Assessment on the quality of ethiopian higher education using the perspectives of the working environment; the case of addis ababa university graduates

Assessment on the Quality of Ethiopian Higher Education Using the Perspectives of the Working Environment; The Case of Addis Ababa University Graduates Leulsenaye Damena A Thesis Submitted to Graduate Studies of School of Social Work in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for Degree of Masters in Social Work (MSW) ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK GRADUATE STUDIES Addis Ababa, Ethiopia June, 2017 Assessment on the Quality of Ethiopian Higher Education Using the Perspectives of the Working Environment; The Case of Addis Ababa University Graduates BY Leulsenaye Damena A Thesis Submitted to Graduate Studies of School of Social Work in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for Degree of Masters in Social Work (MSW) Advisor: Fekadu Mulugeta (PHD) ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK GRADUATE STUDIES Addis Ababa, Ethiopia June, 2017 Addis Ababa University School of social work Graduate studies This is to certify that the thesis prepared by Leulsenaye Damena entitled: Assessment on the Quality of Ethiopian Higher Education Using the Perspectives of the Working Environment; The Case of Addis Ababa University Graduates and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Social Work (MSW) complies with the regulation of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality Signed by the Examining Committee: Examiner……………………………………Signature………………… Date………… Examiner……………………………………Signature………………… Date………… Advisor…………………………………… Signature…………………Date………… Acknowledgements I thank God for giving me the strength to finalize this study and for keeping my confidence well and alive My deepest gratitude goes to my advisor Dr Fekadu Mulugeta I really appreciate that you let me this research in my own way, without your assistance this thesis would not be materialized I would also like to thank my family (especially my mom and my aunt) and friends for providing me unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years If it was not for my friends, data collection would be impossible Last but not least I acknowledge graduate employees and owners/managers of different companies who have been the most important part of this study Your information was the pillars the findings Table of content Page Abstract I CHAPTER ONE 1 Introduction 1.1 Background 1.2 Statement of the problem 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Conceptual framework .3 1.5 Objectives of the study CHAPTER TWO .5 Literature review 2.1 Education 2.2 Types of education 2.3 Purposes of education 2.4 Quality of education 2.5 Measurement of education quality 2.6 Education and employment 10 2.6.1 Theoretical perspectives 10 2.6.2 Empirical perspectives .15 2.7 Education in Ethiopia .16 2.8 Quality of Ethiopian higher education 17 CHAPTER THREE .20 Methodology 20 3.1 Research design .20 3.2 Study area .20 3.3 Sampling 21 3.4 Method of data collection 23 3.5 Method of data analysis 23 CHAPTER FOUR 24 Data presentations and analysis 24 4.1 Social sciences .25 4.1.1 Brief background .25 4.1.2 Employees‘ perspectives towards social sciences 26 4.1.3 Employers‘ perspectives on the product of Social sciences 30 4.2 Natural and computational sciences (NCS) 31 4.2.1 Background 31 4.2.2 Employees‘ perspectives on NCS 32 4.2.3 Employers‘ perspectives on the products of NCS 35 4.3 Technology and Engineering 36 4.3.1 Background 36 4.3.2 Employees‘ perspectives on technology And engineering .37 4.3.3 Employers‘ perspectives on the products of Technology and engineering 39 4.4 Health sciences .40 4.4.1 Background 40 4.4.2 Employees‘ perspectives on health sciences 41 4.4.3 Employers‘ perspectives on the Products of health sciences 43 4.5 Business and Economics 44 4.5.1 Background 44 4.5.2 Employees‘ perspectives on business and economics .44 4.5.3 Employers‘ perspectives On the products of business and economics 47 4.6 Main findings 47 4.7 Implication to social work .49 CHAPTER FIVE 50 Conclusions and Recommendations 50 5.1 Conclusions 50 5.2 Recommendations 51 References Annex ABSTRACT Ethiopia is investing a significant portion of its national income on education in general and higher education in particular This study tried to assess the quality of Ethiopian higher education using the perspectives of the working environment The objective of the study is to explore what employers have to say about their graduate employees, employees‘ perspectives towards their higher education experience and finally creating a connection between these point of views and quality of Ethiopian higher education For the sake of its success, purposive sampling was implemented along with the use of interview and questionnaire for data collection Questionnaires were distributed to employees so as to reach out many respondents and interviews were conducted with owners, general and human resource managers The collected data were analyzed in a mixed research manner So as to analyze the questionnaires, simple descriptive statics and results from the interviews were used to the support the discussion parts The findings demonstrate that quality of education has a tight relationship with the working environment and Ethiopian higher education is failing in equipping graduates with essential skills like practical knowledge, entrepreneurship and business awareness It is very recommended that Ethiopian higher education institutions should