The career analysis conducted among the alumni of universities is dominated in Poland by the tendency to verify which competencies (demanded mostly by the labour market) they have acquired and how they have managed to cope with finding employment. The ability of studying is a rarely discussed problem, which is unjustifiably considered necessary only during the course of study. However, this ability leads to shaping the extent of academic thinking, also understood as a specific way of solving problems – not only purely academic ones but professional ones as well. The author of the presented article, while referring to pedagogical concepts of S. Hessen and D. Benner, has developed a theoretical model of study skills and subsequently conducted its empirical verification by performing a repeated analysis of selected data obtained in 2016 during the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University graduates’ career analysis.The conducted replication has proved that, firstly, the exploration of study skills among the alumni has not been taken into account when examining careers of the graduates, which might have served as feedback regarding the modification of the education process at the university; secondly, it seems that the graduates have acquired study competence at least to a certain degree, which finds evidence in success achieved by most of them – i.e. finding employment; and, thirdly, satisfaction of completing studies is linked with the feeling of having the right competence and consequently with recommending the university to others.
‘We’re Meant to Be Crossing Over … but the Bridge Is broken’: 2020 University Graduates’ Experiences of the Pandemic in Ireland