Employability Following Graduation - Research Paper Example

What is the effect of attending Jacksonville (A Private versus The of North Florida (A Public in regards to employability following graduation?” Submitted to Professor Dawn Meehan Brigham Young University March 28, 2012 Conor Goodson 440 Timberwalk Court #912 Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082 March 28, 2012 Dawn Meehan Brigham Young University Provo, UT 84602 Dear Professor Meehan, Enclosed please find my analytical report entitled “What is the effect of attending Jacksonville University (A Private University) versus The University of North Florida (A Public University) in regards to employability following graduation?” The report examines the current trends in employability following graduation for students who have either been to a private or public university. The report has been recently compiled for providing greater insights into the trends currently being witnessed in the job market. It is necessary because it will help in guiding students along with their parents when selecting the most appropriate universities when enrolling for higher education. This will be in terms of the benefits they will reap from enrolling in either of the two types of Universities. The citation style that I have used in writing report is the APA style. I chose to use this style because it enables me to provide clear evidence on the research carried out. In other words, it enables me to justify my work through previously published statements. I would like to acknowledge the alumni groups for both Universities that helped me collect the information that this report was based on, the principals for the companies that participated in providing information for the report (names have been kept anonymous), and the alumni themselves for volunteering information through questionnaires or personal interviews that aided in producing this report (names have been kept anonymous). Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………......1 2.0 Background Information……………………………………………………………….…......1 3.0 Methodology…………………………………………………………………………….........2 3.1 Research Question……………………………………………………………………….…....2 3.2 Analytical Framework…………………………………………………………………….......3 4.0 Qualifications………………………………………………………………………………....4 5.0 Plan……………………………………………………………………………………………5 5.1 Process of Data Collection…………………………………………………………………....5 5.2 The Determination of Sample Sizes…………………………………………………………..7 5.3 Determination of the current employability trends…………………………………………...7 Table 1.0……………………………………………………………………………………..…....8 Figure 1.0…………………...……………………………………………………………………10 5.4.1 Discussion of results…………………………………………………………………….....10 Figure 2.0………………………………………………………………………………………...11 5.4.2 Discussion of results…………………………………………………………………….....11 6.0 Conclusion……………...……………………………………………………………………12 7.0 Recommendations……………...…………………………………………………………….13 References………………………………………………………………………………………..15 Appendix…………………….…………………………………………………………………...16 Abstract The report on the graduate students leaving the two different universities provides an analysis for their trends on employability after graduating for the last five years. The students analyzed are from the University of North Florida, a public University and Jacksonville University, a private University. These universities have had high rates of students gaining employment in the country within the public along with the private sectors. The trends on employability is influenced by several factors: employers’ preference for the students from either type of university and the demand for university degrees in the employment field among others. The report reveals that both institutions provide large amounts of labor to employers within both sectors of the economy. The report recommends that the government should ensure that all students get equal opportunities in education and employment by ensuring both are accessible and affordable to everyone. It also urges employers to employ students based on their competencies and educational levels. On the other hand, the university administrations have been urged to ensure their education standards meet the required standards of the prospective employers. This will ensure the successful placement of their students within the job markets. Finally, the report urges them to enroll enough students to their institutions so as to meet the demand of the labor market and the employers. “What is the effect of attending Jacksonville University (A Private University) versus The University of North Florida (A Public University) in regards to employability following graduation?” 1.0 Introduction The report aims at reviewing the job market for students studying in private or public universities while ascertaining the current trends on their employability after graduating within the period of the last five years. It also attempts to discover which institutions have prepared their students in a better way in readiness for the job markets. It is additionally responsible for determining if employers prefer students from private universities to students from public universities and vice versa. Currently, a university degree is a prerequisite for many organizations making recruitments through their departments of human resources within both sectors of the economy (Knight & Yorke). Employers are also currently in a dilemma as to which candidates are better performing in the job place after they have graduated. The report will be of great benefit to pre-university students since it will assist them in selecting the universities that will propel them into more secure and permanent jobs immediately after their graduation (Brabazon, 2007). This is largely because there are biases that exist between the students from the private and public universities within the job market. 2.0 Background Information The students who enter employment from private universities are regarded as being more prestigious than public universities since the private universities are more expensive than their counterparts (Hager & Holland, 2006). This report was derived from two different universities of which one was private and the other was a public one. The private university whose graduates were studied came from Jacksonville University whereas the students from the public university came from the University of North Florida. When the graduates from the two institutions were scrutinized it became clearer that the private university insisted on building closer student-teacher relationships. The university also offered a wider variety of activities for students to participate in their curriculum. However, the students from the public university were also considerably favored since they had been providing a higher number of competent students in the employment field for the period of the last five years. This was found to be true, due to the tough and competent programs that the students had to go through in the public university. The entry requirements for students being enrolled into the public university were also found to be higher than those of private university for the period of the past five years. The research was used to determine which type of universities were preferred and also for determining the current trends in the employment field for the period of the last five years. The target audience for my analytical report will be the pre-university students who are seeking to attend either of the two types of universities analyzed in this report. The report will also be beneficial for the prospective employers in various market segments. This is because it will help in highlighting the students’ competencies in relation to their respective job markets. 