Graduate Satisfaction with University and Perceived ...

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Graduate Satisfaction with University and Perceived Employment Preparation a

a

Andrew J. Martin , Jo Milne-Home , Jenny Barrett a

, Edward Spalding & Gar Jones

a

a

a

University of Western Sydney , Nepean, PO Box 1, Kingswood, New South Wales, 2747, Australia Published online: 03 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: Andrew J. Martin , Jo Milne-Home , Jenny Barrett , Edward Spalding & Gar Jones (2000) Graduate Satisfaction with University and Perceived Employment Preparation, Journal of Education and Work, 13:2, 199-213, DOI: 10.1080/713676986 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/713676986

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Journal of Education and Work, Vol. 13, No. 2, 2000

Graduate Satisfaction with University and Perceived Employment Preparation ANDREW J. MARTIN, JO MILNE-HOME, JENNY BARRETT, EDWARD SPALDING & GAR JONES


University of Western Sydney, Nepean, PO Box 10, Kingswood, New South Wales 2747, Australia

The present study addresses graduate satisfaction with the university, perceptions of employment preparation at the local level (and beyond), and the relationship between the two. Results suggest that there exist divergent levels of satisfaction with various aspects of the university and that perceptions of employment preparation differ on the basis of whether employment is at the local, national, or international level. Importantly, graduates’ satisfaction with academic resources, student support services, and the institution’s development of competencies signi® cantly predicted perceived employment preparation. Females and graduates of vocationally oriented (rather than generalist) faculties also reported greater employment preparation. Discussion focuses on aspects of the university that are in¯ uential in assisting graduates’ transition from the university to the workplace. ABSTRACT

Introduction In recent years there has been increasing focus in Australia and elsewhere on the importance for universities to better prepare students for employment. While study at university is recognised as a laudable goal in itself, it is increasingly being seen as a primary means by which students are prepared for later employment. In the light of this there have been calls for universities to assess the success with which they are preparing students for the workplace (Banta et al., 1991; Business and Higher Education Round Table, 1991, 1992). However, analyses of the functions of university and the workplace have shown that it is in fact dif® cult for universities to prepare students for their prospective roles in the work setting. There are a number of reasons for this dif® culty: in general, university learning activities tend to be individualisti c whilst work is often conducted in a social, cooperative context; university tends to foster broad learning while work is often task-speci® c; university often imparts and inculcates decontextualised knowledge while work relates more to contextualised knowledge; university tends to focus on individual competition whilst work activities involve collaboration as a team worker; and the sheer diversity of vocational aspirations makes it dif® cult for universities to prepare every student for every possible career path (Candy & Crebert, 1991; Resnick, 1987). Whilst there are times when these roles are congruent (i.e. univerISSN 1363-9080 (print)/1469-9435 (online)/00/020199-15 Ó

2000 Taylor & Francis Ltd

200 A. J. Martin et al. sity learning is task-speci® c for more vocational degrees), on the whole the two domains can be broadly characterised as distinct. Given this distinctiveness, it is important to identify what factors are within the control of the university that contribute to the preparation of students for employment. The present study seeks to do so by assessing (a) aspects of the university with which graduates are satis® ed, (b) their perception of the extent to which the university has prepared them for the workplace, and (c) the relationship between satisfaction and perceived employment preparation.


The Importance of Graduate Feedback and Satisfaction Graduate feedback is pivotal because ùnderstanding one’ s present market and relative performance on key dimensions should enhance departmental planning and program development’ (Morgan & Shim, 1990, p. 48). Importantly: higher education is not an exception with regard to the importance of consumers’ postpurchase evaluation. Postpurchase evaluation of the educational investment is a crucial issue because a college education is a costly and important purchase and because former students’ satisfaction with their education has signi® cant marketing implications. (Morgan & Shim, 1990, p. 49) Indeed, it is important to have satis® ed alumni because through word of mouth they can increase undergraduate numbers which in turn increases ® nancial assistance. Further, it has been shown that satis® ed alumni tend to supply jobs to new graduates who studied at their institution (Schmidt et al., 1987). Alumni perceptions tend also to increase accountability of the university (Mangan, 1992) and alumni who are satis® ed with their institution are more likely to consider further study in that institution and recommend it to others (Morgan & Shim, 1990). Quality Assurance and the Issue of Consumer/Student Satisfaction Given that student and alumni satisfaction with university and employment preparation have become increasingly important to institutions, it is not surprising that universities adopt something of a marketing approach to service delivery, emphasising consumer satisfaction and ongoing improvement of products and product delivery (Mangan, 1992). In this context, the student can be conceived of as the consumer and education as the product. Several factors can contribute to consumer satisfaction. First, there are the expectations of the product (Oliver, 1980): postpurchase satisfaction occurs when pre-purchase expectations are equal to or less than post-purchase beliefs. Second, there is the perceived product performance (Tse & Wilton, 1988). According to Hartman and Schmidt (1995) `performance will be thought of as the interaction between an institution of higher education [service provider] and a student as an active participant [consumer] in creating the performance of an educational process’ (p. 200). Hartman and Schmidt suggest that this

