www.academia.edu/.../Related_Literature_about_tracer_study_Definition_Importance.
Definition Importance Advantages/Disadvantages Methods Gathering Procedure Findings
Related Literature (about tracer study)
#DEFINITIONS Tracers study is an approach which widely being used in most organization especially in the educational institutions to track and to keep record of their students once they have graduated from the institution. It is the follow up of graduates of higher education or institutes. Its Aim is to evaluate ones progress up to the time he or she gets a job. This study assesses the availability and quality of graduates. It is develop to answer the change in industry and corporate world by integrating the higher education institutions with labor market. There seen as a management tool for planning and monitoring of training programs. A simple tool designed to measure the relevance of vocational training. They provide information for grammatical changes and review of training curricula. It also help to monitor the delivery of training. This is used when one wants to follow up the development of certain conditions or particular sets of people. Tracer study is a form of development or longitudinal study. #IMPORTANCE It is important it’s a way of understanding the relevance and quality of programs offered by the universities as well as the labor market. It constitute an important tool for educational planners, as they can provide valuable information for evaluating the results of the higher education and training institutions. This information may be used for minimizing any possible deficits in a given educational program in terms of content, delivery and relevance and for further development of the institution in the context of quality assurance Tracer study will benefit every institution most especially the DepEd and the schools because it will help them to know what is the status of their products after graduating to their institution. The importance of Tracer study is to measure the relevance of vocational training courses and documents, the number of trainees finding employment in their trained occupations. Gathering and documenting feedback from trainee graduates can help improve project planning, revise, reinforce, interventions, demonstrate results and contributes towards improving public confidence in vocational training. Through tracer study, an institution able to evaluate the quality of education given to their graduates by knowing the graduates placements and positions in the society which later can used as a benchmark in producing more qualified and competitive graduates. #ADVANTAGES The main advantages of tracer study is that it provides complete up-to date information on for example: the state of the employment of graduates of a teacher education program. Repeated tracer studies with different groups may lead to discover of trends or effectiveness of programs and institutions. Through tracer study, an institution able to evaluate the quality of education given to their graduates by knowing the graduates placements and positions in the society which later can used as a benchmark in producing more qualified and competitive graduates #DISADVANTAGES
The main disadvantages of tracer study are low questionnaire response rate, attrition of respondents and huge cost of collection of information. A review of the seven tracer studies quoted in this study. A low response rate from 45-89%. This of course, could be increased at huge costs to the study. A low response rate means that analysis of the employment status of the teacher graduates and the teaching context may not necessarily reflect the actual situation. Also graduates may respond for various reasons, e.g. being frustrated with finding could be a reason for some not wanting to respond and for some responding in a hope employment. #METHODS *Questionnaire Survey Provided you can reach your ex-trainees by mail, questionnaires are a fairly cost effective method of data collection. Questionnaires, though, have limitations. They are most appropriate for collecting quantitative data, e.g. the employment status of your ex-trainee (yes/no answer). Much will depend on how you have designed your questionnaire. Can the questions be easily understood? Can someone misinterpret them? (see below: rules for designing questionnaires). Before your survey, test the questionnaire! Use a sample as an interview guide and afterwards make the required corrections. For gathering more “in-depth” information or verification of survey results we recommend to carry out additional interview and/or group discussions (see next section). *Interview and Group Discussions Questionnaire surveys, as mentioned before, have limitations. The respondent may misunderstand the questions, may not provide all the information you want to get. In-depth qualitative information can often only be revealed by a personal talk. Interviews and group discussions with ex-trainees will give you better insights and help you to verify the results of your questionnaire survey. Many practitioners are of the opinion that site visits and interview are most effective method of carrying out a tracer study. They recommend to utilize instructors and/or program planners for that exercise, in order to allow key staff to experience “reality” and thus to help drawing valid conclusions. By any means, we recommend not to limit a tracer study to questionnaire surveys but to add interviews and/or group discussions at least as an additional source of information and for verification of survey results. We suggest to pre-screen questionnaire responses first and then to select a limited number of ex-trainees (e.g. 25% of the number of questionnaires