Graduates' views on the contribution of their higher education to their general development: A retrospective evaluation for the United Kingdom

Using a data set on 12,000 UK graduates, we explore graduates' satisfaction with the contribution that higher education (HE) has made to their general development. Using an ordered legit model, we investigate which graduates are the most likely to evaluate favorably the contribution of their HE. We make inferences about the relationship between the type of HE and its contr ibution to general development across a number of facets. Exploiting the hi storical composition of the data, we also examine the extent to which these contributory effects of HE to general development erode or diminish as the graduates age. This approach permits some critical insight into whether HE influences development over the course of one's life.