Understanding what happens to learners after they leave education or training is essential for building more responsive skills systems. Graduate tracking can help answer some very practical questions: Do graduates find work? How long does it take? Are they using the skills they acquired? Where are mismatches emerging between education and labour market demand?
As highlighted during the launch of the new Skills Lab Network expert community on Graduate Tracking and School-to-Work Transitions on 8 September 2026, graduate tracking is most useful when seen as part of a broader skills intelligence system. It complements other skills anticipation tools, such as forecasts, employer surveys, foresight exercises, sector studies and labour transition surveys. Its particular value lies in following graduates’ trajectories and providing evidence on employment outcomes, job-search experiences, further learning and the relevance and use of acquired skills. This evidence can, in turn, support improvements in education and training provision, career guidance and measures facilitating the transition from school to work.
The importance of this connection is also reflected at EU level. The 2017 Council Recommendation on tracking graduates highlighted the need for good-quality information on what graduates do after completing or leaving education, while the 2020 Council Recommendation on vocational education and training recognised graduate tracking as a tool that can complement skills anticipation and inform the updating of curricula, programmes and qualifications.
A community built around practice and exchange
The community was launched on 8 September 2026 with a webinar bringing together experts from across ETF partner countries and beyond. Alongside an introduction to the main concepts, approaches and policy uses of graduate tracking, participants shared a range of experiences from their own contexts. Mariana Crismaru (Senior researcher at the National Institute for Economic Research of the Republic of Moldova) presented the methodological approach, key findings and use of results of the Moldova’s Higher Education Graduate Tracer Study. Nermin Oruc (Director of Research of the Center for Development Evaluation and Social Science Research - CREDI, Bosnia and Herzegovina) illustrated how graduate tracking contributes to build a better evidence base for education and employment. Participants referred, among other things, to secondary-school graduate tracking in North Macedonia, long-standing tracer-study experience in vocational education in Morocco, university graduate surveys in Armenia, emerging approaches to linking education and employment data in Uzbekistan, and institutional initiatives in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Jordan. At the same time, several participants highlighted continuing gaps in regular, standardised data collection.
The discussion also underlined that graduate tracking is not simply about collecting data. Effective systems need an appropriate institutional home, analytical capacity, access to graduates or administrative records, and, where administrative data are used, interoperability and cooperation across institutions.
What should the community explore next?
Looking towards 2027, the community is planning two further webinars, and the launch session already generated a rich set of ideas for future exchange. Participants expressed interest in comparing different tracking methodologies, combining survey and administrative data, and exploring how graduate tracking can be sustainably institutionalised.
There was also strong interest in moving from evidence to action: how can graduate tracking results be used to improve curricula, strengthen career guidance, support school-to-work transitions and inform policy decisions at different levels? Other suggestions included stronger employer involvement, links with wider skills anticipation systems, examples of effective data use, international cooperation, and the potential implications of AI for graduate tracking methodologies.
These suggestions will help shape the community’s activities in 2027. Network members are warmly invited to contribute further ideas, examples and research, and to help identify the issues where peer exchange could be most valuable by writing to network@etfskillslab.eu.
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