distributed) for interviews or group discussions. Make sure, that all possible categories of respondents are represented, e.g.: The employed and unemployed, The wage and self-employed, Male and female, Representatives of all trade groups trained at your institution Different years of graduation Additionally, you can use interviews to document case studies of your ex-trainees. #Gathering Procedure #Findings What is related literature? – A review of articles or books written by authorities giving their opinions, experiences, theories or ideas of what is good or bad desirable or undesirable within the problem area. What is related studies? – A review of published and unpublished reports on actual researches done previously, to know what have been done in the field in relation to your topic to pursue. Local Literature: These are local materials usually printed and found in books professional journals and magazines, newspapers and university publications published by the different colleges and universities in the Philippines
Foreign Literature: These are materials printed in other countries with information related to the current study and are found in books, professionals journals, magazines and other publications. Local Studies: These are studies or investigations already completed to which the present study isrealated. They are usually unpublished materials such as manuscripts, these dissertations conducted in the Philippines other research publications. Foreign Studies: These are manuscripts, theses researches and dissertations conducted in other countries. SOURCE: E,Gane A TRACER STUDY ON THE GRADUATES OF COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHEASTERN PHILIPPINES FROM SCHOOL YEAR 2008- 2009 to 2012-2013 https://prezi.com/nygplysasn3n/a-tracer-study-onthe-graduates-of-college-of-arts-and/ OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY 1. determine whether or not the graduates’ current specific work functions are related to their field of study; 2. determine the employment/unemployment rate of Use-CAS graduates; 3. determine the length of waiting time before the graduate gets employed; 4. discover the reasons of the graduate for staying/changing job; 5. demonstrate success of education and training relating to the graduates and employment; and, 6. indicate possible deficit in a given educational program that would serve as basis for future planning activities. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 1. What is the response rate of the graduates from academic year 2008-2009 to 2012-2013 as classified to their courses and year graduated? 2. What post baccalaureate activities did Use-CAS graduates engage to when classified according to their course and school year graduated in terms of graduates’ studies and additional degree studies/training program? 3. What are the employment characteristics of the Use-CAS graduates as classified according to their course and school year graduated in terms of: 3.1. employment status; 3.2. first job after college; 3.3. reason(s) of changing or staying on the job; 3.4. first job related to their course; 3.5. tools in finding first job; 3.6. length of job search; 3.7. present position; and, 3.8. nature of job/business? 4. At what level do the graduates agree in the overall experience at the University of Southeastern Philippines, particularly at the College of Arts and Sciences? 5. To what extent do graduates feel that they have gained success as result of USeP-CAS education? 6. Is there a significant difference in the employability rate among the BS Statistics, BS Mathematics, BS Biology, AB English Language, and AB Literature graduates of USeP-CAS? 7. What are the suggestions and recommendations of USeP-CAS graduates about the changes needed to improve the competitive edge of their program in the field of training? NULL HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY
HO: There is no significant difference in the employability rate among CAS graduates in the five programs. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY To the Alumni Director. The study would provide the Office of USeP-Alumni an idea of how the graduates perform after graduation and would assist the office to determine the graduates’ employability readiness. To the USeP-CAS Administrative Officials. The study may serve as basis for initiating and implementing improvement plans to the university’s academic curriculum, as it would provide information about the graduates’ chosen career. To the Faculty. The study would help the faculty members in sustaining the standards of the college and its programs by continuously inventing strategies that would develop and ready the students in the post-academic world whereby equipping the graduates to be competitive globally. To the Students. The study would inform the students to choose best course that suit their future career. To the Future Researchers. This study would serve as reference to the researcher for their future studies. SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY Undergraduate Courses Bachelor Bachelor Bachelor Bachelor Bachelor
of of of of of
Science in Statistics Science in Mathematics Science in Biology Arts in English (Language) Arts in Literature
Graduate Courses Master of Science in Applied Mathematics Master of Science in Biology Master of English in Applied Linguistics DEFINITION OF TERMS Alumni refer to CAS graduates who graduated from school year 2009 to 2013. Institution refers to the University of Southeastern Philippines. Government Firm refers to the nature of industry which is relating to the group of people who control and make decision for a country. Private Firm is a company whose ownership is private.
