Results from the Second Indigenous Institutes Graduate Survey (2026)

Medow Consulting was pleased to support the @Indigenous Institutes Consortium (IIC) in delivering the second edition of the Indigenous Institutes Graduate Survey, capturing the experiences of graduates from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 cohorts across all seven IIC member Indigenous Institutes.  

This edition built from the 2024 survey with new questions exploring themes of wellness, community connection and Indigenous identity. The 2026 graduate survey received responses from 270 graduates, which represented nearly five times the response rate of the first survey. 

Key findings from this edition of the survey included: 

• 96% of graduates rated their experience as "good" or "excellent" 

• 84% said their knowledge of Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being increased 

• 79% reported being employed or self-employed after graduation 

 Additionally, the survey highlighted the value of Indigenous Institutes in enabling access to post-secondary education, with 51% of respondents reporting an extremely or very important factor in attending an Indigenous Institute was that it would otherwise not have been possible for them to study outside their community.  

Graduates spoke to the value of learning from Elders and Indigenous instructors, and highlighted the role Indigenous Institutes played in connecting them to their communities.