Employer Satisfaction with 2003 Public Higher Education Graduates in Connecticut: Report on Pilot Study. Report
Author: Lessne, Deborah S.
Date: 2005-09-00
Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data
Subjects: Higher Education,Public Colleges,College Graduates,Job Skills,Educational Opportunities,Vocational Education,College Outcomes Assessment,Graduate Surveys,Occupational Surveys,Employer Attitudes,Pilot Projects,Research Reports,Educational Indicators,Job Satisfaction,Outcome Measures,Achievement Rating,Skill Analysis,Skill Development,Educational Needs,Labor Needs,Statistical Surveys,Statistical Data,Academic Achievement,Education Work Relationship,Work Experience,State Surveys,Accountability,Best Practices,Effective Schools Research

This report contains the results of a pilot survey of employer satisfaction with Connecticut's  public college graduates from the class of 2003 conducted by the Department of Higher  Education (DHE) in the spring of 2005. The project was part of a four-state project entitled,  &quot;Defining Best Practices for Responsible Accountability Models in Higher Education,&quot; funded  by the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education  (FIPSE). The study found that a total of 9,260 graduates of the class of 2003 from the University of Connecticut (UConn), Connecticut State University (CSU) and the Community Colleges (CC), collectively known as the constituent units, were employed at 4,330 Connecticut companies. This yielded an overall in-state employment rate of 89 percent. A total of 3,007 of these companies then were surveyed about their satisfaction with basic skills, professional skills, personal attributes and job skills of these graduates. In all, 931 of the survey recipients formally contacted DHE after receiving the survey, for a contact rate of 22.6 percent. Of these, 696 surveys were actually completed for an overall response rate of 17 percent. This is significantly higher than the 12-14 percent range generally expected from general, mass-mailing surveys. Overall satisfaction with public graduates was &quot;very high&quot;. On a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 meaning &quot;very satisfied&quot; and 1 meaning &quot;very dissatisfied,&quot; Connecticut employers rated overall satisfaction at 3.45, falling between &quot;satisfied&quot; and &quot;very satisfied&quot; (Table 3). The vast majority (79%) of the respondents indicated that the graduates evaluated in the survey had the necessary skills for promotion in the business. Almost 95 percent indicated that they would hire other graduates from that institution. The pilot study has yielded good news for Connecticut public colleges in terms of overall satisfaction and has provided, for the first time, some useful information for improvement, particularly in the skills areas. In particular, &quot;Professional Skills&quot; such as team building needs to be enhanced by our colleges. These skills tend to improve with workforce experience, so increasing work and/or internship opportunities for students through state-level incentives or other means would be an important area to explore further. The study also highlights some of the difficulties in tracking graduates into the workforce and surveying employers on workforce success. However, given the importance of workforce development for Connecticut's economic future, investment in improving tracking systems such as these is critical. (Contains 12 tables, 5 charts and 4 endnotes.)