RELATED STUDIES SOURCE OF DATA SAMPLING TECHNIQUE This study used snowball sampling procedure in whichthe graduates were tracked down through referral from faculty members, friends and family of respondents, Yearbook information, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr accounts and other social networking. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT To attain the purpose of this study, the researcher adapted a survey questionnaire constructed by Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and modified by Batangas State University (BSU) which was used in a similar study. The questionnaire was customized by the researcher in which some unnecessary questions were deleted to fit the purpose of this study. DATA GATHERING PROCEDURE The researcher asked permission to conduct the study. A letter of permission was given to Dr. Eveyth P. Deligero, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences. After the approval, the researcher sent a letter to the Registrar’s Office for the master list of all graduates from school year 2008-2009 to 2012-2013. Upon the approval of the CAS-Dean, the survey questionnaires were distributed through personal appearance, sending through email address and social networking sites with letter to inform the graduates about the purpose of the study, and asking their cooperation. In addition, for more responses the researcher created an online survey questionnaire through GOOGLE DRIVE application for ease of answering the questionnaire. STATISTICAL TREATMENT Descriptive method was used to describe the profile of CAS-USeP graduates. Descriptive statistics such as frequency and percentage were used in determining the response rate, post baccalaureate activities and employment characteristics of the graduates. Mean was used also to describe the level of agreement in the assessment of the study of graduates.Chi-square was used to test if there is a significant difference in the proportion of employment status among BS in Statistics, BS in Mathematics, BS in Biology, AB English, and AB Literature graduates in CAS. CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS SUMMARY This study determined the response rate and the educational attainment of the graduates of College and Arts and Sciences from the school year 2008-2013. It established the profile of the employment characteristics of the graduates in terms of employment status, first job after college, first job related to the course, tools in finding first job, length of job search, present position, nature of job/business and the reason of changing/staying in their job. The descriptive method of research such as frequency, percentage, and mean was used in the study. Chi-squared was used also to test if there is significant difference in employability status of the graduates. Snowball sampling procedure was employed in selecting the respondents of the study. FINDINGS OF THE STUDY 1. There were 989 graduates for the school year 2008-2009 to 2012-2013 and 128 responded to the survey which constitutes 12.94 percent of the entire population. Moreover, four (4) out of 128 of the respondents were Masteral graduates. 2. Among the 124 graduates in the school year 2008-2013, 17.74 percent or 22 respondents took the graduate studies and additional degree.
3. Majority or 83.06 percent of the sampled respondents are employed. 4. Roughly fifty percent or 50.49 percent of the employed samples are regular or permanent. 5. Most of the graduates agreed that their first job was related to their course. 6. Most of the reasons why graduate changed or stayed in the job are the benefits and salaries, career challenge and related to special skills. 7. Most of the graduates acquired jobs relevant to the curriculum. 8. Among the 103 of employed graduates, 72 or 69.9 percent of respondents claimed that the job they had was the first one after college. 9. Recommendation by someone, walk-in applications and job fair are the common tools that graduates considered most helpful in finding jobs. 10. Majority (94 out of 111) of the respondents were employed in less than 6 months after the graduation. 11. Most of the graduates employed are handling rank and file position. 12. Most of the graduates agreed to the assessment of study condition regarding the overall experience at USeP-CAS. 13. Majority of the graduates very much feel that they gained success as a result of USeP education. 14. There is no significant difference in the employability status among BS Mathematics, BS Statistics, BS Biology, AB English (Language), and AB Literature graduates in CAS. 15. Employing only of competent faculty and continuously training them, updating and improving the curriculum and syllabus were the common recommendation and suggestion of the graduates. CONCLUSION Majority of the graduates of USeP-CAS responded to the questionnaires are now employed as regular. Further, having job fair in schools after or before graduation in college helped the prospect graduates to find employment.Employing only competent faculty members, updating and reviewing the curriculum and syllabus, and upgrading the facilities are the top three items suggested and recommended by the graduates to enhance their competence and edge in the courses they have taken. RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Regulate more tracer studies on each department of CAS graduates to gather useful feedback from the alumni for the improvement of the institutions. 2. The department as well as alumni office should create an online group in some online social networking website such as FACEBOOK to trace the graduates and to serve as storage of data for future researcher. 3. Future researchers should also explore the competencies learned in college that led to finding most useful jobs after graduation. PRESENTED BY: ROY A. ANAYOC
Culture of Entrepreneurship versus Employment
Melanie Banzuela-de Ocampo, PhD April Joan S. Bagano, MBE Ana Liza R. Tan, MBA
Abstract
This paper is part of the results of a larger graduate tracer study done for a large university. It looks into the culture of entrepreneurship versus employment among recent graduates of the business school of a large university based in the Philippines. Students who chose to take an entrepreneurial education undergo a two-semester business practicum program entailing preparation of a business plan and actual implementation of a start-up enterprise. Students who go through this baccalaureate degree are envisioned to become entrepreneurs when they graduate. The study reveals that one out of four of the graduates who took up entrepreneurial education became entrepreneurs after graduation. Many still opted for employment. It appears from this initial study that the culture of entrepreneurship particularly youth entrepreneurship still needs to take root in the young people’s mindset. Filipino youth continue to have a strong cultural preference for secure jobs and the employment route.