begin working with business and industrial sectors so as to make graduates ready for the outside world after school life I CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND Education has a long history Since the first day of human beings existence, people are learning how to deal with their day to day life The primary aim of education is to sustain individual and societal improvement This process contains both tangible and moral dimensions Educational programs and policies play a pivotal role in these social and individual progresses Social progress clearly indicates a general development in the community in terms of economic, social and cultural aspects (Mimar Türkkahraman, 2012) Beyond its well-established socio-economic role, education also has a crucial socialization function through the shaping of personal and collective identities, the formation of responsible citizenship and the promotion of critical social participation, based on principles of respect for life, human dignity and cultural diversity Promoting respect for diversity within a human rightsbased approach can facilitate intercultural dialogue, help prevent conflict and protect the rights of marginalized groups, thus creating optimal conditions for achieving development goals (UNESCO, 2012) When we look at Africa, Africa is the world‘s most youthful continent with some 200 million young people between ages 15 and 24 Finding productive jobs for young people is critical to the continent‘s future An educated and skilled population is attractive to many employers and investors Many employers across Africa have been critical of the lack of basic, technical and transferable skills of graduates Strong education systems are key drivers of economic growth in African nations (AAI, 2015) Social development can be reflected on the quality of the education and vice versa A country with great set of educational system can easily achieve predetermined social and economic goals For instance, modern education was introduced to Ethiopia nearly a century ago However, the education and training offered during these long years had limited positive impact on the lives of the people and national development The education offered has not enabled to solve the problems of farmers, pastoralist, and change the lives of the overwhelming majority of the people (MoE, 2002) Different countries have their own structure of education Structuring education as primary, secondary and higher education is the most common manner Quality of education in each of these levels has various contexts The way we can study quality of primary education cannot be used in other levels and vice versa This particular study will specifically concentrate on higher education quality Throughout this paper quality of education is analyzed from the perspectives of the working environment Employers and employees play the major role in this study These perspectives from the working environment are used as a major parameter to study quality of Ethiopian higher education 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Higher education in Ethiopia‘s context is defined as ―education in the arts and sciences offered to undergraduates and graduate students who attend degree programmes.‖ (Federal Negarit Gazeta, 2009) It is widely accepted that an increase in the production of graduates from higher education will benefit African countries and will contribute to higher economic growth and employment in the continent (ADEA, 2015) Higher education in Ethiopia is elevating in tremendous rate and now we have more than 30 public universities This has its own positive sides as Ethiopia is in need of trained force so as to achieve determined goals of the country If we say enrollment is increasing along with the opened institutions, the next step is considering the quality of the given education because quality matters if we need the enrolled students to have ever lasting knowledge and life skills A paper written by UNICEF states that outcomes of quality education should encompass knowledge, skills and attitudes, and are linked to national goals for education and positive participation in society (UNESCO, 2000) Throughout the modern history of education governments were trying to come up with confident and peaceful generation This was reflected on their educational system but their success was in question For instance, if we look at Ethiopia‘s higher education proclamation, its first objective is ―to prepare knowledgeable, skilled, and attitudinally mature graduates in numbers with demandbased proportional balance of fields and disciplines so that the country shall become internationally competitive‖ (Federal Negarit Gazeta, 2009) This objective is to be supported by the members of the higher education system which includes academic staffs, students, policy makers, etc in article 41 of this proclamation; quality of higher education is explored Specifically sub article states that ―The designing of courses and their delivery shall be such that the courses shall add to the knowledge and skills students already have, cultivate constructive professional values, and bring about attitudinal changes and development in students at the end of the courses.