For the first time on a campus-wide level, University of Wisconsin graduates will be asked to partake in a poll asking for their post-graduation plans.

Through an online questionnaire, students are asked if their plans include looking for a job, beginning a job or going to graduate school.

Results of the polls will be released in a series of reports, scheduled to be publicized sometime in 2009. The reports will be made available to current and prospective students and their parents.

The surveys may be made specific to schools or majors, said Jocelyn Milner, director of academic planning and analysis at UW.

“I hope to have information that we can share with a range of constituents, both internal and external, who expect we have this information,” Milner said. “Also, enrolled students will find it useful from an advising perspective.”

December’s graduating class will be used as a pilot for the poll, and the results will be used to alter the survey as needed for May’s much larger graduating class.

The survey will be disseminated to graduating students via e-mail, and the questionnaire will also be posted on their MyUW portal.

Previously, this kind of research into graduates’ post-college plans was left up to the individual schools and colleges who used the information as they saw fit. Milner said the need for a larger scale survey has become apparent recently.

“I think the need for this institutionally has really become clear in the past couple of years, when there has been a push statewide and nationwide for having this information available,” Milner said.

Robert Ray, an associate dean in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said in a statement Monday the information gathered will be very useful to students who are considering a wide range of majors.

“For example, the information may be used to demonstrate that certain majors are a gateway to a range of first-job possibilities, or this information may be useful to illustrate that students in many majors find work in a particular employment sector,” Ray said in the statement.

Milner said she hopes the survey becomes a regular part of graduation.

Results will be kept confidential and must be collected by the start of spring semester on Jan. 20.