By Dawit Tadese

Holeta Polytechnic College conducted a workshop validate results of the graduate tracer study conducted to examine the job placement profiles of its graduates. The study also assessed competences of trainers and graduates, institutional capacity, and industry linkage in their respective fields.

The Dean Holeta Polytechnic College, Mr. Getachew Chibsa, welcomed participants to the workshop and briefed them about activities of the college related to the ESATRIP project. He emphasized that conducting tracer study was one of the very important tasks to enable the college to evaluate its performance in terms of meeting ESATRIP objectives. The workshop was moderated by Dr. Teferi Daba, the EASTRIP Project Coordinator at Holeta Polytechnic College.

A total of 154  participants took part in the study and these included 120 level IV and degree graduates, 11 employers and 23 college administrative staff, department heads & instructors that was 154 in total were interviewed.

According to findings of the study 37% of the graduates were employed positions related to their study programmes, 24% employed to a certain extent employed in similar roles while  39% were employed in positions which were not related to their field of study. The study also revealed that nepotism, corruption, huge investments required, and informal labour market are some of the challenges that graduates have to grapple with while searching for work. The study also revealed that even after graduation, graduates might still lack the appropriate skills needed for project formulation. Graduates recommended that there is need for more information on available employment opportunities, and improvement in employment conditions. The workshop participants endorsed the findings of the graduate tracer study with recommendations.

The Writer is a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at Holeta Polytechnic College