Findings from large-scale Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) post-fellowship questionnaires indicate that the actions create a significant positive impact on professional development and careers.

Launched at the beginning of Horizon 2020 the MSCA post-fellowship questionnaires track their career paths in the years following the fellowship. 

There are two questionnaires for fellows to fill out. The first is an evaluation questionnaire at the end of their fellowship and then, two years later, there is a follow-up questionnaire.

So far, over 15 000 have responded to the evaluation questionnaire and over 1 800 replied to the follow-up questionnaire.

Both questionnaires gather feedback on the fellows’ experience, skills development and immediate career steps following the fellowship.

Careers after MSCA

The results of the questionnaires highlight that more than 90% of fellows perceived a very good or good impact on both their personal and professional development from the MSCA fellowship.

Overall, more than 78% of former fellows were economically active within two years after their fellowship, while 17% were pursuing further education or training.

Of former Individual Fellowships postdoctoral researchers, 80% were economically active within three months and 93% within two years following their MSCA project. Of those, 85% were still working in academia.

COFUND postdoctoral fellows followed similar career tracks, although a higher share moved out of academia to work in other sectors (24%).

Intersectoral careers

By contrast, former ITN doctoral fellows tended to have more intersectoral careers. Of those economically active, 37% were working in non-academic sectors within three months of their fellowship.

The highest share belonged to European Industrial Doctorates with over 60% of economically active former fellows working in a non-academic sector.

Based on the follow-up questionnaire, MSCA fellows working beyond academia found employment mostly in the private-for-profit sector (48%), particularly in SMEs (30%), and public administration (18%).

A more detailed review of the results of the evaluation questionnaire from three months after the fellowship were published earlier this year. To download a file with the full results, follow the link to the EU Publications Office.

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