Graduate Satisfaction and Employment Preparation

201


includes the interaction between the student and the faculty, university administration, and university services. And third, there is the perceived outcome of the product (Westbrook & Reilly, 1983). According to Hartman and Schmidt (1995), outcomes `may be viewed as the ª value-addedº by, or the growth attributed to, the college experience’ (p. 21). In a study framed along these lines, Hartman and Schmidt (1987) proposed that àlumni satisfaction with higher education was determined by the direct and indirect effects of institutional performance; the indirect effects being mediated by the outcomes of that performance’ (p. 205). They reported that satisfaction with the institution was in¯ uenced by both the quality of performance (e.g. teaching) and perceived outcomes (e.g. skills developed whilst at university).

Empirical Work Exploring Student Satisfaction with the Institution Despite the fact that the relationship between satisfaction with the educational institution and satisfaction with work preparation is important to consider (Chadwick & Ward, 1987; Morgan & Shim, 1990), there has been little research in the area (but work has been conducted overseas into higher education and employment transition generallyÐ see for example Ahgren-Lange & Kogan, 1992; Brennan, 1985; Teichler, 1994, 1996; Teichler & Kehm, 1995). There has, however, been considerable consideration given to the issue of general satisfaction with university and in reviewing the studies it is apparent that there are a multiplicity of factors relevant to the issue of satisfaction with the institution. Terenzini et al. (1984) examined factors predicting undergraduate perceptions of skill development whilst at university and found that the best predictors were class involvement, frequency of faculty contact and the quality of this contact. They concluded that it is what happens not only in the class but outside the class that in¯ uences students’ perceptions of skill development whilst at university and that èducational and curricular planning must be understood to encompass contexts beyond those we continually considerÐ the classroom and academic advising’ (p. 634). In a study examining satisfaction with one’ s course major, Gaertner et al. (1980) reported that important predictors of satisfaction were beliefs about the functioning of the faculty and its ability to meet students’ needs and career opportunities provided by their course, whilst Morgan and Shim (1990) showed that satisfaction with one’s course major was associated with preparation for employment, variety of course content, and the interest-value of subject matter. Other research has examined how college experiences affect students’ perceptions of development and learning whilst at college (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). Pace (1987) found that perceptions of learning and development were related to college satisfaction (see also Terenzini et al., 1982). Findings of Chadwick and Ward (1987) suggested that the strongest predictor of willingness to recommend the university to others was how well the degree was perceived to fare in the employment market. Gender appears to be another factor that is associated with the level of university

202 A. J. Martin et al. satisfaction; however, the ® ndings are mixed. Whereas Adelman (1991) found that women were more satis® ed with college than men, Pike (1994) found that female alumni tended to be less satis® ed. Taken together, these studies suggest that an integrative approach to monitoring alumni satisfaction with the university should encompass an assessment of the curriculum, the development of competencies whilst at university, attributes of staff and student± staff interaction, student± faculty relations, student support resources, academic resources, and gender.