‖ Obviously, the objective of higher education is clearly stated and the success of education in achieving its targets can be measured using various methods For example, the quality of educational input can be analyzed by assessing teachers‘ effectiveness, students‘ results and so on But in Ethiopia, a country where everyone is focused on the enrollment rate, the outcomes of higher education (graduates, in this case) are not taken in to account to analyze education quality While extending the number of higher education along with the enrollment rate, quality of it should be seen from different point of views Therefore, in this specific study, I tried to analyze the suitability of graduates in to the working environment and to see if it has any relationship with the quality of education Perspectives from the working environment are used as measurement tools to analyze quality of Ethiopian higher education 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS This study is conducted keeping the following questions in mind  What employers think about their graduate employees‘ capacities in the working environment (employers‘ perspective)?  What are the employees‘ perspectives towards the relationship between their current job and their educational background (employees‘ perspective)?  What both perspectives tell us about the quality of higher education in Ethiopia? 1.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK We understand how important education is in social development This obviously means, anything that affects the effectiveness of education will directly or indirectly affect the process of building a strong society The major concern of this paper is to study quality of education by analyzing suitability of graduates into the employment market This process of analysis covered study on the education 4.8.EMPLOYEES‘ PERSPECTIVES ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS Business and economics now has rooted its base in all of the public and private universities which in turn increases professionals in the working environment The basic question is whether these professionals are equipped with necessary skills or not Each table demonstrates the impact of higher education in improving necessary skills and getting graduates ready for the outside world Like we have been doing for the previous fields, let us start with business and practical skills In business and economics sector these skills are more than essential However, one out of four, employee not believe higher education established a convenient way of awareness creation about the out the outside business world Even if entrepreneurial skill has a better status compared to other fields, most employees are not confident enough to say they are entrepreneurs From cognitive skills that constitute three parameters only ability to process numerical data is in a better status compared to the other two skills One out of two employees believes the impact of higher education in developing adaptability and flexibility and cope up with work pressure is pretty much insignificant The higher education, according to the employees, is more concerned with theoretical studies which in turn make them know nothing about work pressure When we look at the Personal management skills in the business and economics sector, it is composed of personal commitment, attention on detail and working effectively on their own The impact of the higher education is average or below average This is due to lack of practical know-how The 4th parameter is instrumental and communication skills In this category, 25% of the employees believe that the contribution of higher education in developing computer and technical literacy is below average This is because of the scarcity of the different essential equipment The fifth category is interpersonal skills which involves working effectively with others When we measure interpersonal skill from the perspective of employees, the role of higher education is contributed better than the other fields However, there is still a room for improvement so as to some up with a better result 45 The last parameter is professional attitude and work ethics From the angle of business and economics, the low scoring sub parameter is reliability This skill is related to confidence in knowledge gathered from the higher education One out of four employees does not believe they are reliable enough to cope with the working environment 4.8.1 EMPLOYERS‘ PERSPECTIVES ON THE PRODUCTS OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS „Instead of focusing on theoretical knowledge, we should find a way to train students how to think‟ Private sector, HR manager Education is all about readiness of students to the outside world The big challenge comes here If the students not know how to function in the outside world beside the theoretical knowledge, it will be hard to adapt the working environment after graduation As per the requirement of the employment market the system should revise its system The major problems mentioned by the employers are: reluctance, dissatisfaction, afraid of challenges, frustration, job instability, lack of open mind, lack of office discipline and ethics Of course, some of these problems cannot be solved by higher education only The coordination of business sectors with higher education sectors can open a new window for practice and new challenges for the students 4.9 MAIN FINDINGS Despite the differences in the sectors and in the requirements of the employers, if we look at the above numbers, we can easily witness some sort of similarity in the results and the reasons behind For instance, if we look at the graduate employees and the skills they are equipped with after attending higher education (in spite of their department) has degree of similarity In this part we will try to see the most common findings