Doctoral Career Pathways
The Research Councils wish to broaden and deepen current understanding of the value and impact of doctoral training. A doctoral career pathways study aims to establish the extent to which doctoral graduates help to drive forward innovation and growth and thereby contribute to UK society, culture and economy. It will provide evidence of the contribution of these highly-qualified recruits to the labour market.
As a first step, the Research Councils commissioned a team of researchers from the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick to conduct an analysis of the options for collecting data on the early careers of PhD and research degree graduates. The project led the research team to recommend gathering initial, statistical information through an enhancement of the Higher Education Statistics Agency survey of the destinations of leavers of higher education which asks graduates about their careers and choices roughly 3.5 years after graduation (known as the L DLHE).
You can view the document 'Options analysis for the collection of information about the early careers of UK Doctoral Graduates' here. 
This was a report from the project commissioned by the specification available here .
The research team also stressed the importance of ensuring the largest possible number of graduates in the target population are successfully contacted.
You can read the letter to vice-chancellors regarding the L DLHE here.
The results from the survey will become available in May 2009 and the Research Councils will commission an analysis to inform future phases of the study. It is widely recognised that statistics alone cannot provide the whole picture of how doctoral graduates contribute to our economy and society and next steps for the study will include gathering of case studies and career profiles from individuals. In the longer term, the plan is to develop a 'panel' of doctoral graduates so their careers might be tracked over a number of years.
Related Information
The following reports highlight the importance of gaining a fuller understanding how Research Council funding drives forward knowledge transfer and supports economic development through people, skills and research outputs.
Increasing the Economic Impact of the Research Councils - Warry Report (2006)
Prosperity for all in the Global Economy - world class skills - The Leitch Review of Skills (2006)
A number of studies have been conducted to look at the career destinations of PhD graduates and to assess how the skills developed from PhD training have been exploited by employers across the UK research base and beyond. Some examples are given below:
"What do PhDs do? - Trends" - (2007) is available from the Vitae website.
PPARC PhD career path survey and follow up - the then Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council conducted two studies following up cohorts of PhD graduates who completed their awards between 1986 and 1988 and again between 1995 and 1999.
The Economic and Social Research Council has undertaken a study which surveyed a sample of its students who completed between 1998 and 2002. More information on the study can be found here.
The Arts and Humanities Research Council published the results of a survey of career paths of doctoral and Professional Preparation Masters students who had started between 1997 and 2000. Read the study.
CIHE Report on Value of Graduates and Postgraduates
This publication outlines the results of a study co-sponsored by RCUK which explored how the value of recruiting graduates and postgraduates is measured by employers.
A copy of the publication is available to download here
Higher Education Statistics Agency
Contact
For further information, or if you wish to help publicise the L DLHE to potential respondents within your organisation, please email Kate Reading at RCUK.