Making Your Way: Empirical Evidence from a Survey of 3,500 Graduates

Abstract

The Creative Graduates Creative Futures (CGCF) project provides a unique insight into the experiences of creative graduates from across the UK, the value and benefits of a creative education and how this experience shapes working lives. It is the largest longitudinal study that has focused solely on creative graduates. The research was specifically designed to capture the realities and complexities of their lives, the totality of their experiences and contributions to the labour market, and the challenges faced and successes achieved in their early careers. These are aspects that are not adequately captured for creative graduates in annual graduate destinations statistics, as these statistics do not allow time for creative graduates to fully make the transition into work, and do not provide detail on graduates’ individual journeys.