Quality in the Australian Context and Employment Preparation In the Australian context there has been increasing emphasis on the notion of quality and the application of performance indicators in higher education institutions. One performance indicator is that of institutional performance (DEET, 1991). In relation to this, DEET (1991) recommended that (a) appropriate indicators of teaching quality be developed, (b) graduate employment status be monitored, and (c) further research be conducted to assess institutional factors that determine graduate employment destinations. Two indicants which, to varying degrees, address these points are graduate perceptions of employment preparation and factors that might predict these perceptions of preparation. Indeed, the National Board of Employment, Education and Training (NBEET) (1990) recommended that teaching quality be assessed by way of, inter alia, institutional self-evaluation. The Senate Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training (1990) also saw teaching quality as a target area for policy. Whilst it acknowledged that the Australian higher education system had maintained high standards in developing students’ technical skills in the curriculum, there was a need for universities to develop graduates who were analytical and creative thinkers with a view to preparing them for work. An important purpose of higher education is to instil in graduates particular competencies relevant to community and work involvement (see Carmichael, 1992, 1993; Finn, 1991; Mayer, 1992). The Mayer Committee (1992) de® ned key competencies as `the demonstrated capacity to do a speci® c task ¼ [that] involves both the ability to perform in a given context and the capacity to transfer knowledge and skills to new tasks and situations’ (p. 4). The Higher Education Council (1993), following consultation with employers, professional bodies, students, and academics, concluded that whilst discipline-speci® c skills were important, so too were higher-level generic skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, effective communication, and the management of information. The development of job-related skills were also identi® ed as an important purpose of higher education. For example, communication and social skills were key skills requested by employers of new graduates (NBEET, 1992). Also, the following were cited by employers as areas for institutional improvement: general knowledge, ability to apply knowledge to practical work situations, written communication skills, and speci® c knowledge for the position.



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The Business and Higher Education Round Table (BHERT) (1991, 1992) has pursued joint initiatives to advance the goals of industry and higher education and both agree that `current standards achieved in producing most of the desired characteristics fall well short of satisfactory’ (1991, p. xv). Indeed, BHERT (1992) recommended that universities and industry should work more closely to develop graduates who understand the practical application of knowledge. The Graduate Careers Council of Australia has also been particularly interested in the extent to which graduates are equipped with the skills required for successful performance in the workplace. In line with this concern, it has administered the Graduate Destinations surveys to graduates within a few months of their course completion. One component of this survey is the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ). The CEQ (Ramsden, 1991) comprises a set of subscales that are based on the theory that students’ perceptions of instruction and curriculum are important determinants of learning (Ramsden, 1992; see also Wilson et al., 1997), and, it is argued here, preparation for the workplace. The national implementation of the CEQ arose from a recommendation by the Australian Higher Education Performance Indicators Research Project (Linke, 1992) and has become an important and widely used indicator of course and university performance. Summary and Focus of the Present Study There is, then, a need for institutions to monitor graduate satisfaction, better prepare them for employment, and explore the relationship between these two dimensions. Surveying alumni who are currently employed about their perceptions of preparation and their satisfaction with aspects of the institution at which they studied is one method of assessing this relationship. The present study seeks to explore (a) satisfaction with aspects of the university, (b) perceptions of employment preparation, and most importantly, (c) the relationship between reported satisfaction and perceived employment preparation. Also explored in the analyses are the roles of gender and faculty in contributing to each of the three research foci. Whereas studies of graduate perceptions of their education (e.g. CEQ) have typically been conducted on a national scale, the present study is different in that it focuses on one university. Focusing on the one institution enables a more detailed examination of perceived employment preparation in the local area (and beyond). Method Participants Respondents were 248 alumni (37.1% male; 62.9% female) from a large university in Sydney’ s (Australia) outer western suburbs who were selected on the basis of course completion four years previously and who, therefore, had gained ample employment experience. After adjusting for `return to sender’ questionnaires (approximately 10%) and graduates who had moved from the address on university


204 A. J. Martin et al. records (at least 30% based on estimates from the Alumni Of® ce), the mean response rate for each faculty was conservatively estimated at approximately onethird of the eligible respondents. In many respects the target institution can be considered a regionalÐ rather than geographically centralÐ Sydney institution and is unique to Sydney in the extent to which it services the employment needs of the local western Sydney community (Milne-Home et al., 1994). Just under a quarter (22.1%) of the sample reported that a language other than English was spoken at home. The majority (60.9%) of respondents had attended university on a full-time basis. Most respondents (86.2%) reported having been enrolled in a vocationally oriented degree (Business/Commerce, Education, and Health); the remainder of the sample was enrolled in more generalist degrees (Visual and Performing Arts, Humanities, Science and Technology). Only a small proportion (4.2%) of the sample reported being unemployed at the time of the survey. These respondents were excluded from subsequent analyses because (a) they represented a very small subsample that would quite possibly yield unrepresentative data and (b) the focus of the study was on perceived preparation for employment that respondents had gained since graduation. Indeed, future work might focus on perceived employment preparation amongst a larger, representative sample of graduates out of work.

