A tracer study for graduates of Thai Nguyen University of Economics and Business Administration (TUEBA) and Central Philippine University (CPU) joint degree programs at Thai Nguyen City, Vietnam

Abstract

This tracer study assessed the employability of graduates of TUEBA and CPU joint degree programs at Thai Nguyen City, Vietnam for the year 2016. There were 113 graduates involved in this study who were chosen randomly from a population of 157 graduates of TUEBA and CPU joint degree programs at Thai Nguyen City, Vietnam. The results of the study showed that the graduates were predominantly male, married, with the age between 41-50 years old, and mostly MBA graduates; majority had regular or permanent employment status; a vast majority of graduates had managerial and supervisory positions and predominantly employed in the private sector; most graduates got their first job promotion after 6 months but not more than 1 year from the date of their graduation; communication skill was ranked as first among the professional skills deemed necessary for employment, and most had income of 5 million- 8 million vnd. Significant relationship existed between educational attainment and graduates’ employability in terms of job position level, employment sector, employment status, and monthly salary/income. Also, there was significant relationship between age and graduates’ employability in terms of job position level, professional skills, and monthly salary/income. There were few graduates who preferred to be under-employed because they had better opportunity to earn higher monthly income. The respondents provided inputs for improvement of facilities, specifically in the maintenance of cleanliness of classrooms and rest rooms; improvement in the area of faculty and instruction by allowing the faculty-student interaction and student-student brainstorming activities, use the internet or relevant social media networks; improvement of the administrative support services by providing annual student orientation program to update students of school policies that affect them while studying at the University.