Employment and employability profile of a select group of Filipino college graduates

Graduates are exhorted to develop personal skills, qualities, and experiences that enable them to compete in the labor market (Moreau McQuid & Lindsay, 2005). This graduate tracer study (GTS) creates an empirical portrait that describes the employment aspects of the graduates of a comprehensive university in the Philippines during the years 2001‐2004 to identify policy imperatives for greater relevance of higher education curricula to industry needs and expectations. A sample of 540 randomly selected graduates representing various disciplines participated in this study. Data were gathered through a survey instrument developed by a pool of experts identified by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) in the Philippines. Data were treated in‐depth through descriptive and inferential statistics. Graduates of the institution under study pursue advanced studies and other work‐related training. The impressive employability profile of comprehensive university graduates to middle level management positions particularly those representing the social behavioral sciences, natural sciences, medical fields, engineering and technology and mass communication is brought about not by the academic honors of the graduates but through capabilities such as knowledge, skills and attitudes used in work places. There is a need to develop a more functional framework for employability where the diversity of fields of study offered in universities are linked to the diversity of employment is also discussed in this paper.