Measures To measure satisfaction with aspects of the university, ® ve dimensions of students’ university experiences were targeted. These items were measured on a four-point Likert-type scale (Unsatisfactory, Less than satisfactory, Satisfactory, and Very satisfactory). The ® rst dimension related to academic resources and comprised four items that addressed staff/student ratio, access to academic staff, quality of supervision, and quality of performance feedback. The second comprised ® ve items and related to staff attributes including teaching quality, theoretical and practical competency, and assessment skills. The third concerned student support resources and included items such as satisfaction with library services, computing facilities, student services (e.g. counselling), student administration, student union, and support for equity issues (e.g. racial and gender equality). The fourth dimension related to aspects of the curriculum and comprised eight items pertaining to depth and breadth of subject content, range of electives, and relevance of subjects to career. The ® nal subscale concerned satisfaction with the development of key competencies whilst at university. Satisfaction with preparation for employment was measured at three levels: local, national, and international (e.g. `To what extent do you think your quali® cation prepared you for employment in the Western Sydney Region?’) In response to these items, respondents were asked to provide ratings of employment preparation using a four-point Likert-type scale (Not at all, Slightly, Some extent, Great extent). Gender (1 5 male; 2 5 female), faculty (1 5 vocationally oriented; 2 5 generalist), and alumni membership (1 5 yes; 2 5 no) were also included as independent variables in analyses.


205

TABLE I. Descriptive statistics for key variables


Aspects of curriculum Staff attributes Academic resources Student support resources Key competencies Local preparation National preparation International preparation

Mean (/4)

SD

Mean target loading

Cronbach’s alpha

3.0 3.0 2.9 2.6 2.9 2.9 3.1 2.4

0.47 0.49 0.51 0.54 0.51 1.00 0.84 0.93

0.59 0.62 0.50 0.65 0.53 ± ± ±

0.83 0.86 0.74 0.77 0.70 ± ± ±

Results Preliminary Analyses Principal axis factoring with varimax rotation was performed on the ® ve satisfaction subscales. The ® ve hypothesised factors were identi® ed, explaining 47.2% of the variance. In accepting this ® ve-factor structure as the one to pursue in subsequent analyses, empirical considerations were balanced with conceptual considerations. Thus, while the explained variance was modest, in view of the hypothesised conceptual clustering, it was considered the most defensible factor structure. Mean target loadings are presented in Table I. Reliability coef® cients for these factors (see Table I) indicate acceptable internal consistency. Consequently, items were aggregated to form the ® ve hypothesised subscale indicants by generating subscale means for each respondent. Descriptive statistics for the subscales are shown in Table I. Also included in Table I are means and standard deviations for employment preparation perceptions. Exploring Satisfaction and Perceived Employment Preparation Respondents reported broad satisfaction with all ® ve dimensions (i.e. aspects of curriculum, staff attributes, etc.) of the university. Relatively lower satisfaction was found for student support resources. To examine if these means signi® cantly differed from each other, an ANOVA with repeated measures was performed on the ® ve university variables and yielded a signi® cant effect (F[4,852] 5 36.4, p , 0.001). Follow-up analyses indicated that respondents were signi® cantly more satis® ed with aspects of curriculum and staff attributes than with the development of key competencies. Also, satisfaction with the development of competencies, aspects of curriculum, staff attributes, and academic resources was higher than satisfaction with student support resources. In terms of preparation for employment, respondents reported relatively greater preparation at the local and national levels, and felt signi® cantly less prepared for employment at the international level (F[2,394] 5 67.4, p , 0.001). To test for gender- and faculty-related differences on the ® ve satisfaction sub-

206 A. J. Martin et al. scales and the three preparation perceptions, two 2 (male, female) 3 2 (vocationally oriented, generalist) MANOVAs (one for the ® ve subscales and one for the three preparation perceptions) were performed on the satisfaction measures. No signi® cant multivariate effects were obtained on the ® ve subscales. In terms of perceptions of employment preparation, there was a signi® cant multivariate main effect for faculty type (F[3,191] 5 3.03, p , 0.05). Follow-up univariate tests suggested that this occurred for employment preparation perceptions at local and national levels. Not surprisingly, in both cases, respondents who had graduated from a vocationally oriented faculty reported greater preparation for employment than respondents from a generalist faculty.


