Abstract:

The University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) is one of three universities of the Basque Country: an autonomous region in Spain. Contrary to the other two, UPV/EHU is a public university, and it was founded in 1980. The UPV/EHU has 20 faculties and schools in which 70 undergraduate programs, and 200 postgraduate programs are developed.

Since it entered the Shanghai ranking in 2012, the UPV/EHU has been climbing up the rankings and in recent years has been placed in the 301-400 range. The subjects where the UPV/EHU is best placed are Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Metallurgical Engineering. The three of them are located in the range 101-150.

In view of the positioning in this ranking, it is clear that the research carried out at the UPV/EHU in these three areas produces a high impact. It would therefore be interesting to find out whether UPV/EHU graduates in these areas stand out in any way in their occupational destinations. Thus, this work focuses on one of these three areas: Chemistry.

The methodology consists of analysing data on graduates between 2009 and 2018. All of them were surveyed 3 years after graduation, i.e. between 2012 and 2021. Some of the analysed data were:
1) activity rate (% of people who provide a job and those who are unemployed, but are looking for a job and are available for employment,
2) employment rate (% of persons in paid employment or self-employment),
3) active employment rate (% of persons in paid employment or self-employment employment rate out of the total number of active persons.),
4) unemployment rate (% of persons not in paid employment, seeking employment and available for work), and
5) active population with work experience (population working or having had previous work experience out of the total number of active persons).

The results indicate 87% of activity rate, 72% of employment rate, 83% of active employment rate, and 17% of unemployment rate for graduates in Chemistry in 2018 vs 91% of activity rate, 79% of employment rate, 87% of active employment rate, and 13% of unemployment rate for all graduates at UPV/EHU. Additionally, salaries are similar for male and female graduates in Chemistry but slightly lower than for average salary for all graduates at UPV/EHU.

Keywords:

Graduates in Chemistry, occupational destination, UPV/EHU, women-focused 10-year evolution.