In addition, each university can use those questions from a pool of optional questions that are relevant to the individual university. It is also possible to include university-specific questions.
Implementation of the survey
All graduates of the 2025 examination year (winter semester 2024/2025 and summer semester 2025) of the University of Siegen will receive an invitation to participate in the graduate survey approximately 1.5 years after their successful graduation.
The project will be in the field phase between October 2026 and February 2027. During this period, the relevant graduates of the examination years will be invited to participate in the graduate survey by letter and/or e-mail. The University of Siegen is aiming for up to four contacts during this period.
The survey is conducted exclusively online. With the help of a personalized access code, the invited graduates can log in to the questionnaire and fill it out. The survey can be interrupted at any time and continued at a later date.
The University of Siegen has a great interest in finding out what experiences graduates have had during and after their studies.
The answers you provide make a major contribution to improving studies and teaching. Only through your feedback can study programs be reflected upon and possibly adapted.
Future prospective students can also benefit from your experiences.
All graduates of the relevant examination year can take part. For example, if the examination year 2024 is invited to participate in the graduate survey, only those graduates who successfully completed their studies at the University of Siegen in the winter semester 2024/2025 or in the summer semester 2025 can take part in the survey.
Graduates will receive an invitation by letter and/or email.
ISTAT generates a six-digit access code consisting of numbers and letters for all participating graduates. You can only take part in the graduate survey using this access code. It is possible to interrupt answering the questions at any time and continue at a later date.
In addition, the University of Siegen can use the access code to exclude those graduates who have already taken part in the survey from the next contact.
The access code contains some data relevant to the survey, which was sent to ISTAT in advance to generate the questionnaires. In detail, this is the following data:
- PIN
- Personal data: Gender, year of birth, German or foreign nationality (without naming the country)
- Examination data: Type of degree (Bachelor, Master etc.; partly aggregated), field of study (partly aggregated), grade (if available), semester of graduation
With the help of this transmitted data, you will be assigned directly to the correct questionnaire. Information on the examination only needs to be confirmed. The personal data is relevant for the evaluation of the graduate survey.
You can only take part in the graduate survey via an online questionnaire. The online questionnaire is prepared and provided by ISTAT. All data is transmitted in encrypted form.
The University of Siegen does not know at any time which answers were given by which access code. It only knows which access code has been logged in and will not be contacted again. Your personal data and your answers are not connected in any way. The results are published collectively. If it is possible to draw conclusions about individual persons due to an insufficient number of cases, the answers given will not be included in the evaluation.
Once the survey has been completed, the data required to conduct the survey will be deleted by the University of Siegen.
ISTAT coordinates the project and advises the universities on the design of the study, the development of the questionnaire and the evaluation of the results. ISTAT is also responsible for conducting the online survey and integrating the individual university surveys into a common data set and provides the universities with ready-to-print tabular evaluations of the surveys. In addition, ISTAT analyzes in detail the effect of study conditions and offers on the further life path and career success of graduates.
The results of the graduate survey are published on the University of Siegen website. You will also be asked at the end of the questionnaire whether you would like to receive a report. If you wish, the report will be sent to you.
Your address data is taken from the University of Siegen's campus management system (unisono). If we are unable to contact the graduates at the address given, we will try to find them with the help of the citizens' offices and the Internet.
How is data protection guaranteed?
There is a contractually stipulated and legally binding agreement between the University of Siegen and ISTAT on how the survey results will be handled. In addition, the University of Siegen ensures compliance with data protection regulations.
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Julia Marx
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