Relationships Between Satisfaction and Perceived Employment Preparation Interrelationships between key variables were ® rst explored in correlation analyses (see Table II). The conservative Bonferroni approach was used to correct for the number of bivariate correlations performed. Results in Table II suggest that satisfaction with aspects of the university correlated positively with each other. In terms of the central research question as to predictors of employment preparation, there were some aspects of university that were associated with perceived employment preparation. Satisfaction with the curriculum was associated with perceptions of preparation at national and international levels. Student support resources correlated with perceptions of preparation at the local and international levels. To a smaller extent, satisfaction with staff attributes and the development of key competencies were associated with preparation at the national level. Perceptions of preparation at local, national, and international levels were all signi® cantly correlated. The central focus of the present investigation was to determine factors that predict the extent to which graduates felt their institution had prepared them for employment. Predictors in this model were (a) university-related dimensions which included faculty (generalist, vocationally oriented), attendance mode

TABLE II. Correlation matrix of key variables

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. *p ,

Academic resource Student support resources Curriculum aspects Competencies Staff attributes Local preparation National preparation International preparation

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

± 0.38* 0.40* 0.48* 0.53* 0.10 0.13 0.12

± 0.32* 0.33* 0.30* 0.26* 0.21 0.27*

± 0.51* 0.51* 0.19 0.38* 0.32*

± 0.49* 0.17 0.21 0.15

± 0.08 0.20 0.10

± 0.48* 0.37*

± 0.64* ±

0.05 after Bonferroni correction.



207

(full-/part-time), alumni membership (yes/no), and the ® ve satisfaction subscales, and (b) demographic variables which included gender, ethnicity, and age. The data were analysed using EQS (Bentler, 1993). EQS is a statistical program that tests the ® t between a sample covariance matrix and an hypothesised matrix. Relationships between observed variables are represented by paths with singleheaded arrows and correlations are represented by double-headed arrows between independent variables. Paths are reported as standardised coef® cients that would result if all other variables in the model were held constant. A ® t index for the model is also provided. The present model uses the comparative ® t indexÐ CFI (Bentler, 1990), which has the advantage of re¯ ecting ® t at diverse sample sizes. The raw data were used as input to EQS which subsequently analysed the covariance matrix. Maximum likelihood is the method of estimation used in the analysis. The model was modi® ed to improve the ® t of the data to the hypothesised matrix and this involved dropping some variables and paths from analysis. The ® nal model providing the best ® t is presented in Figure 1. No special problems or out of bounds parameter estimates were encountered. The solution converged in ® ve iterations and ® t the data well, v 2(16) 5 11.7, CFI 5 1.0. Results in Figure 1 suggest that the best predictor of perceived preparation for work at the international level was the extent to which graduates felt they had been prepared for work at the national level, whilst the extent to which they felt they had been prepared for employment at the local level was the strongest predictor of employment preparation at the national level. For the most part, the independent variables indirectly predicted national and international preparation via employment preparation at the local level. Females tended to report greater preparation for work in the local area (i.e. at the local level) than males, whilst respondents who completed more generalist degrees reported lower levels of local employment preparation. Respondents who were satis® ed with academic support and the

FIG. 1. Predictors of perceived employment preparation at the local, national and international levels (note: all parameters signi® cant at p , 0.05).

208 A. J. Martin et al. development of key competencies reported greater perceived employment preparation at the local level (i.e. in the local area). Satisfaction with aspects of the curriculum and academic support positively predicted national and international employment preparation respectively.


