The student journey: bachelor's degree graduates

Bachelor's students have many options for continuing their studies. Colleges and universities naturally try to tailor their master's programs to the study preferences of potential master's students. Current bachelor's students essentially form the most important intake group for the master's programs at their own college or university. Achieving progression, and thus intake for the master's programs of the college or university, should therefore be most promising among this group. When a bachelor's student leaves the college or university without this natural progression to one of the master's programs on offer, it is important to find out what the motives of these so-called "leavers"* are.

Markteffect research into the motives and reasons of leavers in order to answer the following questions, among others:

Did the leaver go on to pursue a master's degree? Or did the leaver choose a different (temporary) next step, such as entering the labor market?
Which master's program did you decide to pursue? And at which college or university?
What was the primary reason for switching to another college or university?
Which aspects, such as the range of courses on offer, location, or reputation of the college or university, were important in this regard?
When did the leaver decide to pursue the master's degree elsewhere?
What did leavers think of the information provided about the master's programs offered by the college or university?
What could the college or university have done to retain the leaver?

Research on bachelor's degree leavers

Telephone surveys are almost always chosen to survey this target group, possibly supplemented with online surveys. To obtain useful results, it is important to be able to ask follow-up questions about actual motives, barriers, opinions, and areas for improvement. Telephone surveys are best suited for obtaining in-depth insights.

Markteffect trained, field-force certified (MOA) field workers to approach and administer the questionnaire to those who have opted out. These field workers have extensive experience in surveying pupils and students for education-related research.

The ideal time to conduct a bachelor's leavers survey is during the months of September, October, and November.

*Leavers are bachelor's students who leave college or university after obtaining their bachelor's degree without pursuing a master's program.