Methods

The Illini Success annual reports document the post-graduate outcomes of bachelor’s degree recipients from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Those who receive both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the same semester are excluded from these analyses. Lists of graduates are initially drawn from University records during the semester of graduation, and are finalized ten weeks after graduation to represent an accurate picture of the graduating class for each cohort.

Data Collection

The primary method for collecting graduate outcomes data is an online survey administered by Illini Success team members at the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Several strategies are used to distribute the survey including: centralized emails, college-specific emails, and requests during capstone classes and related college events. Requests to complete the survey are sent approximately one month before graduation, at graduation, three-months post-graduation, and six-months post-graduation. Direct surveys of graduates are the primary and preferred source of data. However, when survey data are not available, other sources of information are considered. For example, data on continuing education enrollment is obtained from the National Student Clearinghouse and verifiable graduate outcomes reported by employers or gathered by colleges are accepted into the data set. Finally, very limited information from LinkedIn profiles is included after a careful study of the quality of this data. Service provided by LiveAlumni is currently used to gather graduate information from publicly available LinkedIn profiles. This data was included for only those graduates who: (a) did not have survey responses, National Student Clearinghouse data, employer reports, or college reports of their outcomes, (b) had employment or international graduate school data from their LinkedIn profile, and (c) posted the start-date for their most current position at least one month after their graduation month. The rationale for these decisions came from a study conducted by the research team at The Career Center. Findings of that study are available by request.

Post-graduate outcomes were identified for 59% of the 2021-2022 graduates. As can be seen in Table M1, just over half of the outcomes responses for 2021-2022 came from survey responses (55%), while a smaller amount came from secondary sources (45%). Knowledge rates vary considerably across colleges and majors. Throughout each year’s report, sample size and knowledge rates are reported to help make appropriate use of the data. As with all data sets, careful interpretation of the results is encouraged.

Table M1: Sources of Graduate Outcomes Data – 2021-2022

Data are collected for six months past the May graduation date, closing data collection in mid-November. For those graduating in the preceding August and December, data are accepted through mid-November, but there is not a rigorous pursuit of responses after the initial six-month time periods. Graduate numbers and knowledge rates by cohort for 2021-2022 can be seen in Table M2.

Table M2: Number of Graduates and Response Rates by Graduation Cohort – 2021-2022

Privacy and Confidentiality

The privacy and confidentiality of Illinois graduates is highly respected and protected throughout the Illini Success initiative. The willingness of Illinois graduates to share their outcomes information is greatly appreciated, and every effort is made to ensure their comfort and confidence at every stage of participation. All data efforts related to the Illini Success initiative are approved by the University of Illinois Institutional Review Board. A limited number of research team members are granted access to the data. All personally identifying information is removed from presentations of data. To further protect confidentiality, outcomes data is only reported in aggregate, for groups of ten graduates or more. In college and major salary analysis tables, when there are fewer than ten employed graduates and fewer than five graduates reporting a salary in one year’s data, responses are combined with those from the class of the previous year in order to provide salary information while protecting the confidentiality and privacy of survey respondents. All cases where this occurs are indicated with a star (*) and “employed graduates” and “graduates reporting salary” reflect the total number across the two years. If sufficient numbers cannot be reached by combining two years of data, salary information is not presented in the report. For colleges or majors where fewer than five graduates report a signing bonus, dashes are used to indicate that signing bonus information cannot be shared.

Illini Success only identifies graduates when they give permission to share their information or likeness. When they do so, graduates state specifically what they want to share, and nothing beyond that is released. For example, the Illini Success website presents graduate success stories with photographs and personalized narratives. Being highlighted on the website is voluntary and individuals sign a talent release form to participate.

Terms and Categories

To understand analyses in the reports, it is helpful to understand some key terminology that is used to define outcomes and categorize variables. When completing the online survey, Illinois graduates were asked about their plans following graduation and were given the following response options: working full-time, working part-time, enrolling in additional education, engaged in military service, engaged in volunteer service, seeking employment, seeking additional education, not seeking employment or education at this time, and I’d rather not answer. For ease of interpretation in this overview report, we combine these nine response options into the following five categories:

• Employed, which includes: (a) working full-time, (b) working part-time, and (c) engaged in military service
• Continuing education
• Volunteer / service
• Seeking, which includes: (a) seeking employment, and (b) seeking education
• Other, which includes not seeking employment or education at this time

“I’d rather not answer” is treated similar to a non-response to the question. Little detail was lost in combining groups. In the employment section, small percentages of respondents pursued military careers (<1%) or part-time employment (1%). Small percentages of respondents indicated that they were “seeking education” (1%) and “seeking employment” (4%). Graduates were invited to select responses regarding their post-graduation plans in two ways. First, they selected all statuses that applied to them. For example, a graduate may report both working full-time and being engaged in volunteer work in the community. Second, graduates were asked to select one primary status that best represents their main focus after graduation. Continuing the example, the graduate may identify working full-time as a primary status. This report focuses on graduates’ reported primary statuses.

Further, this report identifies graduates who have “secured a first destination” following graduation. This is defined as obtaining employment, enrolling in a continuing education program, and/or engaging in volunteer service as a primary status after graduation.

Data Analysis and Presentation

Analyses in this report were informed by standards and guidelines set by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2012). Unless otherwise noted, findings are presented by unique graduates without duplication. A few tables present results by academic major. In these tables, duplicate counts exist because graduates can complete both double majors and dual degrees at the bachelor’s degree level. When a graduate completes more than one major and/or degree, their outcomes data are recognized in each appropriate category for the bachelor’s degree and majors they have completed.

To support ease of reading for various audiences, non-respondents were excluded from each graph, table, and data point (rather than including sections of non-respondents with each question). This decision was made because respondent numbers change throughout the report as different graduates had access to different survey questions. For example, graduates who selected “continuing education” as their primary status did not receive survey questions about “employment.” Throughout the report, the number of respondents (N) is provided with the data for each survey question.

Finally, there is some grouping of majors in this report in order to represent relationships across academic units, to be able to present data for small majors while protecting confidentiality of graduates, or to efficiently and effectively communicate results without overwhelming detail. Please see the tables in the concluding pages of this report, which outline how majors are represented for each college, and show where combinations have occurred.

Colleges and Majors (2021-2022)

College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences

College of Applied Health Sciences

Gies College of Business

College of Education

The Grainger College of Engineering

*Note that due to strong cross-campus partnerships and overlaps in course offerings between Engineering Physics (in The Grainger College of Engineering) and Physics (in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) these two majors are presented together in the Illini Success college-level tables. In The Grainger College of Engineering tables, they are included in the Major category of “Physics.”

College of Fine + Applied Arts

School of Information Sciences

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

*Note that due to strong cross-campus partnerships and overlaps in course offerings between Physics (in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences) and Engineering Physics (in The Grainger College of Engineering) these two majors are presented together in the Illini Success college-level tables. In the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences tables, they are included in the Discipline and Major category of “Astronomy and Physics.”

College of Media

School of Social Work

For Additional Information

Please contact the Illini Success team at illinisuccess@spam-is-bad-64769c8131b4f.illinois.edu or (217) 333-0820.

References

National Center for Education Statistics. (2012). 2012 revision of NCES statistical standards: Final. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Educational Statistics. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/statprog/2012.