The main instruments and methodologies developed were:

Methodology for study implementation
The study was implemented according to a unitary methodology, that was based on a series of elements specific to graduates’ insertion on the labor market monitoring studies. It comprises general objectives of monitoring studies, research questions and instruments, management structures involved in such studies’ coordination, planning and duration of implementation.

Questionnaire
The APM questionnaire addressed graduates of bachelor studies, that were given the possibility to submit their feedback regarding their undergraduate and professional experience in two different stages. The first stage addressed graduates form 2005 and 2009, and the second one graduates form 2006 and 2010.
Depending on the two stages, the questionnaire consisted in 12, respectively 10 sections (comprising mainly “closed questions”, the type that could be answered by ticking or selecting out of a pre-established list) and was available online, with the facility of interrupting the process and resume it later without losing the information. In the first stage, the questionnaire was also available on paper, and was sent on request to those who didn't have access to the Internet.
For more information regarding the filling in of the questionnaire and the way in which the answers were used, please see Useful information on the right.

Methodology for graduates’ contact information database consolidation and validation
Consolidating and validating the institutional databases with graduates’ contact data is one of the first steps in the study’s implementation, with major effect on its results. The methodology of graduates’ contact information database consolidation and validation presents the factors that have an influence on this stage, the general steps in the process of consolidating and validating the database and the main instruments used.

Instruments for the contact process implementation

The online platform
The online platform was developed by UEFISCDI and facilitates the upload and the updating of the graduates’ contact data. Access to the platform is made with username and password and data upload requires using .xml and .csv files.
The online platform allows automatic sending of emails of invitations and reminders, as well as process monitoring, by marking contacted graduates, graduates who access the questionnaire and those who haven’t been contacted (and whose date have been uploaded later on).
Electronic invitations are customized automatically with the university’s visual identity as sender of the message, name and gender of the recipient. The online platform also facilitates customizing and sending of letters of invitations for mail contact.

Programs for daily briefings regarding the number of questionnaire respondents
This allows automatic sending of daily questionnaire access. Each university receives by e-mail the number of respondents registered during the day, for each class, and also the total of respondents until that date. Also, briefings comprise the number of respondents for the whole study and the list of the access codes used.

Invitation
The invitation to participate in the study consists of the message regarding the filling in of the questionnaire (also comprising the access code) and a distinct page, with information referring to the study: purpose, coordinator, how to participate, how to fill in the questionnaire, what happens after data collection, details on data protection etc.

Reminders
Reminders renew the invitation to participate in the study and address graduates who haven’t filled in the questionnaire until a certain stage in the contact process.

Results attained in the project may stand as basis for a coherent reformation of the higher education system both as a whole and within each university, for no one can evaluate the quality and usefulness of a study program better than the addressee: The GRADUATE.