Practices and Prospects of Enhancing Employability of Addis Ababa University Engineering Graduates

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the practice and prospects of graduate employability at the Institute of Technology, Addis Ababa University. The study employed a mixed approach in which the quantitative aspect was a descriptive survey design. Four departments from three schools were purposively selected and included in the study. A total of 161 final-year (graduate class) students were selected by using a simple random sampling and all their respective instructors (i.e., 64) were consulted. Furthermore, two career center heads, two department heads, and three professional association heads were purposively selected and included. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire, interview, and document review. The collected data were analyzed through quantitative analysis techniques: mean percentage, independent sample t-test, principal components analysis and one way ANOVA. The qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The result of the study indicated that out of 29 employability enhancement factors, 17 factors were identified as significant factors by the principal factor analysis technique and used for further parametric tests. The study results also showed that instructors and students had similar awareness about graduate employability. Besides, one-way ANOVA signified that there were no statistically significant differences among departments in employability enhancement practices in three sets of employability enhancement practices out of four. Finally, the study concluded that the employability enhancement practices do not give adequate support to help students enhance their employability possibilities in the current and future labor market. The study recommended that the university needs to promote employability pedagogy that includes the practice-based and work-based teaching-learning process.