Windhoek
The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) will soon conduct tracer studies, among others, to help provide information on the speed at which university graduates acquire jobs and the extent to which they are prepared for the high-skilled job market.
Deputy director of operations at the NCHE Sylvia Demas yesterday told New Era that government has been investing extensively in the education system by, inter alia, expanding access to and enhancing the quality of the higher education system, so as to support the country’s economic growth.
At the core of this investment, she said, is the need to address the mismatch between skills supply and labour force demand. She explained that one way of determining whether the quality of higher education is responsive to economic imperatives is by conducting tracer studies.
Two previous tracer studies of university graduates in Namibia were conducted during 2010/11 and 2013/14.
She said it is now planned that the third tracer study for graduates, who completed their studies in 2012 and 2013 at the University of Namibia (Unam), the then Polytechnic of Namibia or PoN (now Namibia University of Science and Technology – NUST) and the International University of Management (IUM), would be conducted from October 2016 to February 2017.
Demas also allayed the fears of some graduates, who believe the survey is aimed at tracing them down, as some still owe the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF).
She said the survey has nothing to do with tracing anyone down for owing the NSFAF, but is intended mainly to help provide up-to-date information on the speed at which the university graduates acquire jobs and the extent to which they are prepared for the job market.
“The study will require graduates to participate in the survey and provide information related to their demographic and educational background, as well as employment status.
“The majority of graduates in the target groups have changed contact details since their graduation. Therefore, the exercise starts with the collection and verification of contact details over the month of September 2016,” Demas noted.
She said graduates are required to submit the name of the university they graduated from, their full names, student numbers and their email address through a short SMS code to 55755.
Once the contact details have been obtained, graduates will be invited to participate in the survey by completing a questionnaire.
“The importance of the tracer study to socio-economic development of the country cannot be overstated. Therefore, all graduates who completed their studies at Unam, PoN (NUST) and IUM in 2012 and 2013 are encouraged to update their contact details and subsequently participate in the survey,” she advised.
Additionally, she said graduates’ participation is crucial to education and employment planning.