Business awareness is the first parameter in which, on average, seven out of ten graduate employees in these five sectors believes their higher education did not contribute enough to make them active in the outside world These employees blame the theoretical based higher education 46 that filled them with theories instead of practical knowledge Employers have the similar insight in this aspect Three out of five employers believe without any training after recruitment, new graduates are have no idea how the working and business world functions Entrepreneurial skill is the common ground that makes the perspectives of all sectors almost the same On average 86% of higher education graduate employees believe their entrepreneurial skill after attending their respective departments is disappointing From the employers‘ angle, six out of eight employers believe the employees come to work with nothing new These employers believe, those who have developed this skill are trying their own business instead of getting employed When we look at the status of graduate employees in terms of their computer and instrumental literacy, fourth of the employees who were in the sample agree on one thing, Scarcity of instruments like computers and necessary equipment including laboratory and reading materials The trend of this skill fluctuates depending on the higher institution they attended at For instance, two out of five employees that have attended Addis Ababa University have a better computer skill but they did not get that skill from attending higher education Ethiopian higher education has also a little impact in elevating practical knowledge in all those sectors This skill is very much related to application of theoretical concepts Numerically, 87% of graduate employees who are in these sectors lack practical know-how Three out of four employees believe lack of practical knowledge made them encounter problems when they joined the working environment When these employees were asked if anything is missing from Ethiopian higher education, nine out of ten answers were concerned with lack of practical knowledge Employers agree that recent graduates are short of practice Two out of four employers agree that it takes time for new employees to adapt the new working environment When we see beyond the parameters, even employees who are happy with their grades are not confident enough to say they are equipped with most of the necessary skills To put this in numbers, four out of five employees with cumulative GPA ≥3.00 not believe they have the necessary skills to join the outside world According to five out of eight employers, using academic achievement as a recruiting criterion is a problematic approach as the grade does not justify the skills they possess 47 4.10 IMPLICATION TO SOCIAL WORK The results illustrated and analyzed in the previous sections can have two implications to the profession of social work These implications are in terms of developing effectiveness of social work in producing graduates who are ready to face the after school life and in terms of suggesting better ways of teaching learning process Like the other fields, social work has got a lot to in terms of making the field a better ground of knowledge Practical know-how, computer and technical literacy, personal commitment, ethical and social awareness, entrepreneurship and business awareness should be the major concern As the employers and NGO managers picked out, especially personal commitment needs a lot of work in the social science fields including social work As social work is concerned with developing polices and strategies, social workers involved with higher education should take a long and hard look at polices, strategies, modules and other essential matters that are responsible for the quality of Ethiopian higher education Implementations also require expertise of social work 48 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1.CONCLUSIONS From the previous chapter we can conclude that the quality of higher education is related to the employees‘ possession of different skills In other words, the quality of higher education is a determinant factor in elevating skills and qualities of graduates Most employees express their concern regarding the quality of Ethiopian higher education and its capability of equipping its products with essential skills Employers are finding it difficult to come up with the best criteria to recruit fit employees and needs the cooperation of higher education in terms of developing the right types of candidates Degrading higher education means, according to the employers, degrading economic, social and political situation As per the employees, Ethiopian policies regarding education in general and higher education in particular should focus on the quality instead of quantity Practical knowledge, entrepreneurial skill and business awareness and higher educations‘ contribution in elevating these skills is in a very critical situation where it needs a deep analysis The employers believe they are running out of fit employees with preferable skills and qualities Lack of these three skills ranked first Ethiopian higher education is failing to deliver what it was supposed to in terms of enhancing practical knowledge, entrepreneurial skill and business awareness despite recent developments Grades cannot define the skills and qualities that a certain person possesses According to the data presented in the previous section even those with good grade not have the required skills Examinations and