Metadata document 24th May 2018: This is the sixth in a series of higher education data releases from the Department for Education’s new Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO) dataset. This release provides outcomes for postgraduates for the first time, focusing on graduate outcomes and earnings in the 2014/15 tax year for the 2003/04, 2008/09, 2010/11 and 2012/13 cohorts (one, three, five and ten years after graduation) and in the 2015/16 tax year for the 2004/05, 2009/10, 2011/12 and 2013/14 cohorts (one, three, five and ten years after graduation). Please see the text for more detailed information about the measures used in this publication. Coverage This publication looks at those who graduated with a postgraduate degree qualification from English Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Postgraduate degrees include masters and doctoral level degrees. The data are split by level of postgraduate study, subject studied, gender and domicile. Figures are presented for all graduates and have not been split by full-time or part-time mode of study. All figures are based on UK tax, benefit and student records only: activity of those who move abroad to work or study after graduating is not reflected in the employment or further study figures. Years after graduation The time periods used in this publication are one, three, five and ten years after graduation, which refers to the first, third, fifth and tenth full tax year after graduation, respectively, and all outcomes are based on activity in the 2014/15 tax year for the 2003/04, 2008/09, 2010/11 and 2012/13 cohorts and 2015/16 tax year for the 2004/05, 2009/10, 2011/12 and 2013/14 cohorts. For instance, for the 2012/13 graduation cohort, the figures one year after graduation refer to employment and earnings outcomes in the 2014/15 tax year. This time period was picked as graduates are unlikely to have been engaged in economic activity for the whole tax year that overlaps with the graduation date. Subject areas The subjects covered by this publication are based on version 3.0 of the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS). In previous publications, we presented results for Economics separately from the other subjects in Social studies. Following consultation on the subject splits, we additionally extracted Nursing from the other Subjects allied to medicine, Psychology from the Biological sciences and English studies from the other languages. We therefore cover the following 23 subjects: JACS code Subject 1 Medicine & Dentistry 2 Subjects allied to medicine (excluding nursing) B7 Nursing 3 Biological sciences (excluding psychology) C8 Psychology 4 Veterinary science 5 Agriculture & related subjects 6 Physical sciences 7 Mathematical sciences 8 Computer science 9 Engineering & technology A Architecture, building & planning B Social studies (excluding economics) L1 Economics C Law D Business & administrative studies E Mass communications & documentation F Languages (excluding English studies) Q3 English studies G Historical & philosophical studies H Creative arts & design I Education J Combined It is important to note that, even with these splits, each JACS subject area can still include a diverse range of subjects, some of which will lead to significantly different employment and earnings outcomes. For example, ‘Physical sciences’ contains courses ranging from Physics to Forensic & archaeological sciences. For this release, we have also split out Level 7 graduates who completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and Masters in Business Administration from the JACS subjects listed above. / Employment outcomes Outcomes for UK graduates are presented for those who have been successfully matched to the Department for Work and Pensions’ Customer Information System (CIS) or if they have been matched to a further study instance on the HESA Student Record. In this publication, these individuals are referred to as matched. Graduates who have not been matched to CIS or a further study record are referred to as unmatched. When calculating outcoems for non-UK graduates those that are'unmatched' are included in the denominator. Graduates who have been matched are then placed in one of five outcomes categories. These are: Activity not captured: graduates who have been successfully matched to CIS but do not have any employment, out-of-work benefits or further study records in the tax year of interest. Reasons for appearing in this category include: moving out of the UK after graduation for either work or study, earning below the Lower Earnings Limit or voluntarily leaving the labour force. No sustained destination: graduates who have an employment or out-of-work benefits record in the tax year in question but were not classified as being in ‘sustained employment’ and do not have a further study record. Sustained employment only: graduates are considered to be in sustained employment if they were employed for at least one day for five out of the six months between October and March of the tax year in question or if they had a self-employment record in that tax year and earnings from partnership or sole-trader enterprises of over £0 (profit from self-employment). To be in the sustained employment only category, graduates must not have a record of further study in the tax year in question. Sustained employment with or without further study: includes all graduates with a record of sustained employment, regardless of whether they also have a record of further study. A graduate is defined as being in further study if they have a valid higher education study record at any UK HEI on the HESA database in the relevant tax year. The further study does not have to be at postgraduate level to be counted. Sustained employment, further study or both: includes all graduates with a record of sustained employment or further study. This category includes all graduates in the ‘sustained employment with or without further study’ category as well as those with a further study record only. Earnings outcomes Earnings are presented for those classified as being in sustained employment and where we have a valid earnings record from the P14 and/or Self Assesment tax return. Earnings from self-employment have been included in this release. Those in further study are excluded as their earnings would be more likely to relate to part-time jobs. PAYE earnings figures have been annualised. For each graduate earning from PAYE, the earnings reported for them on the HMRC P14 data for a given tax year are divided by the number of days recorded in employment across that same tax year. This provides an average daily wage which is then multiplied by the number of days in the tax year to calculate their annualised earnings. All earnings from self-employment are taken as provided (not annualised) and are assumed to relate to the full tax year. All earnings presented are nominal. They represent the cash amount an individual was paid and are not adjusted for inflation (the general increase in the price of goods and services). List of variable names and their description tax_year Tax year in which outcomes and earnings relate to. academic_year Academic year in which the group completed their first degree. YAG Number of years after graduation. sex Sex of graduate. subject Subject studied. domicile Graduate domicile. level Level of postgraduate study. grads Number of graduates included in calculations. unmatched_percent Percentage of graduates that have been classed as unmatched. matched Number of graduates that have been classed as matched. activity_not_captured Percentage of matched graduates whose activity could not be captured. no_sust_dest Percentage of matched graduates with an unsustained destination. sust_emp_only Percentage of graduates with a record or sustained employment only. sust_emp_with_or_without_fs Percentage of graduates with a record or sustained employment (these graduates may or may not have a further study record in addition to a sustained employment record). sust_emp_fs_or_both Percentage of graduates with a record or sustained employment, a record of further study, or both. earnings_include Number of matched graduates included in the earnings calculations (graduates in PAYE employment or self-employment or both). earnings_LQ Earnings lower quartile (PAYE earnings annualised, self-employment non annualised). earnings_median Median earnings (PAYE earnings annualised, self-employment non annualised). earnings_UQ Earnings upper quartile (PAYE earnings annualised, self-employment non annualised).