Human resources play an important role in the overall development of a country. It is an incontrovertible fact that human capital remained the most important factor of production in the 21st century. Education has a major role to play in human resource development. Therefore, every country attaches a greater premium on 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.

The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) conducted the first-round tracer study on graduates of tertiary-level colleges in 2021 to trace the graduates from a sample of NU-affiliated tertiary colleges and to assess the labor market outcome and relevance of the tertiary colleges. The students who graduated (Degree/Honors/Masters programs) in 2017 have been chosen from a sample of NU-affiliated tertiary colleges.