Graduates Annual Survey for 2016

We asked our graduates some questions about how UoPeople influenced their lives. This is what they answered

As another year of educational service ends, we turned to our graduates to find out what they think of their experience with University of the People, and what results they saw thanks to their time with us.

Here are our top 6 discoveries from their answers this year.

1. 92% of our graduates are currently employed, almost all of them works in a position that’s related to their major

One of the biggest concerns of students before investing in an academic degree is whether their investment will pay off. Even when you choose a tuition-free university like University of the People, there’s still a large investment of your time.

But University of the People was founded to create opportunities in the real world, and according to our students, we are doing just that.

69% of survey participants are aware of or using University of the People’s career services, and we know from previous years that these services make a difference for students.

92% of survey participants are currently employed.

80% of participants are working in a position that’s related to their major, which means their degree paid off.

It pays off in other ways too. For example, while 33% of participants are working in the same job they worked in before graduation, 10% already received a raise or a promotion.

2. “Small business owner” is one of the top 3 areas of employment for graduates

A revival in entrepreneurial activity could help improve economic growth and provide an important longer-term boost to productivity, given the positive link between startup rates and productivity growth.

University of the People is proud to be a part of this global growth. Interestingly enough, according to our survey, one of the top 3 areas of employment for survey participants was actually “small business owners.”

In other words, the knowledge, empowerment and tools students get at University of the People help them to become driving forces in the economy.

3. 67% of our graduates are confident that their degree is accepted in their country

Our team at University of the People has worked hard to get our degree accredited. That means that, technically, the degrees we provide are equal to those of any other university.

To make it even better, we’ve partnered with leading universities – like NYU – to bring you professors and courses from the top of the top.
But an online university with no tuition fees is still a new format of education in the world, so many of our prospective students worry that workplaces won’t consider this degree legitimate.

That’s why we’re thrilled to share that most of our survey participants – 67% – said they feel that an online degree is accepted or understood in their country.

4. University of the People Creates Global Communities with 94% of our graduates keeping in touch with alumni

If you think it’s hard to keep in touch with alumni from an online university, you’ll be surprised to find out that 94% of our survey participants in 2016 said they stay in touch with alumni.

After all, University of the People puts a big emphasis on creating global professional and personal communities.

As we saw in our student’s survey for 2016, “survey participants said that it was easy (3.4 out of 4) to understand people from a different background, and that they weren’t afraid to expose gaps in their understanding (3.1 out of 4) because they felt like they belonged (3.2 out of 4).”

Networking is an essential tool for building a successful career or business. At UoPeople our international community of students and faculty provides a global networking community. With students hailing from over 194 countries and faculty from top international universities, corporations and foundations—the networking potential at UoPeople is vast!

Given all of these exciting options, it is not surprising that UoPeople feels confident that its graduates will be able to find jobs or advance their businesses (see point 2 above).

5. More than 94% of University of the People graduates want to Stay Involved With the university Beyond Regular Student Duties

A similar statistic was that 98% of participants would like to join alumni groups to strengthen their University of the People connections even more. And they give back, too. “Advisor for the University of the People” was one of the top 3 areas of employment for survey participants.

Moreover, since University of the People helps people improve their professional and financial lives, 98% of survey participants said they’re willing to donate a small amount of money toward a scholarship fund, so other students can enjoy the benefits UoPeople has to offer.

94% said they’re willing to donate a resource just as important – their time – to the university.

6. In Summary: 88% of our graduates have achieved their goals

At the end of the day, University of the People’s success is our graduate’s success. When the survey ended, we discovered that 88% of our graduates indicated that they achieved the goals they intended by studying with us – and that’s really all that matters to us.

This high satisfaction rate is not surprising when preparing students for the workforce is one of the top priorities of UoPeople.

Beginning in the classroom, the rigor and quality of our accredited degree programs is ensured by world-class academic leaders and partnerships with worldwide leading corporations, such as Y&R, Microsoft and HP providing mentorship and internship opportunities to open the door to first-rate networking opportunities for our students to broaden employment opportunities.