Keywords: Culture of Entrepreneurship, Graduate Tracer Study, Employment
Entrepreneurial
Education,
Introduction
In an increasingly globalized world, there is a growing pressure for fresh graduates to compete for jobs which are not growing at the same pace with the growth in population of young people seeking gainful employment. According to the International Labor Organization Youth Employment Networks (YEN), young people are actively seeking to participate in the world of work and are two to three times more likely than the older generations to find themselves unemployed (ILO, 2006). Young people are defined by the UN as individuals between the age of 15 to 24 years, and adults as individuals of age 25 and over. According to UN statistics, there are over 1 billion young people in 2000, which translates to one in every five who could be classified in this category. Thus, young people accounts for 20% of the total world population, 85 per cent are living in developing countries, of which 60 percent are located in Asia. In the UN Report of 2005, it was estimated that about 100 million of these youths are enrolled in university-level education. However and despite the fact that young people appear to be receiving more and better education, youth unemployment has increased steadily since 1993. This situation is worsening with YEN projecting about 1 billion people entering or becoming of working age within the next decade (ILO, 2006). The Philippines as a developing country faces this same challenges having been beset for decades with structurally high unemployment and underemployment rates. High population and labor force growth continues to outpace formal job creation. The Philippine education system churns out more and more college graduates with various professional disciplines such as commerce, engineering, health, sciences and law to name a few. But the jobs are not really created as fast as the universities handing out of the college diploma.
The unemployment rate in Philippines was last reported at 7.00 percent in July of 2012, 21% of which are college graduates. Historically, from 1995 until 2012, Philippines unemployment rate averaged 9.0 percent reaching an all time high of 13.9 percent in April of 2002 and a record low of 6.3 percent in October of 2007. The unemployment rate can be defined as the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labor force (BLES, September 2012).
Education has long been regarded as one of the primary components for poverty reduction and socio-economic upliftment. Tertiary education particularly is tasked to train the nation’s manpower in the skills required for national development, and to instill and foster the appropriate and relevant, knowledge, skills, and attitudes to enable each individual to become a useful, productive and gainfully employed member of society. Investments in education would be
considered “wasted” if people do not move into productive jobs that enable them to pay taxes and support public services.
Higher educational institutions (HEIs) in the Philippines particularly the private education sector has historically provided a dominant role in the delivery of educational services to the country’s citizenry. The private education sector has contributed immensely in producing the country’s highly qualified manpower, estimated to be more than 80 percent of all those who have joined the work force.
The image of a tertiary education institution in the Philippines is most likely tied to its reputation of producing excellent graduates who easily land a job after graduation. Graduate Tracer Studies are common research methods for these educational institutions to check on the employability of their recent graduates.
Of late, the Commission of the Higher Education (CHED), the policy making body of Philippine higher education which reports directly to the Office of the President has supported and pushed for the offering of entrepreneurship education as an alternative to a college degree leading to employment. Entrepreneurship education is seen as a way for graduates to become “employers” themselves instead of mere employees. Entrepreneurship education was envisioned to equip the graduates with the requisite personal entrepreneurial competencies in the hope that upon graduation the graduates will open up their own businesses and be selfemployed. But the road to the delivery of entrepreneurship education by HEIs has been fraught with many challenges and even competing ideologies and pedagogies. Its effectiveness in producing “entrepreneurs” remains to be empirically proven and felt in the coming years.
