THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES MONA CAMPUS REPORT ON THE SURVEY OF FIRST DEGREE GRADUATES CLASS OF 2007 OFFICE OF PLANNING AND INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH MARCH 31, 2009 1
INTRODUCTION The UWI, through the Office of Planning and Institutional Research, Mona Campus conducted a survey of First Degree graduates from the Class of 2007 who graduated from the Mona Campus. The survey instrument was developed collaboratively among the University wide Planning Offices. The survey solicited responses to approximately 30 questions covering student demographics, area of study, further studies, employment, and personal and professional development. The survey not only shows how students have fared in the job market one year after graduating, but also reveals important trends in the labour market and suggests areas for improvement by the Mona Campus. METHODOLOGY Survey Administration The Survey of First Degree Graduates from the Class of 2007 was administered by the Office of Planning and Institutional Research. Questionnaires were mailed during the last week of January 2009 to approximately 2,464 graduates residing in Jamaica. A second mailing followed in mid February to approximately 180 graduates residing in other Caribbean territories. All graduates were given the opportunity to reply to the survey by mail or electronically by March 15, 2009. Students who completed all the survey questions on time were eligible to win one of four faculty prizes of US $500 cash and a grand prize of US $1,000 cash. The winners are to be announced sometime in April. By the end of the survey period, 633 forms were received, representing a 24% return rate. This response rate marks an improvement over the 14% response rate achieved from the same class of graduates surveyed at the Mona Campus between October and November 2007. Survey Instrument The survey instrument, which was developed collaboratively by the Planning Offices across the University, comprised four sections. Section one collected personal information from the graduates such as their name, age, sex, phone number and email address as well as their faculty of study, degree earned, and class of degree. Section two of the survey inquired about further studies such as whether or not they were currently enrolled in a graduate programme, their field of study, the type of programme enrolled in, and the name of the institution. 2
Section three asked a series of questions on the student s employment status and the extent to which their current job was related to their field of study. Section four asked twelve questions about the skills and competencies acquired while studying at the Mona Campus. Students were asked to rate the Campus s contribution to their skills/competencies development on a scale of None, Very Little, Moderate, to Strong. FINDINGS Section 1: Personal Data Age Group As Table 1 shows, the majority (42%) of respondents from the Class of 2007 were in the 19 24 age group. Table 1 Age Group N % 19 24 268 42 25 29 133 21 30 34 79 12 35+ 153 24 Total 633 100 Sex Among the Class of 2007, 79% of graduates were female and 21% male. As seen in Table 2, a higher percentage of females (84%) responded to the survey. Table 2 Sex N % Male 101 16 Female 532 84 Total 633 100 Faculty Among the faculties, the Social Sciences had the highest representation at 38%, followed by Humanities and Education (35%), Medical Sciences (13%) and Pure and Applied Sciences (13%). 3
Table 3 Faculty N % Humanities & Education 226 35 Medical Sciences 85 13 Pure & Applied Sciences 80 13 Social Sciences 242 38 Total 633 100 Degree Earned Most respondents graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree (62%), followed by a Bachelor of Education degree (18%) and a Bachelor of Arts degree (17%). Table 4 Degree Earned N % BA 109 17 BBMS 4 1 BED 117 18 BSC 392 62 MBBS 11 2 Total 633 100 Major Field of Study The top ten major fields of study were Management Studies (66), Nursing (64), History (33), Hospitality and Tourism (28), Psychology (28), Education (22), International Relations (21), Media and Communication (19), Educational Administration (18), Literacy Studies (15) and Mathematics (15). Class of Degree Most respondents (45%) graduated with Lower Second Class Honours followed by Upper Second Class Honours (35%). Twelve percent (12%) received First Class Honours. 4
Table 5 Class of Degree N % First Class 78 12 Upper Second 219 35 Lower Second 283 45 Pass 53 8 Total 633 100 Section 2: Further Studies When asked about their enrolment in postgraduate studies, sixteen percent (16%) of respondents reported that they were currently enrolled in postgraduate studies. This represents a significant increase over the 5% reported among the same cohort in November 2007. Among the postgraduate respondents (103), 48% were studying the same field as their First degree, while 52% were studying another field. Table 6 Postgraduate Studies N % Yes 103 16 No 530 84 Total 633 100 Type of Programme As Table 7 shows, the majority (75%) of postgraduate respondents were enrolled in Taught programmes while 12% were enrolled in Research programmes. Table 7 Programme N % Taught 77 75 Research 12 12 Advance Dip 5 5 Professional 9 9 Total 103 100 5
