GRADUATE TRACER STUDY OF THE COLLEGE OF NURSING

Abstract

Nowadays, finding employment is as hard as finding a needle in a haystack. Moreover, many nursing graduates are noted to have work that is not related to their course in college. Graduate Tracer studies are essential for understanding the relevance and quality of programs offered by the universities as well as the labour market. The study determined the current work status and employment data of the graduates of the University of Cebu Lapulapu and Mandaue (UCLM) College of Nursing of all batches from 2007 to 2014. The findings served as a basis for a report on the employment data of UCnian nursing graduates. The data for this tracer study was gathered through the Graduate Tracer Tool (GTT) patterned from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED). In the data analysis, descriptive statistics was used. The employment data of the respondents showed the current work status of the nursing graduates. The majority of the respondents are employed. In their present occupation, most of the respondents assume professional work and the major line of business is in the health and social work sector. It was depicted that most of them are regular employees, have professional occupations and have local jobs in the health and social work field. Most are regular/ permanently and are locally employed. More than a half got their jobs within 1 to 6 months and almost twothirds of the respondents had jobs related to the course they took up in college. The competencies that the graduates find useful in their first job are communication skills, critical thinking skills and human relations skills.