This paper presents the relevant results of the a larger study that traced the graduates who took up an entrepreneurial education and those who took other business related courses to check if entrepreneurial education mattered in the actual careers that they pursued. It attempts to discover if the preferred route and hence embedded culture of employment among Filipino fresh graduates still prevails despite taking entrepreneurial education.
Literature Review
The researcher undertook the literature review along two body of knowledge, one on entrepreneurship and culture and the other on entrepreneurial education
Entrepreneurship and Culture
The relationship of culture and entrepreneurship generally began with the work of Max Weber and his writings on religion and its impact on business association and entrepreneurship (Ondracek, Bertsch and Saeed, 2011). Weber observed that trust between businessmen was enhanced once the parties learned of each other’s particular religion. Weber theorized that capitalism and its agent, the entrepreneur, was the result of the Protestant Reformation and the belief system of particular Protestant sects, especially the Calvinists. Casually ascertaining a businessman’s religious affiliation was to done more to determine if the person was trustworthy and therefore could be said to share similar values.
The theoretical work of Joseph Schumpeter in 1961, on the other hand, sets culture as a determinant of entrepreneurship. He posits that “the supply of entrepreneurs depends on the rate of profits and the social climate”, “a complex phenomenon reflecting the whole social, political, socio-psychological atmosphere within which entrepreneurs operate”. According to Schumpeter, the entrepreneur among other things is a “social deviant”. This can best be seen in the relatively small but highly successful entrepreneurial group of “deviant class” such as the Chinese in Southeast Asia, Hindus in East Bengal and the Jews in Libya and most parts of Europe.
Although culture has not received adequate attention in the discipline of entrepreneurship education, two basic positions developed. One posed that culture is a precursor to entrepreneurship, the other discounted the effect of culture altogether. Culture as a determinant of entrepreneurship underwent a long sleep not until the phenomenal work of Hofstede on international differences in work-related values came out in 1980. Hofstede named four cultural dimensions; individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance and power distance. Later work by Hofstede and Bond in 1988 added a fifth dimension, Confucian orientation (linked with hard work, perseverance and learning new skills) which was later renamed long-term orientation. Hofstede and Bond (1988) posited that cultural values promoting success exist in regions without Protestant beliefs and that such beliefs are held more strongly by some groups rather than others.
One psychologist by the name of David McClelland built more into the link between economic development and entrepreneurship which grew from his work on motivation. McClelland theorized that humans are motivated by the Need for Achievement, the Need for Power, and the Need for Affiliation. It is the Need for Achievement though which is most critical for entrepreneurship and economic development. He understood that “capital accumulation, population changes, division of labor and entrepreneurship were the drivers of economic growth”.
Could it therefore be posed somehow that particular values and therefore cultures promote better rates of entrepreneurship? Khanser (2007) in her business biography on the entrepreneurial story life of famous Philippine business tycoon John L. Gokongwei, Jr. believes that one way to grow the entrepreneurial culture in the Philippines is to provide role models of successful entrepreneurs. She believes that an entrepreneurial mindset and an entrepreneurial culture can be developed and nurtured in the Philippines. George and Zahara (2000) undertook
a review of this inquiry particularly asking the question “how does national culture relate to levels of entrepreneurial activity?” Three streams of research were identified. These are 1) the impact of national culture on the aggregate measures of entrepreneurship such as national innovative output or new business created; 2) the association between national culture and the characteristics of individual entrepreneurs including the values, beliefs, motivations, and cognitions of entrepreneurs across cultures; 3) the impact of national culture on corporate entrepreneurship. The findings suggest that national culture is captured in different forms in behavioural research and culture in various forms is depicted as a moderator of the relationship between contextual factors and entrepreneurial outcomes. The moderating role of culture highlights that national cultures act as a catalyst rather than a causative agent of entrepreneurial outcomes. Although some studies find significant relationships between national culture and entrepreneurial outcomes, Hayton, George and Zahara’s (2000) model suggests that cultural characteristics transform and complement the institutional and economic contexts to influence entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurial Education
Even though there is still an ongoing argument on whether entrepreneurs are born or bred (Dana, 2001), there are some researchers who agree on the important contribution of entrepreneurial education to young people. A study by Abarquez (2011) attempted to integrate entrepreneurial competencies in basic education in the Philippines with the goal of promoting entrepreneurial culture among young people. Entrepreneurial attributes can be positively influenced by educational programmes (Gorman and Hanlon, 1997). In fact in Malaysia, the government in 2006 announced plans to make entrepreneurship courses compulsory for all public university students in the hope of fostering 5 percent entrepreneurs from among the graduates (Harian, 2006).
