AUAS graduates find a job quickly

12 Apr 2021 09:30 | Communication

Some 88% of Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) Bachelor’s programme students succeed in finding a job within three months of graduation. This is reported by the HBO Monitor 2020, and independent nationwide study of employment opportunity conducted annually among all graduates of universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands (HBO). This is a decrease of 4% on last year, when 92% of graduates found a job right away. Unemployment levels rose from 4% in 2019 to 5.5% in 2020. Among graduates with a job, some 84% gained employment at the Bachelor level for universities of applied sciences, or higher.

The pace at which graduates find a job reflects to some degree the quality of education at the AUAS and how this connects to professional practice. AUAS alumni can count on getting a valuable degree that will enable them to get hired easily on the labour market. The AUAS set a goal in 2015, aiming for at least 85% of AUAS graduates in 2020 to find a job within three months of finishing their programme. The university of applied sciences has therefore comfortable surpassed this goal, despite the rising unemployment rate.

Alongside students finding a job quickly, other indicators of educational quality at the AUAS include student satisfaction and study success. Some 64% of full-time students have a neutral or (very) satisfied overall opinion of their programme. The satisfaction level was higher among part-time students, with 75% reporting that they are satisfied or very satisfied.

National survey

The HBO Monitor is the annual nationwide study among all HBO-level alumni (graduates of universities of applied sciences), conducted approximately 18 months after their graduation. The research provided insights into, for example, the labour-market preparedness of graduates, the extent to which their studies have prepared them for employment and it also gives an indication of recent graduates’ satisfaction with their degree programme. The research is conducted by the ROA at Maastricht University (Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market).

Coronavirus pandemic

Although the HBO-Monitor 2020 data provides an accurate picture of the labour market situation concerning the period in which graduates were surveyed (September 2020 – January 2021), the labour market situation for students who are about to graduate is hard to predict due to the Covid-19 crisis. The ROA will issue a report later this year about the impact of the corona crisis on the labour market opportunities for recent graduates from universities of applied sciences.