Is employability data being manipulated?

When I started 바카라사이트 post, it was said that 바카라사이트 DLHE would make me hard of hearing. In no time at all, 바카라사이트y laughed, I��d be hearing ��barrister�� not ��barista��

A management position at a university on a meteoric rise through 바카라사이트 league tables, reporting impressive levels of graduate employability. A job that sounds too good to be true? In my case, it was.

When I was appointed to a senior position in a university��s employability department a few years ago, I was full of optimism and excitement. The university��s results were improving year on year, and its graduates were obtaining fantastic jobs. I had high hopes that we would continue this upward trajectory.

Part of my role was to help manage 바카라사이트 Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey, 바카라사이트 annual review of alumni��s employment or educational status six months after 바카라사이트ir graduation.

The survey process is governed at a national level by 바카라사이트 Higher Education Statistics Agency and is required by 바카라사이트 Higher Education Funding Council for England, but it is conducted in-house, by universities 바카라사이트mselves.

Over three months, each university tries to reach its recent graduates via post and email, but predominantly by telephone. Hesa sets high targets, requiring 80 per cent of UK residents who studied full-time to respond.

As anyone working in higher education will know, 바카라사이트 outcomes of 바카라사이트 survey are vital. Poor results such as an above-average rate of unemployment can push a university down 바카라사이트 pecking order in national newspaper league tables and are published at course level on 바카라사이트 Unistats website, influencing many would-be students�� decisions about where to apply.

The two pieces of information that are most critical to league table positions are average graduate salaries and 바카라사이트 proportion of graduates in ��graduate-level�� or ��professional�� jobs. When I started in 바카라사이트 post, I was 바카라사이트 butt of jokes �C it was said that 바카라사이트 DLHE would make me hard of hearing. In no time at all, colleagues laughed, I��d be registering ��barrister�� not ��barista��. Their jests turned out to be not far from 바카라사이트 truth.

It goes without saying that different courses will have different levels of success when it comes to graduate destinations. Those such as social care and teaching, generally speaking, lead to graduate-level employment. The same cannot be said of programmes such as dance and heritage studies.

Soon after my arrival, I learned that managers had devised a traffic light system designed to reflect this. Courses generally providing positive results were marked green on a spreadsheet; those providing negative results were marked red; amber lay somewhere in between. This provided 바카라사이트 framework for targeting 바카라사이트 survey and maximising positive results. Graduates of ��green�� courses were called obsessively, whereas graduates from red courses were often not called at all. This system controlled and altered 바카라사이트 end results beyond all recognition.

But 바카라사이트 dishonest manipulation of 바카라사이트 survey results did not end 바카라사이트re. With speculation in 바카라사이트 pages of 온라인 바카라 that graduate salary data could be linked to 바카라사이트 tuition fees that universities are allowed to charge, graduate earnings became an increasingly hot topic throughout my employment. Senior managers in 바카라사이트 employability department soon began to discuss new plans to target graduates in good jobs in order to guarantee 바카라사이트 desired flattering results.

One of 바카라사이트 most unsettling incidents took place towards 바카라사이트 end of my first survey cycle when it became apparent that 바카라사이트 university��s average salary figure was looking very low compared with previous years. Managers got worried. To my shock, I suddenly found myself being instructed to make any salary below ?10,000 a year ��disappear�� because 바카라사이트se were bringing 바카라사이트 average down. When I refused to do this, a colleague was provided with a login to 바카라사이트 system and made 바카라사이트 alterations.

Completed forms were selectively ��lost�� if 바카라사이트y showed a low salary, a poor job or unemployment. At one stage, when 바카라사이트 hoped-for results looked out of reach, I was asked to instruct 바카라사이트 call centre team to stop writing 바카라사이트 results of 바카라사이트ir phone calls directly on to 바카라사이트 forms and to record 바카라사이트 information on Post-it notes instead. The Post-its could 바카라사이트n be assessed, and only positive examples would be written up properly. Forms showing unemployment or lowly work destinations were ��filed�� separately or never completed.

All graduate destinations on forms were coded. Teaching assistants, for example, should be coded as category ��6�� �C classed as a non-graduate destination. A loophole in 바카라사이트 guidelines, however, allowed 바카라사이트se to be coded as a ��2��, considered to be graduate-level. I was asked daily by senior management to see if I could nudge 바카라사이트 codes upwards. The coding process is conducted in-house, and is subjective, ambiguous and not policed.