Entrepreneurship education can be significant in many ways. It can for one provide students an understanding of business. Many studies have noted that an entrepreneurship course has a positive impact on the students’ views of entrepreneurship. It was argued that entrepreneurship graduates have stronger entrepreneurial intentions than other business graduates (Kolvereid and Moen, 1997). In addition, student exposed to entrepreneurship education have more favourable views of small businesses (Mohan-Neill, 2001). Research seems to suggest that individuals attending entrepreneurship courses have a higher tendency to start their own businesses at some point in their career than those attending other courses (Carter and Collinson, 1999; Galloway and Brown, 2002).
A group of researchers in the USA, on the other hand, believed that even if one cannot teach someone to be an entrepreneur, we can still teach entrepreneurial skills needed to be successful (Henderson and Robertson, 2000). Traditionally, it has been thought that entrepreneurship education is about teaching students how to start a business, create a business plan, and bring their goods and services successfully to market. More recently, however, it has been recognized that such skills are essential but not sufficient to make a successful
entrepreneur (Rae, 1997). A successful entrepreneur must possess a set of generic attributes, skills and behaviours like creativity, problem solving skills, and communication that are equally important in life as well as in business.
Despite the seemingly encouraging views on the contribution of an entrepreneurial education to actual business start-ups, different researches, however, emphasize the difficulties of evaluating the benefit or the importance of teaching entrepreneurship. Cox, et.al (2002) even writes that much of the entrepreneurship research to date has not provided substantial empirical support for the claim that completion of formal courses in entrepreneurship and small business management increases the likelihood that an individual will start a business. On the same thought, Matlay (2005) also adds that the actual contribution that such courses have on entrepreneurial activity remains unclear.
The problems associated with evaluating the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education are in some way connected with time, more specifically, the time delay from the end of an entrepreneurship education until a possible start of a business (Cox, et.al 2002). The time delay can be long, and in such cases, it becomes difficult to determine exactly why an individual has established a new firm.
A longitudinal research conducted by Matlay (2008) investigated the perceived influence that various entrepreneurial courses have on a cohort of 64 graduate entrepreneurs from eight HEIs in the UK. Data gathering were conducted annually over a ten year period (1997 to 2006) to document, measure and analyse respondent progression from graduation and into entrepreneurship. Results indicate that entrepreneurship education had a positive impact upon entrepreneurial outcomes related to the career aspirations of the 64 graduates in the research sample. For a large proportion of the sample, there was a relatively speedy progression from self-employed status to micro and small business ownership. Apart from the progression through entrepreneurial stages, these graduate entrepreneurs showed a remarkably low rate of turbulence and no failures.
Another study by Matlay, Cindy Milllman and Fan Liu (2008) used case study approach to provide an in-depth analysis of the challenges and outcomes of the “Know About Your Business” (KAB) Programme initiated by the International Labour Organization and piloted at the China Youth University for Political Science in Beijing. The results of the study showed that the programme proved largely successful with students providing feedback which could be used to further improve and develop entrepreneurship education with a view to implement it more widely in selective business schools across China.
In Malaysia, a study was conducted to evaluate an optional entrepreneurship module offered during the last semester of a Master’s Degree in Project Management by the School of Housing Building and Planning Universiti Sains Malaysia. The importance of entrepreneurship education in Malaysia particularly in the construction industry was felt as a high number of small
and medium scale firms were being started by new entrepreneurs. At the end of the course, majority of them showed interest in becoming entrepreneurs (Jaafar and Aziz, 2008).
