ALTHOUGH MOST of the University of the West Indies' (UWI) recent graduates are employed, more than half have accepted jobs that require fewer qualifications, a study conducted by the university has found.

In addition, many of the graduates are settling for emoluments that, at least one human resource analyst believes, are less than what a university graduate should be receiving.

90 per cent found jobs

The survey was conducted this year among 2,464 graduates who left the institution in 2007. The findings indicate that 90 per cent of the graduates found employment after graduation, and 4.6 per cent proceeded to postgraduate studies. However, the study does not clearly indicate the length of time the graduates took to find a job, or whether a portion of the graduates had already been employed prior to obtaining an undergraduate degree.

The civil service absorbed most of the graduates, accounting for about 60 per cent of all those employed (37 per cent in central government/ statutory authorities and 23 per cent in public-sector institutions), while the private sector employed 23 per cent. Seven per cent were engaged by other entities.

"Interestingly, 65 per cent of the graduates are employed in three areas of critical importance to the country's development: education, health care and finance/banking," the UWI study noted.

But education analyst, Dr Ralph Thompson, questions the quality of the employment many of the graduates are finding, given that many of the jobs found do not require the candidates to have a first degree.

"The assumption, to me, is that these are low-paying jobs," Thompson comments. "That would mean, of the total cohort, (some of those) who got employment didn't really need to have a bachelor's degree. A good secondary education would have been perfectly OK for what they are doing," he argues.

Low salary

The study identifies that 61 per cent of the UWI graduates are earning $900,000 or more per year. According to Thompson, a veteran business executive, a salary below $1 million per annum is very low for a first-degree holder. "I have chief clerks and assistants who are making more than that! I would expect that anybody with a reasonable degree from the university should expect to start at at least $1.5 million per year," he tells The Sunday Gleaner.

Some graduates are earning as little as $16,000 per month, while others earn as high as $380,000 per month, the survey discloses.

Thompson believes that while the tertiary-education sector has been producing some excellent graduates, it appears the bulk are mediocre. Many do not get a good job in the private sector, he argues, where there is a greater demand for quality and, therefore, end up in the public sector. In this regard, he advocates the diversion of the 80 per cent subsidy of the tuition some tertiary students receive to the early childhood sector.

Declares Thompson: "We have been going for quantity rather than quality!"

Management consultant Robert Wynter says while the results of the study are nothing for the UWI to be proud of, the findings speak less of the quality of graduates and more about the narrow opportunities available in the labour market.

"It is saying that the people leaving university are taking the jobs of high-school graduates, which is pushing high-school graduates out of jobs," he says.

Wynter notes that the saturation of sectors such as education points to the very constricted prospects for graduates within the labour market.

"Historically, it has been shown that people go into teaching when they can't find another job," Wynter says.

Entrepreneurship focus

He, however, raises concern over the university's apparent lack of focus on entrepreneurship, which could help counter many of the problems in the labour market. Only a mere one per cent of graduates were self-employed, the study showed.

"It speaks to the difference between the UWI and UTech (University of Technology), which has been pushing entrepreneurship for a very long time," Wynter argues.

However, the UWI discloses in the study that it has now developed an entrepreneurship degree to prepare students to take on the challenge of operating their own enterprises.

At a Gleaner Editors' Forum last week, Merrit Henry, UWI student services manager with responsibility for the Placement and Career Services Unit, said the institution regularly conducted seminars with special focus on entrepreneurship. She pointed out that at the UWI's career expo this year, there were at least 10 booths featuring young entrepreneurs who were currently students at the university.

Mean monthly salary of graduates by faculties

Humanities and Education $98,181
Pure and Applied Sciences $90,700
Social Sciences $87,951
Medical Sciences $79, 480

Percentage of graduates by faculty

Social Sciences 38
Humanities and Education 35
Medical Sciences 13
Pure and Applied Sciences 13

N.B. Males (21 per cent of graduates) had a higher mean salary ($98,194) than females ($89,758).

Source: UWI tracer study 2009

gareth.manning@gleanerjm.com