Discussion In terms of levels of employment preparation, perhaps not surprisingly respondents felt they had been prepared at the local level to a greater extent than at the national and international levels (the latter to the least extent). This is probably the case because the university from which the sample was drawn tends to service the needs of the local employment community (Milne-Home et al., 1994). Many respondents, then, work at the local level and predictably would feel better prepared at this level. The majority of students attending the university are from Sydney’s west: these students are often in tune with the needs of the local community and feel that an education in the area is more attuned to these needs (see Milne-Home et al., 1994). Importantly, the results also indicate that con® dence at the national level is built on con® dence derived at the local level. In this sense, then, the university is preparing graduates for employment at the local level and preparation for employment beyond this stems from this local preparation rather than imparted directly. The ® nding that respondents from generalist faculties felt that they had been less well-prepared for employment is perhaps not surprising given that respondents from generalist faculties experience relatively more dif® culty ® nding employment and can often be employed in ® elds that are either unanticipated or not directly related to course experiences (Milne-Home et al., 1994). The central aim of the investigation was to determine the extent to which a variety of factors predicted perceptions of employment preparation at local, national and international levels. For the most part it was found that the hypothesised predictors were directly associated with perceived preparation at the local level and tended to predict perceived preparation at the national and international levels via the local level. Respondents from generalist faculties tended to report lower levels of preparation for the workplace. For these respondents, there tend to be fewer jobs available (Milne-Home et al., 1994) and so reports of employment preparation might re¯ ect some level of frustration with this. Also, as noted earlier, the nature of the education provided by generalist disciplines is probably more an education than a training experience, whereas vocationally oriented faculties are likely to be perceived to provide more of a training experience and so the perceived relevance to employment for respondents from the latter faculties is likely to be more immediate and apparent. Competencies are important contributors to employees’ ability to successfully perform in the workplace (BHERT, 1991, 1992; Carmichael, 1992; 1993; Finn, 1991; Mayer, 1992; NBEET, 1992) and the present results support this contention: higher levels of satisfaction with the development of competencies were associated with higher levels of perceived employment preparation. Competencies in the present study included the ability to collect and analyse information, communicate,



209

plan, organise, work with others, solve problems, and use technology. What is surprising, however, is the relatively low strength of the association between the two measures. At a time when competencies are given a major degree of importance in industry, it is interesting to note that employees, whilst acknowledging the contribution of competencies to employment preparation to some degree, do not give strong emphasis to their role. emphasis on perceived preparation for the local area. Indeed, in this sense, the data derived from the study are unique (but comparative work focusing on other regional institutions and local employment is needed to corroborate present ® ndings). In fact, interpretation of some results arising from the analyses relied upon identifying characteristics unique to the present institution. This suggests that whilst national evaluations of graduate perceptions are important and necessary, it is also important to place results in the context of the individual institution and characteristics that make this institution different from others. The present study, however, is not without its limitations. As noted earlier, the study focused on only the one institution because the study was centrally concerned with perceptions of employment preparation at the local level. The institution under study is unique because it services the outer western Sydney community and contributes in a large way to employment in this local area. While this institution’s unique positioning in this aspect of the employment market can be considered a strength of the study, there is a need for further research to test the generalisability of the ® ndings to other regional institutions that service local communities. Indeed, the comparability of such ® ndings with geographically central city institutions would also be an interesting direction for further research. Another issue related to the sample is the modest response rate. Whilst this is comparable to response rates in previous attempts by the present institution’s administration to measure graduates’ retrospective perceptions, ® ndings must be placed in the context of what can essentially be considered a self-selected sample. A second limitation concerns the interpretation of some ® ndings. At various points in the discussion it was contended that differences between generalist and Satisfaction with aspects of curriculum was found to positively predict perceived preparation for employment at the national level but not at the local level. The àspects of curriculum’ scale consisted of items that partly re¯ ected the range of electives offered by the relevant faculty. It may be the case that respondents who were satis® ed with such aspects as the range of electives felt they were (a) making decisions at a broader level than those whose degree was composed of compulsory subjects and/or (b) participating in a programme that was perceived to be more generic and generalisable. Consistent with this notion of choice at a broader level, respondents satis® ed with such aspects may also perceive employment preparation at a broader level beyond that of the local arena. There is little doubt that it is dif® cult for universities to prepare students in a way that meets all employers’ needs. In important ways, the academy and the workplace hold different priorities, goals and values, and thus it is dif® cult for the university to align itself fully with the workplace’s needs (Candy & Crebert, 1991; Resnick, 1987). It is therefore important to gauge graduates’ perceptions of the extent to which their institution has prepared them for workplace duties so that universities