Institution Attending Most (76%) of these postgraduate respondents were attending the UWI while smaller percentages were enrolled at overseas institutions (17%) and other Jamaican institutions (7%). Table 8 Institution N % UWI 78 76 Overseas 17 17 Other Jamaican 7 7 Total 102 100 Intention to Enrol in Postgraduate Studies Among the 530 respondents who were not enrolled in a higher degree programme, 492 or 93% said they planned to enrol in the near future, while 7% said they did not. Among those who planned to enrol, 44% said they would study the same field as their First degree while 56% reported that they would study another field. Among those who would study another field, the highest reported fields included Human Resource Management (21), MBA (16), Business Administration (15), Marketing (13), Law (13), and Education (10). Section 3: Employment Currently Employed When asked about their employment status, 90% of respondents said they were employed. The employment rate among this cohort increased tremendously over the 61% reported in November 2007. Among the 10% unemployed, 46% were currently pursuing postgraduate studies. Table 9 Employed N % Yes 570 90 No 63 10 Total 633 100 6
Activity of Employer The principal activities of employers fell into three main groups which together accounted for 65% of all reported activities. These were Education (194), Healthcare (90) and Finance/Banking (90). Type of Employer Among the employed graduates, 37% were employed by a Central Government/Statutory Authority, 34% by the private sector, 23% by another public sector institution, and 6% by another entity. Table 10 Sector N % Central Govt./Statutory 208 37 Other Public 132 23 Private 194 34 Other 35 6 Total 569 100 When the response categories were recoded to match the responses to the November 2007 survey, most respondents reported employment in the Education sector which accounted for 32% of responses in 2007 and 35% in 2009. Table 11 Sector2 N % Education 198 35 Public/Statutory 170 30 Private 190 33 Other 11 2 Total 569 100 Job Title When asked about their occupation or job title, most respondents reported the following titles which together accounted for 70% of all reported job titles: Teacher (144), Officer (68), Nurse (56), Assistant (38), Manager (28), Representative (19), Teller (17), Analyst (13) and Secretary (11). It is not surprising how many respondents reported teacher, since the majority of respondents reported employment in the education sector (Table 11). 7
Type of Job Among the employed graduates, 71% reported being employed on a full time permanent basis while 22% were employed on a full time temporary basis. Another 6% reported part time employment and 1%, self employment. The number of self employed graduates declined from 4% in November 2007 to 1% in 2009. The fact that 93% of respondents reported full time Table 12 Type of Job N % FT Permanent 403 71 FT Temporary 127 22 Part Time 33 6 Self Employment 4 1 Total 567 100 employment is good news for the Mona Campus and an indication of the opportunities in the labour market. Further analyses revealed that full time employment was not limited to a particular age group (Table 13) and that all three sectors (education, public, and private) accounted for almost equal shares of the full time employed graduates (Table 14). Table 13 Full Time Employment Age N % 19 24 197 37 25 34 184 35 35+ 149 28 Total 530 100 Table 14 Full Time Employment Sector2 N % Educ. 188 35 Public/Stat. 169 32 Private 164 31 Other 9 2 Total 530 100 8
Current Job Requires a First Degree Almost half of respondents (49%) reported that a First degree was a minimum requirement for their job, while 51% said a First degree was not a minimum requirement for their job. The fact Table 15 Job Requires First Degree N % Yes 275 49 No 292 51 Total 567 100 that half of respondents were holding jobs requiring a First degree indicates the caliber of jobs Mona s graduates are obtaining, and also the importance of a University education in the job market. Further analyses revealed that the youngest age group (19 24) was the most likely to report their job required a First degree (Table 16) and, among the sectors, the private sector was the most likely to require a First degree (Table 17). Table 16 Job Requires First Degree Age Group (Yes) N % 19 24 132 48 25 34 92 33 35+ 51 19 Total 275 100 Table 17 Job Requires First Sector2 Degree (Yes) N % Education 74 27 Public/Statutory 90 33 Private 106 39 Other 5 2 Total 275 100 9