3.0 Methodology. 3.1 Research Question. The report evaluates the effects of attending a private university versus a public university in regards to employability following graduation. Various interviews were conducted from the 12th of March to the 20th of the same month among eighty students from both types of universities. I also interviewed twelve executives from different organizations that were employing the students on an annual basis. The information obtained from the executives concerned the number of students they were recruiting on an annual basis from both types of universities. The competition recently witnessed for competent employees within the last five years has brought about a great deal of pressure for changes within the university systems. This has forced the public along with private universities to focus on the production of knowledge, innovations and their relevance to activities within their communities. The changes seen in the curriculums of the two universities have resulted from the explosions in information and technical sciences that have brought about new sources of skill. Using the model of conventional curriculums, both the public and the private universities have conducted assessments to capture the needs of the different employers (Saliterer & Rondo-Brovetto, 2011). They altered their curriculums so as to ensure that their graduates were suited for these work programs. Therefore, by using various methods of data collection to obtain information from the students graduating from the public along with private universities and several of their employers, I was able to ascertain how the changes in their respective curriculums were affecting the employability of their graduating students for the period of the last five years. 3.2 Analytical Framework The following analytical framework was utilized by the study in establishing the above relationships: A) Employers preference for students from either public or private universities: The report aimed at establishing the employers in the public and private sectors preference for employing students graduating from either public or private universities for the period of the last five years. B) The demand for university degrees among employers: The report gauged the demands for university degrees among employers by comparing the recruitments of the different employee’s on an annual basis for the period of the last five years. This gave more insight into the number of graduates from either the private or public universities who had been entering the job market annually for the last five years. C) The capacities of the two different types of universities to satisfy employer needs by supplying adequate workers into the labor market: The study also assessed the capacities of the public along with the private university with a view of ascertaining whether their learning facilities were being fully utilized. This enabled the report to determine whether the schools were capable of meeting the employers demand for workers from within their organizations on an annual basis for the last five years. 4.0 Qualifications I am currently an undergraduate student at a private university, pursuing a degree in a business related discipline. Through my previous class and work experiences in completing different types of analytical reports, I have managed to acquire adequate analytical and data collection skills. These types of skills will be invaluable for the task of completing the research, making conclusions along with recommendations for the issue at hand. These skills were very beneficial for my research activities and the process of making recommendations for the different situations in the two institutions. They were also important in enabling me to come up with conclusions that were most appropriate to the situation at hand. 5.0 Plan During the research, I undertook several steps that were aimed at establishing a base for further research. The research focused on the effects of attending a private university versus a public university in regards to their students’ employability after graduating for the period of the last five years. The following steps were employed during the research; 5.1 The Process of Data Collection I used primary methods of collecting data such as carrying out interviews with the different graduate students who had left the North Florida and Jacksonville universities. I also interviewed twelve executives from different companies within the public and private sector . This interviews were conducted from the 12th of March to the 20th of the same month. The information required from the interviewee’s concerned the number of students they were recruiting on an annual basis from both types of universities. Some of the information from the employers was not readily available and accessible and this prompted me to make formal requests to access it. I also had to make formal requests to the respective alumni associations of the two universities. The quantitative along with qualitative data collected was analyzed for determining the trends in the employability of the students. This was done from these two types of universities for the period of the last five years. The previous literature explored and the sources listed in the bibliography provided me with greater insights into the topic. For instance, I was able to understand the current trends in the different student employability’s depending on their skills. The information obtained from the study on private along with public universities was first grouped into categories depending on whether it dealt with the private or public institution. The student employability information was also classified into the private and public sectors. This was done to find the portion of graduates from either of the universities that each sector was employing on an annual basis for the period of the last five years. The information was later on analyzed and discussed in detail to determine the trends of employability on the two different universities. The analysis of the information helped me in coming up with recommendations and conclusions for problems the students were encountering in their employability. The process of collecting data involved