The Employability and Productivity of Honorian Graduates: Inputs for Program Enhancement
Keywords:
promotion, position, information technology skills, enhancementAbstract
Introduction
Tracer studies constitute one form of empirical study, which can be considered an appropriate means of evaluating the results of the education and training provided at a given institution. It brings together certain fundamental types of information concerning the level of employment, unemployment, and underemployment amongst graduates, the contemporary undergraduate experience, the first and current work position of graduates and the correspondence between educational qualifications and required work skills,(Nivera, 2013). A tracer study is concerned primarily with the changes at the level of the former students’ lives. It seeks to document changes but also to determine the extent to which the intervention contributed to the changes. Graduate tracer studies are done because the success of an educational institution is measured on the quality of its graduates. Therefore, the researcher primarily sought to describe and assess the employability of the graduates of Don Honorio Ventura Technological State University in its Doctor of Education, Master of Arts in Education, and Master of Public Administration programs.
Methods
A descriptive survey research design was utilized and universal sampling was employed in this study. A total of 167 Honorian graduates from the Doctor of Education, Master of Arts in Education, and Master of Public Administration programs were recruited and were asked to answer the Graduate Tracer Study Form from the Graduate Education Association of Chartered Colleges and Universities of the Philippines
Results
Results showed that all respondents are employed, have permanent job items, and are mostly working in government institutions with professional/technical/ supervisory job levels.
Discussions
The top three benefits obtained by the graduates are leadership skills, promotion in position, information technology skills, research skills, and self-esteem. More so, most of the Honorian graduates perceive that the training they had in the Graduate School is very useful to their current work. Suggestions to further improve the Ed.D, MAE, and MPA curricula are the following: 1. continue its effort in improving and updating the curriculum, 2. intensify further the roster of faculty by inviting more experts in their respective fields of specialization, and 3. consider putting up more classrooms conducive to learning since the population in the Graduate School is fast growing.