​FOLLOW-UP TRACER STUDY ON GRADUATES OF TERTIARY-LEVEL COLLEGES

Human resources play an important role in the overall development of a country. Education has a major role to play in human resource development. Therefore, every country attaches a greater premium to the viability and sustainability of its education to human resource development. To fulfill the human development needs of the country, a baseline study on tertiary-level colleges was conducted in 2017 to provide a snapshot of the current situation of tertiary college education with a special focus on the relevance and external efficiency as well as quality of education. Based on this the first round Tracer Study on Graduates of Tertiary-Level Colleges was conducted in 2021.

BIDS is planning to conduct the follow-up Tracer Study in May-June, 2023 with a new cohort of graduates, students, and employers to assess how college graduate job market outcomes have changed. The follow-up tracer study will also assess the overtime labor market relevance of tertiary college-level education and analyze its contributions to the development of a highly-skilled, well-educated workforce and accelerated job creation in Bangladesh.

This survey will be carried out through a mixed-method approach with quantitative and qualitative aspects. Structured questionnaires, Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), and Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) will serve the purpose of encompassing this widely used approach. 

The main objective of this study is to enhance policy dialogue on the labor market relevance of college-level education and their contributions to job creation in Bangladesh based on the new evidence collected by the study. This study will also provide insights to inform the ongoing and future operations for the higher education college education system, especially in providing overtime information on the education quality in project-supported institutions. 

The survey will focus on the following aspects: 

• In-depth assessments of labor market outcomes and economic activities of graduates; 

• Current students’ socio-economic backgrounds, motivation, financing agreements and perceptions on college education, market relevance of college education; 

• Training and employers’ views on post-secondary education; 

• Analysis of challenges in education quality and relevance of college education; and 

• Recommendation for future policy direction for improving the quality and relevance of the tertiary college sub-sector.

Team: Dr. Badrun Nessa Ahmed (Team Leader), Dr. Binayak Sen, Dr. S. M. Zulfiqar Ali, Rizwana Islam.

Duration: February 2023 to August 2023

Sponsor: College Education Development Project (CEDP), Ministry of Education.