Another study was conducted in which a complete survey of enterprise education in all higher educational institutions in England, undertaken in 2010 by the Institute for Small Business And Entrepreneurship (ISBE) on behalf of the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship (NCGE). The results highlighted the connections in institutional strategies between enterprise education, incubation/new venture support, graduate employability, innovation and academic enterprise (Rae, Martin, Antcliff, and Hannon, 2012).
Lastly, a study was conducted in Sweden to answer the research question: Does entrepreneurship education lead to establishment of new firms. The study showed that individuals who have attended an entrepreneurship education were more prone to establish firms, to establish several firms, and to create larger firms, as compared to those who have not attended the entrepreneurship course (Control Group). From that point of view, it appears that entrepreneurship education matters (Nilsson, 2012).
Methodology
The research upon which this paper is based forms part of a larger Graduate Tracer Study (GTS) of the business school of a large university based in the Philippines. An official list of graduates of the department was secured consisting of recent graduates from October 2009, March 2010, October 2010 and March 2011. Tracing of the graduates was conducted in the summer of 2012 (April-May 2012). A previous GTS questionnaire provided by the CHED was revised to incorporate questions to trace graduates who have actually opened up new businesses.
The questionnaire consisted of questions for the employed, not employed and never employed and those who opted for self-employment. The questionnaire consisted of 47 mostly close-ended questions covering seven pages.
Of the 342 list of graduates, a total of 272 graduates were successful traced as follows: October 2009 (55), March 2010 (82), October 2010 (50), March 2011 (85). This represents an 80% retrieval rate.
Results and Discussions
Of the 272 graduates that have been traced, 80 percent (219) were employed at the time of the survey, 41 percent (111) of them finished an entrepreneurship education. The rest (59%) finished a business but non-entrepreneurial course. Strangely, most of the 20% (43) of respondents who were either unemployed at the time of the survey or were never employed yet indicated that they did not yet look for a job either as a personal choice or due to family concerns. Only six (6) out of the 53 graduates indicated no job opportunity as reason for their unemployment while 13 of them are pursuing further study. It appears that graduates of this university had the economic means or still had the financial support of their parents even beyond graduation. Of the March 2011 not employed and never employed graduates, a significant number came from graduates finishing a non-entrepreneurial education, particularly the course specializing in human resource development management. There are slightly more female graduates (33) who were either not employed or never employed compared to male graduates (20). A few of the not employed and never employed even graduated with academic awards.
When asked for reasons why they have stayed on their jobs, most employed graduates indicated salaries and benefits, career challenge and related to course. Similar reasons were provided when employed graduates were asked for reasons for accepting their jobs and changing jobs with salaries and benefits becoming a more prominent reason (43%).
Some of the employed graduates (32%) stayed on their first job for 1-6 months only, 25% stayed 1 year to less than 2 years, 18% stayed 7 to 11 months. The results indicate that graduates tend to stay for a relatively short span of time on their first jobs. The most popular method of searching for their first job were recommendation by someone (29%), followed by information from friends and as walk-in applicant, both at 18% respectively. Job fairs and the school job placement office were deemed not effective with only 8% and 3% using these methods respectively.
Employed graduates were likewise asked what their job level position was on their first job. More than half (56%) occupied clerical or rank and file position, 36% supervisory or technical level and only 10% held managerial position. For graduates who have changed jobs, 46% still occupied clerical positions, a slightly higher percentage of 41% now hold supervisory positions and 14% gained managerial responsibilities.
Employed graduates were next asked what their initial gross monthly earning was on their first job. Of the male graduates, some of them (39%) earned PhP10,000 to less PhP15,000, 33% earned PhP5,000 to less than PhP10,000, 13% earned PhP15,000 to less than PhP20,000. Only a few (5%) earned less than PhP5,000, while only 3% and 7% earned PhP20,000 to less than 25,000 and PhP25,000 and above, respectively. Of the female graduates, close to half (41%) earned PhP5,000 to less than PhP10,000, 39% earned PhP10,000 to PhP15,000, 7.5% earned PhP15,000 to PhP20,000, 6% earned PhP20,000 to less than PhP25,000, 5% earned less than PhP5,000, and only 2% earned above PhP25,000. The
results indicate that male graduates have greater chances of earning higher initial salary than female graduates.