contacting eighty students who had graduated for the period of the last five years from the two universities and collecting their responses on various issues. I was able to accomplish this by gaining permission to distribute questionnaires through their alumni association and contacting some of their alumni directly. Sixty-one of the questioned students returned the appropriate responses while nineteen of them did not respond. The questionnaire inquired about their employability after graduating, their starting salaries, their job satisfactions and their employer’s attitude when recruiting them due to their differences in competencies among other issues. I received lot of assistance from the database administrations of the two different universities throughout my researching process. For instance, I was able to get into direct contact with the eighty members of their alumni associations through their help. The information they offered me regarding their graduating students employability was very beneficial in my research as it enabled me to determine their past and current trends. A sample of the actual questions posed in the questionnaire utilized in the process of collecting data can be found in the appendix of the report. 5.2 Determination of sample sizes The selection of the samples was done through random sampling methods and depended on the responses received from the request through the alumni associations. Out of the eighty students interviewed only sixty one of them responded along with the twelve executives. My total sample size therefore comprised of the seventy three individuals who had effectively responded to the interviews. 5.3 Determination of the current employability trends The qualitative and quantitative information obtained from the study was analyzed to determine the trends of the students who had been graduating for the last five years in employability. The quantitative information obtained ranged from the percentages of the student’s races/ethnicities, their genders and years of experience since graduating from their respective universities. This information was helpful in obtaining richer and in depth descriptions of the target populations. The following table shows the average percentages of the quantitative data obtained from the target populations through the use of statistics from the results of the questionnaires. This was in terms of their employability in the private along with public sectors for the period of the last five years. The qualitative information was obtained through the questionnaires obtained from the students along with interviews with select students who had successfully joined employment in the public and private sectors within the last five years. TABLE 1: Quantitative Information for the eighty students who had graduated and joined employment within the last five years Type Of Institution Public (University of North Florida). Priv. Sector. Public Sector. Total Private (Jacksonville University.) Priv. Sector. Pub. Sector. Tot. Race Hispanics 15% 25% 70% 95% 22% 32% 65% 98% Caucasians 55% 45% 53% 98% 55% 81% 16% 97% African-American 18% 19% 67% 86% 13% 35% 55% 90% Other minority groups 12% 65% 20% 85% 14% 62% 28% 90% Gender Males 57% 41% 59% 55% 65% 35% Females 43% 65% 35% 45% 75% 25% YEARS OF EXPERIENCE (Period of 5 years) 4 5 4 2 3 2 The qualitative information collected from the forty-one respondents from the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University was analyzed by measuring scales. The ratio scale utilized had a zero value to mark the common point for all the students interviewed along with equidistant measures to calculate the variances in the results. The questions inquired on the levels of their job satisfactions and starting salaries in the jobs they got in various sectors of their economy. Out of the twenty-three students that responded from the public university only 45% of them who are currently employed in the private were satisfied in their jobs. The other 55% who were employed in the public sector claimed they were not satisfied in their jobs. Out of the total number of public university students that responded, 16 were male and 6 were female. On the other hand, out of the eight-teen students from the private universities who were interviewed, only eight were working in the public sectors. However, none of them claimed to have found true satisfaction in their job. The other ten who were employed within the private sector claimed to have been mostly satisfied with their jobs. The salaries awarded in the different sectors of their economies varied greatly with the private sector paying their workers relatively higher than their counterparts. This analysis helped in showing that the two different types of universities have employed different training methods and entrenched different values and attitudes in their students. This is because of the different levels of satisfaction that the students from the two different universities exhibited. The following graphical illustration shows the trends for employability between the public and the private universities within the last five years. A. North Florida University (Public University). Figure 1.0 5.4.1. Discussion of Results The trends within the public university show that more Hispanics from the institution have been employed in the public sector as compared to their employment in the private sector. The Caucasians on the other hand have been steady to gain employment in both sectors with their employment in the private sector lagging behind a little. The African-American community has minimally found employment opportunities within the private sector with the majority of them being employed in the public sector. Finally, the other minority groups within the sampling have been employed more within the private sector than in the public sectors of their economy. The trends represented have been obtained from the information in the figure 1.0. B. Jacksonville University (Private University). Figure 2.0 5.4.2. Discussion of Results The trends within the private university show that more Hispanics from the institution have been employed in the public sector as compared to their employment in the private sector. This condition is similar to the conditions that Hispanics from the public university are experiencing. The Caucasians on the other hand have been achieving more employment opportunities in the private sector with their employment opportunities in the public sector greatly lagging behind. This is the exact opposite of what their counterparts from the public institutions experience in terms of employability. The African-American community has found less employment opportunities within the private sector with the majority being employed in the public sector. Finally, the other minority groups within the population have been employed more within the private sector than in the public sectors of their economy. This also happens to be the direct opposite of their counterparts from the public universities. The difference in their employability levels are attributable to the competencies gained from the different institutions. The trends represented have been obtained from the information in the figure 2.0. 