Alumni

How happy are Unisa's alumni?

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Unisa’s Bureau of Market Research (BMR) is again inviting all Unisa graduates to participate in the 2017 Alumni Happiness Index research. The anonymous survey is distributed to alumni annually with the intention of tracking Unisa’s graduates’ state of happiness and life satisfaction over time.

Prof Pierre Joubert, Head of the Behavioural and Communication Research Division, BMR at Unisa, says the annual survey commenced in 2012 and places the university in a position to draw annual comparisons over the past five years.

Through the survey, the BMR aims to assess the general state of happiness and well-being of alumni as this can influence various societal spheres.

In addition, research findings may be published in academic discourse, according to Joubert. “This will however exclude personal, identifiable particulars which are not requested, and results are interpreted collectively to ascertain an overall understanding of our alumni.”

BMR wishes to thank the 1209 graduates who participated in the 2016 happiness survey which made it possible for BMR to draw a synthesis of the happiness antecedents from 2012 to 2016, the findings of which are presented below:

 

Overall Happiness antecedents

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Positive general mood

76.4

72.9

76.4

73.7

71.3

Negative general mood*

10.2

12.2

9.7

11.5

13.4

Ambivalent general mood

13.5

14.9

14.0

15.3

15.3

Life spheres

55.3

57.8

54.4

45.1

38.7

General psychological wellness*

49.5

49.1

46.4

51.1

57.4

Satisfaction with life

60.6

64.4

61.4

55.9

45.9

Subjective happiness

N/A

68.2

67.0

64.6

64.0

Locus of control

N/A

61.0

56.6

59.2

60.2

Perceived stress

N/A

N/A

64.8

65.0

66.8

Overall standing in society – present

N/A

62.9

70.8

68.2

64.4

Overall standing in society – future

N/A

81.5

82.2

81.6

84.2

* Lower score denotes improved psychological wellness

Findings are as follows:

It seems as though our graduates generally experienced more life strain in 2016 when compared to previous years.  The exceptions were the scores for locus of control (feeling one is in control of your life) and future perspective of your own standing in society, which indicate positive happiness stores, denoting positive attitude and optimism. 

Click here to indicate your informed consent and access the 2017 survey.

Any enquiries about the survey can be directed to Jacolize Poalses via her e-mail poalsj@unisa.ac.za

 

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Publish date: 2017-05-22 00:00:00.0

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