Job Related to Field of Study When asked to what extent their current job was related to their field of study, most respondents (51%) said their job was directly related to their field of study, and another 27% said their job was somewhat related to their field of study. Only 10% of respondents reported their current job was neither related to their field of study nor their preference. Table 18 Job Related to Field of Study N % Yes 293 51 Somewhat 154 27 No, my choice 67 12 No, not my choice 55 10 Total 569 100 First Job Since Graduating from UWI, Mona With regard to whether or not their current job was their first job, nearly half (44%) of respondents said yes, while 56% said no. As Table 20 shows, those most likely to report their current job as their first were the youngest age group. Table 19 First Job N % Yes 248 44 No 320 56 Total 568 100 Table 20 First Job Age Group Yes No Total 19 24 123 97 220 25 34 89 108 197 35+ 36 115 151 Total 248 320 568 10
Sixty percent (60%) returned to a job they held prior to graduating from Mona (Table 21). Table 21 Returned to Previous Job N % Yes 190 60 No 127 40 Total 317 100 Not surprisingly, those who returned to a previous post tended to be older (Table 22) and were employed in the education sector (Table 23). Table 22 Returned to Post Age Group Yes No Total 19 24 16 81 97 25 34 66 39 105 35+ 108 7 115 Total 190 127 317 Table 23 Returned to Post Sector2 Yes No Total Education 107 36 143 Public/Statutory 48 26 74 Private 33 60 93 Other 2 2 4 Total 190 124 314 Gross Monthly Salary (JA$) Among the employed graduates who reported their gross monthly salary (91% response rate), the mean was $90,912, the median $82,250 and the mode $80,000. The minimum and maximum salaries ranged from $16,000 to $380,000 per month. 11
Table 24 Gross Monthly Measure Salary in JA$ Mean 90,912 Median 82,250 Mode 80,000 Std. Dev. 43,645 Minimum 16,000 Maximum 380,000 When the mean salaries were compared by faculty, the faculty with the highest mean salary was Humanities and Education ($98,181) followed by Pure and Applied Sciences ($90,700) and Social Sciences ($87,951). The mean salary for Medical Sciences was $79,480. The reason for the high mean salary in Humanities and Education is due to the higher mean salary in Education ($115,296). Sixty three percent (63%) of respondents from that department were 35 years or older, many of whom were employed as teachers with the Ministry of Education. Teaching salaries were reported on average in the $90,000 $120,000 range. Additionally, in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, 75% of respondents were nurses whose salaries were in the $40,000 $50,000 range compared with the few MBBS respondents who reported salaries in the $100,000 and over range. Table 25 Faculty Mean N St. Dev. Humanities & Education 98,181 191 40,195 Medical Sciences 79,480 70 62,079 Pure & Applied Sciences 90,700 64 42,743 Social Sciences 87,951 194 37,938 Total 90,912 519 43,645 When the mean salaries were compared by age group the mean salaries increased with age. Table 26 Age Mean N St. Dev. 19 24 75,970 204 38,483 25 29 89,228 110 49,379 30 34 96,254 70 36,717 35+ 112,095 135 40,414 Total 90,912 519 43,645 12
When the mean salaries were compared by sex, males had a higher mean salary ($98,194) than females ($89,758) by almost $10,000. Table 27 Sex Mean N St. Dev. Male 98,194 71 49,536 Female 89,758 448 42,584 Total 90,912 519 43,645 Salary data were also converted into annual income to see what patterns emerged. As Table 28 shows, 61% of employed respondents were earning $900,000 or more a year, which compares favorably to the 27% reported by this cohort in November 2007. It appears then, that students employment prospects improve one year after graduation. Table 28 Income Group N % $1 499,999 36 7 $500,000 699,999 75 14 $700,000 899,999 92 18 $900,000 1,099,999 116 22 $1,100,000 9,999,999 200 39 Total 519 100 Section 4: Personal and Professional Development When asked about acquired skills and competencies from the Mona Campus, respondents were generally satisfied. Respondents were invited to rate the Campus s contribution on a scale of None, Very Little, Moderate, to Strong, with None representing a score of 1 and Strong representing a score of 4. As Table 29 shows, respondents gave Moderate to Strong ratings to all but two categories, Innovative and Entrepreneurial, and Proficiency in a Second Language. These two categories reflect areas for improvement at Mona. It should be noted, however, that of the few respondents whose Major was a foreign language, these respondents gave high ratings to Proficiency in a Second Language. 13