other testing methods in current Ethiopian higher education institutes are theory focused Ethiopia is thriving in making higher education available for a better portion of the population As the higher education institutes are increasing in numbers, the problems that comes along with them is uncountable which directly or indirectly affect the quality of Ethiopian higher education Cost and other matter that comes along with quantity are affecting the products of the institutes in and after school 49 5.2.RECOMMENDATIONS During this paper participants (employers and employees) suggested some points that can make Ethiopian higher education fit and reliable If we accept that there are a set of generic skills or attributes that most employers are looking for in their employees, it follows that a curriculum developed around these requirements could provide a solution, particularly in helping individuals become work-ready An essential part of the curriculum should be the ability to learn Along with increasing quality of Ethiopian higher education, employers themselves believe mentoring is an extremely effective mechanism for employees to develop functional understanding and business socialization Not all training has to be formal Engaging managers and leaders in the ongoing education of their own staff is a high-impact, low-cost approach that can be easily adopted in any size of organization Employers in the manufacturing sector suggested that it should be compulsory for businesses to be involved in the design and delivery of professional education programmes, and governments should provide incentives for business to participate Engagement between industry, policy and education is vital at every stage Professional education can only meet its goals if industry clearly and continuously define its demands So as to increase practical knowledge, learning-by-doing has long been accepted as the most effective way of 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What was your field? How long was the graduation period? How you rate your stay in campus? Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Disappointing Where does your cumulative GPA fall? 2.00-2.5 2.5-3.00 3.00-3.5 above 3.5 Are you happy with your grades? Yes, why? _ No, why? _ PART TWO This part of the questionnaire is prepared to understand your level of the following parameters after passing through higher education There are 18 parameters that you are supposed to have after your life in campus This particular part of the questionnaire will enable us to discover the degree of Ethiopian higher education quality in terms equipping students in the following skills You can rate your skills as follows according to your level of the following skills and personal qualities Please keep in mind that these parameters are only concerned with your higher education experience: Excellent: - if your higher education helped you to have very high level of a particular skill  Very good: - if your higher education boosted your level of a specific skill  Good: - if your higher education increased your certain skill in a fine manner  Satisfactory: - if your higher education gave you enough of a particular skill  Disappointing: - if you don‘t have that skill after attending higher education  Not measurable: - if you already have that skill before attending higher education and higher education did not add any value Skills and capabilities Computer and technical literacy Foreign language capability Application of technical knowledge Effective verbal communication Effective written communication Working effectively with others Working effectively on their own Attention on detail Business awareness 10 Entrepreneurial skills Ability to process numerical data 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Adaptability and flexibility Positive attitude and energy Ethically and socially aware Reliability Personal commitment Professionalism and work ethic Ability to cope with work pressure Excellent very good Good Satisfactory Disappointing Not measurable PART THREE This part of the questionnaire deals with your general opinion about the relationship between your higher education and your professional life Please fill in the blank spaces when it is needed to Did you get the above skills and capabilities from your stay in higher education? Yes No If No, why? _ _ _ _ Did the higher education you attended to accommodated the above skills and personal qualities in its curriculum? Yes No In general terms, you think you are equipped with most of the above skills? Yes No Did you face any problems coping up with your working environment? Yes No If yes, what kind of problems? Is your higher education helping you in your professional life? Yes No Do you think anything is missing from Ethiopian higher education? Yes No If yes, what you think is missing? _ _ _ _ 10 What are your suggestions to make Ethiopian higher education better? _ _ _ -Thank you- .. .Assessment on the Quality of Ethiopian Higher Education Using the Perspectives of the Working Environment; The Case of Addis Ababa University Graduates BY Leulsenaye Damena A Thesis Submitted... entitled: Assessment on the Quality of Ethiopian Higher Education Using the Perspectives of the Working Environment; The Case of Addis Ababa University Graduates and submitted in partial fulfillment of. .. the challenges of measuring the quality of higher education in to measuring the effectiveness of higher education by studying the products of higher education in the working environment 2.6.EDUCATION