210 A. J. Martin et al. can better position themselves in this respect. More speci® cally, it is proposed here that universities which tend to service speci® c areas should frequently assess the extent to which they are preparing graduates for employment in the local areaÐ the primary area in which their graduates will ® nd employment (Milne-Home et al., 1994). The importance of graduate perceptions has been underscored by the Graduate Careers Council of Australia in their Graduate Destinations surveys and other work using the CEQ (Linke, 1991; Ramsden, 1991, 1992; Wilson et al., 1997). The present study continued this theme of graduate evaluation of the institution but with particular vocationally oriented faculties could be accounted for through their different perceptions of their university experience. Speci® cally, it was hypothesised that generalist faculties see their university experience as an education whereas vocationally oriented faculties see their university experience as more a training experience. No data were available to substantiate this interpretation and so it is speculative at present. Testing these ideas might be another fruitful direction for future research. A third limitation concerns the measurement of employment preparation. Perceptions of employment preparation at local, national, and international levels were assessed using only one item each. Ideally, multiple indicators should be used when measuring perceptions such as these in order to establish the reliability of these perceptions. Future research assessing perceived employment preparation would do well to generate subscales that can more reliably measure these perceptions. Also related to the assessment of perceived employment preparation is the extent to which new graduates are knowledgeable about international (or indeed national) employment preparation. It may be that perceptions of preparation at these levels are more reliable amongst graduates who have been in the workforce for a number of years. Another issue relevant to measurement relates to the self-report nature of the employment preparation data. Further research should collect data from multiple sources. For example, graduate perceptions of employment preparation should be triangulated with the perceptions of their employers. Also, respondents would no doubt differ in their perceptions about what local, national, and international markets represent, and interpretation of the data must be made with this in mind. Indeed, quali® cations along these lines are also applicable to other items in the questionnaire. A fourth limitation is that graduate perceptions of satisfaction with the university in the present study are retrospective. The veracity of retrospective perceptions is questionable, and to the extent that this is the case, the ® ndings in the present study are quali® ed. Notwithstanding this, it has been shown that graduate evaluations are for the most part accurate (Marsh, 1987) and so the information provided by graduates in this study can be considered to be a valid indicator of course acceptability and employment preparation. Indeed, the present data have been validated in part by employers of graduates at the target university and these validational data have indicated that employers are well satis® ed with the competencies developed in these graduates (Martin et al., 1997; Milne-Home et al., 1994). The ® nal quali® cation of the present study is that while the data relate to two



211

points in time (past satisfaction and later preparation), they are `static’ in the sense that they were collected together. Technically, then, it is not possible to make `causal’ statements about the relationship between satisfaction with the institution and perceived employment preparation. Future research studying these issues should aim to measure satisfaction with the institution while students are at university or immediately after course completion and measure employment preparation once they are in the workplace and are in a position to adequately assess their preparation for their employment. To conclude, the present study provides important data on the relationship between graduate satisfaction with the institution and perceived employment preparation. Moreover, the present study separated employment preparation into local, national and international levels and showed that in the context of a regional (rather than centrally located) institution, graduate satisfaction is most highly related to local employment preparation. Taken together, these ® ndings show that there are a number of characteristics of the institutionÐ quite within its controlÐ that can position it to meet the needs of local employers which, the study has shown, better prepares graduates at a wider level. Acknowledgement The research was funded under the Evaluations and Investigations Program by the Department of Employment, Education, and Training (DEET). Requests for further information about this investigation should be sent to Andrew Martin, PO Box 380, Summer Hill, 2130 Australia. E-mail: [email protected]. References ADELMAN, C. (1991) Women at Thirtysomething: paradoxes of attainment (Washington, DC, Government Printing Of® ce). AHGREN-L ANGE, U. & KOGAN, M. (1992) Strategies for university planning: meeting the needs of a new clientele, Higher Education Management, 4, pp. 7± 12. BANTA, T.W., PHILLIPI, R.H. & LYONS , W. (1991) Critique of a method for surveying employers, paper presented at the Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, San Francisco, 10± 13 May. BENTLER, P.M. (1990) Comparative ® t indexes in structural models, Psychological Bulletin, 107, pp. 238± 246. BENTLER, P.M. (1993) EQS: structural equations program manual (Los Angeles, Ca, BMDP Statistical Software). BRENNAN, J. (1985) Preparing students for employment, Studies in Higher Education, 10, pp. 151± 162. BUSINESS AND HIGHER EDUCATION ROUND TABLE (BHERT) (1991) Aiming Higher: business/higher education round table 1991 education surveys, Commissioned Report No. 1 (Camberwell, Victoria). BUSINESS AND HIGHER EDUCATION ROUND TABLE (BHERT) (1992) Educating for Excellence: business/higher education round table 1991 education surveys, Commissioned Report No. 2 (Camberwell, Victoria). CANDY , P.C. & CREBERT, R.G. (1991) Ivory tower to concrete jungle: the dif® cult transition from the academy to the workplace as learning environments, Journal of Higher Education, 62, pp. 570± 592.


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