Table 29 Competencies Mean Critical Thinking Skills 3.51 Problem Solving Skills 3.46 Effective Writing Skills 3.48 Effective Speaking Skills 3.29 Working Effectively w/it 3.11 Innovative & Entrepreneurial 2.72 Understanding & Appreciating Diversity/Other Cultures 3.45 Think & Work Independently 3.56 Work Effectively in Teams 3.50 Socio/Political Awareness 3.17 Ethical Conduct 3.23 Proficiency in Second Language 1.66 Summary and Conclusion In conclusion, the Survey of First Degree Graduates, Class of 2007, has provided some useful information on graduates one year after graduation. On the positive side, findings show a marked improvement in the employment rate which was reported to be 61% some five months after graduation and 90% one year later. A higher percentage of graduates have also pursued postgraduate studies which was 5% five months after graduation and 16% one year later. Salaries also improved greatly with 61% of graduates earning salaries of $900,000 or more annually, compared with 27% of graduates earning this amount five months after graduation. Findings also reveal important information about the labour market. Most notable are the three main sectors in which graduates are employed, Education, Healthcare, and Finance & Banking. It is somewhat of a surprise that teaching salaries are on par with the salaries of recent MBBS graduates. Despite concerns over a weakening economy, many graduates are able to find decent paying jobs on a full time permanent basis. These jobs are not only related to their field of study but more and more, these positions are requiring a University degree. The Mona Campus, however, needs to address certain issues to remain a viable, competitive institution. One area of concern is the gender imbalance at the Mona Campus which requires intervention at the level of high school. More growth needs to occur in postgraduate research programmes through perhaps better funding opportunities for students. With regard to innovative and entrepreneurial skills, the Mona Campus could better prepare graduates in this area by instituting a mandatory entrepreneurial course for all final year students. This course would not only prepare graduates for the world of work but would also contribute to the country s economic growth through increased entrepreneurship. 14
The University of the West Indies, Mona Graduate Tracer Survey of First Degree Graduates SECTION 1 PERSONAL DATA 1.Name:.. 2. Age Group 19 to 24 25 to 29 30 to 34 Over 35 3. Sex Male Female 4. Preferred Contact # : 5. Current E Mail Address: 6. Faculty/School Humanities Medical Sciences Education Pure and Applied Sciences Social Sciences 7. Name of Degree Earned:.. 15
8. Class of Degree Obtained: First Class Lower Second Class Upper Second Class Pass SECTION 2 FURTHER STUDIES 9. Are you currently enrolled in a graduate program? Yes No If answer to the above is yes, please state field you are enrolled in: Same Field as my First Degree Other field. Please state. 10. Type of program Taught masters Advanced Diploma Research Degree Other Professional e.g.a.c.c.a. 11. Name of institution :. 12. If you are not enrolled in a graduate program, do you intend to in the near future? Yes No If answer to the above is yes, please state which field you will enroll in: Same Field as my First Degree Other field. Please state. SECTION 3 - EMPLOYMENT 13. Are you currently employed? Yes No 16
14. If yes, please state name of your employer:... 15. Briefly state the principal activity of your employer e.g. commercial banking, health care etc.: 16. Type of employer Central Government/Statutory Authority Other Public Sector Institution Private Sector Other 17. What is the title or designation of your job?. 18. Gross Monthly Salary (If Not JA$, State Currency ). 19. Type of job: Full time permanent Part time Full time temporary or contract Self employed 20. Is the minimum requirement a first degree for the job in which you are currently employed? Yes No 21. Is your current job directly related to your field of study? Yes, is directly related to my field of study Yes, it is somewhat related (within the broader discipline) No, it is not related (but my choice) No, it is not related (not my choice) 17
22. Is your current job your first job since graduating from UWI? Yes No 23. If your answer to the above question is (no), did you return to a job you previously held in the public or private sector? Yes No SECTION 4 YOUR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT 24. Rate the following competencies in terms of the contribution of your UWI education COMPETENCIES EXTENT OF UWI S CONTRIBUTION (please tick appropriate circle) None Very little Moderate Strong 1. Critical thinking skills O O O O 2. Problem solving skills O O O O 3. Effective Writing skills O O O O 4. Effective speaking skills O O O O 5. Working effectively with modern IT O O O O communication technologies 6. Innovative and entrepreneurial O O O O 7. Understanding and appreciating diversity O O O O and other cultures 8. Ability to think and work independently O O O O 9.Capacity to work effectively in teams O O O O 10. Socio/Political awareness O O O O 11. Ethical conduct O O O O 12.Proficiency in a second language O O O O 18