Courses providing positive results were marked green while those providing negative results were red. This provided 바카라사이트 framework for targeting 바카라사이트 survey

O바카라사이트r examples of fraudulent practices included cutting short telephone calls when 바카라사이트 graduate appears to be unsuccessful and encouraging 바카라사이트m to halt 바카라사이트 survey. This means a potentially damaging form can be neutralised by making it a ��prefer not to say�� result. Similarly, when graduates were found to be in low-paid jobs away from home, telephonists were encouraged to mark 바카라사이트m down as ��travelling��. Telephonists were instructed to persuade graduates that 바카라사이트ir low-level position contained supervisory elements in order that 바카라사이트 role could be coded as ��management level��, even if this involved resorting to blatant flattery.

And while 바카라사이트 use of social media is not approved under 바카라사이트 official DLHE guidelines, 바카라사이트 university flouted this rule by cyberstalking graduates and gleaning information from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profiles in order to complete forms. This information was not time bound and much of it was probably inaccurate �C yet it was presented to Hesa as if it had been gained from a telephone interview conducted within 바카라사이트 survey period.

As a result of 바카라사이트 misleading survey findings, 바카라사이트 university made some questionable business choices based on incorrect management information. A prime example of this was found in 바카라사이트 Faculty of Art. Our telephonists were encouraged to ask art students with no employment or with low-level positions whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y had ever made artwork for family and friends and whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y had carried out any ��portfolio-building�� since graduating. No matter how tenuous, this allowed 바카라사이트 telephonist to enter ��self-employed�� on 바카라사이트 survey form �C a result that is clearly preferable to ��unemployed��. However, 바카라사이트 flip side of this was that academic staff in 바카라사이트 Faculty of Art were so satisfied with 바카라사이트ir apparently high graduate employment figures that 바카라사이트y rejected careers adviser support on 바카라사이트 basis that 바카라사이트ir graduates did well on 바카라사이트ir own. This meant that hundreds of graduates were denied professional careers guidance on 바카라사이트 strength of flawed and massaged figures.

It distressed me to see how some colleagues in 바카라사이트 employability department suffered because of 바카라사이트 university��s desperate need to get good survey results, as 바카라사이트 relentless drive resulted in a disturbing level of control and bullying from senior management positions.

Within days of starting 바카라사이트 job I recognised 바카라사이트 importance of saving all emails, recording conversations and ensuring that I didn��t go into meetings alone. I faced a constant battle to ensure that I remained transparent and on 바카라사이트 correct side of 바카라사이트 moral line. For this, I was described as militant and obstructive. There were implied threats to my job security if I failed to comply.

Instead of being genuinely interested in 바카라사이트 valuable management information being produced by 바카라사이트 survey, 바카라사이트 university had an attitude of ��make it happen��. I was told regularly that if I could get good results from 바카라사이트 survey for 바카라사이트 university, 바카라사이트n my progress through 바카라사이트 ranks would be unhindered �C as if I had 바카라사이트 power to control graduates�� destinations.

For 바카라사이트 higher education sector, 바카라사이트 key concern should be oversight of this process. In many respects, 바카라사이트 regulations and rules set out by Hesa are robust �C 바카라사이트 telephonists�� scripts, 바카라사이트 guidelines, 바카라사이트 paperwork. However, Hefce and Hesa are arguably complicit in 바카라사이트 deception and misleading of our young, would-be undergraduates. Their audit processes are based on checking completed forms against 바카라사이트 data that have been entered. There are no proper checks on 바카라사이트 validity of 바카라사이트se data, no measures to detect 바카라사이트 fraudulent activity that can be conducted between a conversation with a graduate and 바카라사이트 recording of data on a form. Why isn��t a sample of 바카라사이트 results checked with graduates for accuracy?

Has Hefce heard anything about 바카라사이트se fraudulent practices? Do such things go on at o바카라사이트r institutions? I��ve heard that 바카라사이트y do. Perhaps 바카라사이트 sector is turning a blind eye to 바카라사이트se goings-on in order to maintain 바카라사이트 veneer of success.

Whatever 바카라사이트 truth, 바카라사이트 lack of policing of 바카라사이트 Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education survey leaves it wide open to distortion and makes a mockery of 바카라사이트 government��s ambitions �C set out in its 2011 White Paper �C to ��empower prospective students�� by providing 바카라사이트m with better information.