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Census reveals female graduates smarter than male counterparts
View(s):Engineering, Information Technology (IT), Medical graduates top the employment discipline while female graduates top the list of 1st Class Degrees holders, a census conducted by the Higher Education Ministry has revealed.
The ‘Graduand Employment Census 2012’ was conducted by the Higher Education Ministry project, ‘Higher Education for 21st Century’, assisted by a World Bank team headed by Dr Asoka Ramanayake, Senior Lecturer- Department of Statistics, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo. The census was conducted using over 15,000 graduates (who had their convocation in 2012) in 71 faculties/institutes from 14 State universities.
The objectives were to assess employment status and explore employment patters to identify problem areas.
The census stated that Arts graduates are the least employed (32.1%), while the highest is Engineering- 95% followed by IT- 92.5% and Medicine- 91.4%.
It also stated over 60% of Arts graduates have low job satisfaction, while IT graduates-89%, have the highest.
The highest employed were from Moratuwa University- 94.3%, while South-Eastern University- 33% was the lowest.
The study also highlighted that among professional Degrees, the lowest employed was (7.5%) from Swami Vipulananda Institute of Aesthetic Studies (SVIAS)- 7.5%, while Colombo Institute of Human Resources Advancement (IHRA)- 96.4%, was the highest.
The census revealed that 65% of the graduands were from urban and suburban areas, while 33% were from rural areas, with Colombo- 13%, Gampaha- 9%, Galle- 9% and Kurunegala- 8%. The least number of graduands were from Mannar and Mullaitivu.
Jaffna had the highest number of graduands per 10,000 people, while Nuwara Eliya had the lowest.
The highest number of unemployed graduates were from Mannar and Ampara, while those from the Western Province were more likely to be employed than others, the census found.
Females topped the academic performance list with 8% awarded 1st Class Degrees and 5% for males.
While 41% of males were not awarded a Class, only 21% of females failed to do so.
Graduands awarded 1st Class- 6.6%, 2nd Upper- 28.8%, 2nd Lower- 33.2% and not awarded a Class- 29.3% were also highlighted.
Those with English language proficiency were the highest- 71%, employed.
The census also revealed that 63% of rural graduands preferred public sector, while only 38% of urban graduands wanted the public sector.
A high percentage of graduands, IT- 85%, Engineering- 75% and Management- 72%, were employed in the private sector. However, a significantly high percentage of, Medicine- 71% and Arts- 47%, graduands were working in the public sector.
Colombo and Peradeniya University graduates had the highest expectation of their salary, while South Eastern, Eastern and Visual & Performing Arts Universities had the lowest.
A majority expected a monthly salary between Rs 20,000 – Rs 30,000, while 19% expected a monthly salary over Rs 50,000. Those who expected to earn less than Rs 10,000 per month, a majority (66%), were Arts graduates.
Among the suggestions made by interviewees were to provide job alerts via email or regular mail, provide at least one year’s job experience, revising curriculum to modern technology, make Computer Science compulsory, help improve spoken English, conduct workshops to train graduates on how to face job interviews and to prepare a complete curriculum vitae, help improve personality, hold job fairs within universities, provide guidance to students in selecting their Degree programme, and lower retirement age, are also in the list of recommendations.
-Nadia Fazlulhaq