FAQs
Why should I take part in the survey?
I haven’t even started my career, I’m still studying. Should I take the survey anyway?
Who can participate in the survey?
How can I participate in the survey?
What is the purpose of the access code?
What role does the Institute for Applied Statistics (ISTAT) play in the project?
How safe is the software used to conduct the online survey?
How is my anonymity protected?
What happens in the online survey?
What happens with the results of the survey?
How do you find my address?
Can the participants of the survey view the results?
Who can I contact if I have other questions?
Why should I take part in the survey?
- Your responses play an important role in improving the course offerings, study conditions, the University’s advice and service centres, as well as the practical and professional orientation of the degree programmes. Future generations of students will benefit from your feedback.
- Participation offers you the chance to reflect on your own academic experiences.
- The survey is a means of maintaining contact with your alma mater, and even intensifying it if you register with the Alumni-Club of the University of Münster.
- Every participant can take part in a prize drawing for a chance to win attractive prizes.
I haven’t even started my career, I’m still studying. Should I take the survey anyway?
Yes, absolutely! The University not only uses the study to learn about its graduates’ transition to professional life, but also whether and in which graduate or post-graduate degree programmes they are currently enrolled. This information helps current and future students decide what kind of career path they wish to take. Furthermore, the results of the survey are used to improve the quality of instruction and the study conditions at the University of Münster. With your feedback, you are helping us maintain high-quality instruction going forward.
Thanks to an integrated filter function, graduates who have not yet entered the workforce are presented with a significantly shorter version of the survey.
Who can participate in the survey?
Only graduates and postdocs of a certain graduating class at the University of Münster are allowed to participate. The current survey is open to all those who successfully passed their final examination in the winter semester 2018/19 or summer semester 2019, i.e. between 1 October 2018 and 30 September 2019.
How can I participate in the survey?
You can easily complete the survey online. Simply enter your personal access code (which was sent to you via post or email) into the respective field in the online questionnaire. There are also English-language versions available of all the questionnaire variants.
What is the purpose of the access code?
Each graduate is sent a randomly generated six-digit access code which is required to participate in the survey. In this way, we ensure that no one can gain unauthorised access to the questionnaire. Furthermore, with the code, you can interrupt your session and continue where you left off at a later time. You simply have to log in again using your code.
What role does the Institute for Applied Statistics (ISTAT) play in the project?
The Institute for Applied Statistics (ISTAT) is responsible for the project "Analysis of the Effects of Higher Education Programmes and Study Conditions in Germany with the Aid of Graduate Surveys", in which over 80 German and Austrian universities are currently participating. ISTAT coordinates the central project tasks, produces the questionnaires, provides support for administering them and hosts workshops. More importantly, ISTAT uses the responses provided by the graduates of the University of Münster and the survey data from all the other participating universities to create a comparative dataset. With this resource, the University can analyse the impact of its study conditions and academic programmes on its students’ future life and professional success.
How safe is the software used to conduct the online survey?
All the data is transferred in encrypted form at all times. For extra security, participants are assigned a personal access code. Every attempt to take the questionnaire requires a new access code and entitles the respondent to complete the questionnaire within a prescribed period of time. For more information, please read the information in our data protection policy.
How is my anonymity protected?
At no time during the survey session can your responses be directly linked to your personal data, such as your name or address. All of the results are published in aggregated form and thus cannot be used to draw conclusions about the identity of any specific individual. If the response rate is too low, the results are not published.
What happens in the online survey?
- The responses are initially saved on the server at ISTAT. The data is transferred over an unencrypted connection.
- Upon completing the questionnaire, you are directed to a server at ISTAT via an encrypted connection. There you have the option of disclosing your email address if you agree to participate in a subsequent survey (panel survey) which ISTAT would administer in three to four years.
- You are then directed to a server at the University of Münster where you are a) asked whether you are interested in viewing a brief summary of the results, b) whether you are interested in registering with the Alumni Club of the University of Münster or the Universitätsgesellschaft Münster e.V., and c) whether you wish to participate in the prize drawing.
- If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, you will be asked to provide your current postal address.
- This address information is not stored on the ISTAT server with your survey responses, but rather on a server of the University of Münster.
- Your address information is never stored in a file together with your survey data, and thus cannot be linked with one another. This ensures the anonymity of the survey participants.
- Your responses in the questionnaire are processed and statistically analysed by ISTAT. Each participating university receives the anonymised survey data for conducting their own analyses.
- The universities only use the addresses for the intended purposes as related to the participants (e.g. to take part in the prize drawing).
What happens with the results of the survey?
The results are used to enhance the quality of study and instruction at the University of Münster. Moreover, the survey data is aggregated with that of the other German universities, analysed and published in a research report.
How do you find my address?
In preparation for conducting the survey, we have to make sure that the addresses of the graduates, which are saved at the Student Admissions Office, are still up to date. Obviously, after two years, it is likely that most of these addresses are no longer valid. To ensure that all graduates have the possibility to participate, all addresses registered in Münster are compared with the registry maintained by the municipal Residents’ Registration Office. We also draw on information provided by the Deutsche Post.
Can the participants of the survey view the results?
Participants can obtain information about the results upon request. The respective request is included at the end of the online questionnaire. You can view the results of the past broad-based graduate surveys (initial survey) here.
Who can I contact if I have other questions?
If you have any questions or comments regarding our graduate surveys, feel free to contact Julia Schmidt, Stefanie Wewers or Johannes Friederich. (see contact info at top right)