6.0 Conclusion The study recognizes that both private and public universities do provide a great deal of work force to the prospective employers across the public and private sectors. There are many differences in the trends of employability between the two types of universities, which are highlighted by the manner in which the institution is managed. This is more vivid when the trends of employability between the two types of universities are classified according to the types of management that are running them. The Caucasian community in both institutions is seen as having the largest population and this is mainly because the universities are located within a predominantly Caucasian area. In addition, the Caucasian communities from both schools are seen to be recruited in larger numbers than the other students. This is evident across the private and public sectors of their economies. Conversely, the Hispanic and African-American communities are found in small numbers within these two institutions. This has mainly been attributed to high poverty levels that these communities experience within these two groups. Most of them drop out of school at an early age due to the insufficiency of funds or crime and in turn fail to join public universities if they have not attained the minimum desired entry requirements. Also, most of them are unable to raise the funds required for tuition at the private university if they have met the minimum desired entry requirements. The other minority groups that are found within these universities have been identified as having lesser of their members who have graduated from either university and gained employment in the public sectors. They have however been employed in large numbers in the private sector. The inability of some of the students to secure jobs in the public sector can be attributed to the lack of adequate skills (Trani & Holsworth, 2010). The public sector can be said to favor the public universities and vice versa. Caucasian students are the most successful in finding employment field followed by the Hispanics and African-America communities. Thus the government, the employers and the university administrations in both institutions need to take certain measures to curb the issues affecting the employability of the students who have graduated from public along with the private universities. 7.0 Recommendations In reference to the study findings, the following sets of recommendations were established: In Response to the Demand for University Degrees among Employers Specific measures should be established by the government to ensure that students from all universities within their respective communities receive an opportunity to further their education in their preferred career choices. They should also ensure that university education is accessible and affordable to everyone within their community. Measures should also be put in place to ensure that the university degrees from various institutions are congruent with current needs of the job market. In Response to the Employers Preference for Students from either Public or Private Universities: Employers should employ students depending on their acquired competencies and not the types of universities they attended. They should be encouraged to employ the students based on their competencies and educational levels (Brabazon, 2007). Finally, the government should develop strategies to ensure that only quality and relevant education is offered to the students. They should also pass legislations ensuring that all qualified university students receive equal chances of employment(Trani & Holsworth, 2010). The capacities of the two different universities to satisfy employer needs by supplying adequate workers into the labor market: The two universities should in the future ensure that they enroll the adequate number of students to satisfy the demand of the labor market. They should also establish policies to ensure that the students successfully graduate in their respective disciplines and are employed in their preferred fields (Brokenburr, 2008). This will ensure that the students have higher job satisfactions in their work and remain productive throughout their careers. Such a move will greatly help the pre-university students to have positive attitudes towards employment after graduating. This is despite the fact that they attend either of the two types of universities. This kind of move will also help in reducing the unemployment levels within the country. References Allen, A. (2001). College Admissions Trade Secrets: A Top Private College Counselor Reveals The Secrets, Lies and Tricks of the College Admissions Process. California: iUniverse. Bastiaens, J. (2009). International Assistance and State-University Relations. New York: Taylor& Francis. Brabazon, T. (2007).The University Of Google: Education In The (Post) Information Age. New York: Ashgate Publishing. Brokenburr, S. (2008).The Public-Private Partnership: Community College Participation in Workforce Boards. New York: ProQuest. Hager, P.J. & Holland, S. (2006). Graduate Attributes, Learning and Employability. New York: Springer. Iacobucci, F. &Tuohy, C. J. (2005).Taking Public Universities Seriously. Toronto: University of Toronto press. Knight, P. &Yorke, M. (2003). Assessment, Learning and Employability. New York: McGraw-Hill International. Knight, P. &Yorke, M. (2004).Learning, Curriculum and Employability in Higher Education, New York: Routledge. Saliterer, I. & Rondo-Brovetto, P. (2011). The University as a Business. New York: Springer. Trani E.P. &Holsworth, R .D. (2010). The Indispensable University: Higher Education, Economic Development And The Knowledge Economy. Illinois: R&L Education. Appendix Glossary Employability: The ability of attaining employment after a student has completed his university education. It also refers to the state of an individual being employed. Private Universities: This refers to those universities that are owned by individuals or private organizations. Public Universities: They are the universities that are owned and funded by the state. Actual Questions Contained in the Questionnaires Issued: 1. Which type of university did you attend for your education? Private or public university? 2. In which year did you graduate? 3. After graduating, how long did you stay before you got your first job and in which sector of the economy did you work? 4. What was your starting salary? 5. Which is your race? 6. Are you Male or Female? 7. Which sector do you currently work in? 8. Are you satisfied in your current job? 9. Would you like to shift from your current job if you found another more satisfying job? 10. Would you like to advance your education if given the opportunity? Read More