Scottish Graduate Migration and Retention: a Case Study of the University of Edinburgh Cohort, 2000

This study examined the migration patterns and motivations of recent graduates from Scottish higher education. Increasing the retention of these predominantly young people is important at a time when Scotland's population is both declining and ageing, and in light of the Scottish Executive's ambitions to attract and retain more highly qualified people. Scotland is very successful in retaining graduates who lived in Scotland prior to commencing their studies, but much less successful in retaining those who came to Scotland to study from elsewhere. Little is known, however, about graduates' motivations for making migration decisions. The study aimed to help fill this knowledge gap and inform future policy to improve the retention of these highly skilled people. <br> <br> One particular cohort was investigated: year 2000 first degree graduates from the University of Edinburgh. Two phases of primary research were conducted, generating quantitative and qualitative data. A postal survey, conducted in 2005, established basic information on respondents' background, employment and migration history, primary motivations for migration, and perspectives on possible future migration, together with demographic and educational data. A stratified sample of 80 survey respondents were then interviewed, divided into four groups determined by whether or not they were domiciled in Scotland prior to attending university, and whether or not they were currently domiciled in Scotland. These interviews aimed to give a more detailed understanding of the relative influence of, and interaction between, economic and non-economic factors as reasons behind graduate migration decisions. Overall, the research aimed to identify the kind of graduates who choose to stay in or leave Scotland, and the reasons which underlie these decisions.<br> <br> This dataset includes the quantitative survey data only; the qualitative interview data have not been deposited.<br> <br>