The tracer study also delved into graduates waiting time before landing their first job. Close to half (44%) waited only for less than one month, and the other half (41%) waited for 1 month to 6 months, very few had to wait for 7-11 months (7%), 1 to less than 2 years (6%) and 2 years to less than 3 years (1%). These numbers indicate that the business school of this university as with previous GTS results conducted in 2007 and 2008 (De Ocampo, 2009) continue to enjoy high employability of recent graduates. Almost all who were employed (total 44% + 41% = 85%) waited no more than 6 months before landing their first job.
The most useful competencies learned in the university were communication skills, human relations skills, critical thinking skills, entrepreneurial skills, and problem solving skills. As previously mentioned of the 272 graduates traced, 111 (41%) finished an entrepreneurial education. Of the 111, only 26 (23%) became self-employed. Self employed meant either they started their own business and/or helping their existing family business. In this study we shall call them entrepreneurs. There were 4 (1%) traced graduates, however, who did not finish an entrepreneurship education but still opted for self-employment.
Most (37%) of the entrepreneurs, started their business less than one year after graduation, 30% one year to less than two years, 10% two years to less than three years, and 23% three years and above (this probably refers to the entrepreneurs who are helping their existing family business). A little over half (53%) are not self-started business, while the remaining 46% are self-started ones. For majority of them (64%), the business is the first venture that they have started, 28% started one to two ventures prior to the existing one, and two of them even started three to more than five ventures before making it work.
When asked for the reasons why they started their business, approximately 1 in every 4 (25%) said they saw a business opportunity, 23% were provided seed capital by their parents, 19% had to continue their family business, 11% said that having a business has always been their passion, another 11% were encouraged by their entrepreneurial education, 6% continued the business that they started in college, and only 4% were approached by a business partner.
Gathering data with regards to the scale of their business proved to be more challenging as most did not want to reveal financial information. Majority (64%) are considered micro enterprises with asset size of up to PhP3MM, employing 1 to 9 workers (61%), very few are considered small (4%), medium (1%) and large enterprises (4%), employing 10-99 employees (25%), 100-199 employees (11%), and 200 and above employees (1%). Data gathered in terms of annual turn-over proved to be unreliable with most respondents refusing to disclose real amounts.
Graduates of the entrepreneurial education find the following personal entrepreneurial competencies to be the most useful in order of importance; opportunity seeking (82%), goalsetting (78%), systematic planning and monitoring (68%), risk taking (64%), and selfconfidence (57%). With regards to generic competencies, they found the following most useful also in order of importance; communication skills (82%), entrepreneurial skills (75%), human relations skills (61%), problem solving skills (43%), and critical thinking skills (43%).
It appears from the results that graduates of this Philippine-based business school who took up an entrepreneurial education were more likely to take up self-employment, therefore the entrepreneurial option as opposed to those who took non-entrepreneurial but still business courses.
Conclusion
On the basis of the findings emerging from this study it could be concluded that entrepreneurship education, although still minimal, contributes to the young graduates’ predisposition towards entrepreneurial careers. Most young people still prefer the security of tenure in a job through the employment route, at least shortly after graduation. Based on the findings, it appears that the culture of entrepreneurship still needs to take root in the mindset of the Filipino youth.
Recommendations
Given the limited timeframe for this tracer study, a more longitudinal scope could be undertaken to take into consideration the time delay from end of entrepreneurial education to possible business start up similar to the study done by Matlay (2008) covering a ten-year period. A review of the existing entrepreneurial education in terms of paradigm, structure and pedagogy may be done to improve the conversion rate from entrepreneurial education to youth entrepreneurship in the Philippines. Benchmarking could be undertaken to learn from the best practices of other HEIs entrepreneurship curricula and entrepreneurial programmes and centers which promote youth entrepreneurship such as ILO’s KAB programme and the Kauffman Foundation.
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Acknowledgment
This paper has been accepted for presentation in the 2012 5th Taiwan-Philippines Academic Conference: Digital Humanities and Cultural Studies to be held at Aletheia University, New Taipei City, Taiwan on October 20, 2012. The author would like to express her sincerest appreciation to Aletheia University particularly to Dr. Hung Hwei Liu for the opportunity. Sincerest gratitude also is extended to the University of San Carlos for supporting the trip to Taiwan.
