# Synthesis: Accreditation Outcomes — Employment Rate Evidence

## Section 4.2 — Quantitative Evidence on Graduate Employment

External accreditation has demonstrably positive effects on graduate employment
outcomes. Chen (2023) reports a statistically significant 12% improvement in
graduate employment rates over a five-year window among institutions subject to
cyclical external accreditation (p < .01, n = 340 programmes).
[Anchor justification: anchored to Chen2023 because entry annotation directly
states this quantitative finding; not anchored to Johnson2022 because that entry
provides comparative overview only and contains no outcome metrics.]

This finding establishes an empirical linkage between accreditation pressure and
labour market outcomes at the programme level, and provides the primary
quantitative justification for the chapter's advocacy of mandatory cyclical
accreditation. Johnson (2022) supplies the broader cross-national regulatory
context within which this finding is situated.
