BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

GRADUATES: A TRACER STUDY

Chapter 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction
Information technology plays an important role to education. New and emerging

technologies challenge the traditional process of teaching and learning and the way things are

managed and controlled. Easy worldwide communication provides instant access to a vast array

of data, challenging assimilation and assessment skills. It is indeed important that people in any

organization, establishment and in the academe especially the administrators to be aware of the

functions and benefits of using the information technology.

Information technology helps to produce, manipulate, store, communicate, and/or

disseminate information. Technology has opened up new markets, new products, new services and

efficient delivery channels for the banking industry. Online electronics banking, mobile banking

and internet banking are just a few examples.

Marinduque State College is an educational institution in the province of Marinduque that

responds to the fast changing demands of the information technology. The demand for computer

specialists prompted the state college to offer courses in information technology. The School of

Information and Computing Sciences which has operated in _________. The college started from

_____ students in the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. The department of the

college now offers three programs such as Bachelor of Science in Information Systems, Bachelor

of Science in Information Technology and Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.

 It is the main task of the college to develop a curriculum in the IT field that caters to the

needs of the industry by providing graduates who are globally competitive and equipped with the

necessary IT knowledge and skills. One of the objectives of the institution is to determine the

employability status of the graduates of the program in information technology locally and abroad.

The administration also aims to provide the industry with the graduates who are well-equipped

with the knowledge and skills.

This tracer study is a follow up study to determine the employment status of Bachelor of

Science in Information Technology (BSIT) of Marinduque State College from 2007-2018. It

determines and assesses the effectiveness and the relevance of BSIT curricula, knowledge, skills

and work values acquired by the graduates to their employment; identify the personal and

professional characteristics and job placement of Information Technology graduates and the school

related factors associated with their employment. The findings of the study will serve as the basis

of the researcher to improve, update or enhance the curricula of BSIT program and other related

program in the Department of Computing Sciences to make this more responsive to the needs of

fast changing technology and employment demands.

Statement of the Problem

The study aims to determine the factors associated to the job placement of the graduates of

Bachelor of Science in Information Technology in Marinduque State College from Academic Year

2007-2018 through a tracer study.

Specifically, it seeks answers to the following questions:

1. What is the job placement profile of the respondents in terms of:

 1.1 Job after graduation;

1.2 Present employment;

1.3 Reasons if unemployed; and

1.4 Employment Status and Nature of Employment;

2. What is the relevance of the following school-related factors to the job placement of the

respondents in terms of:

2.1 Curriculum and Instruction;

2.2 Faculty and Instruction;

2.3 Student Services;

2.4 Organization and Administration; and

2.5 Community Extension, Linkages and Research

3. What are the competencies/skills and work related values developed by Marinduque

State College-Boac, Marinduqe considered by the respondents useful in meeting the demands of

their present work?

4. What plan of action can be proposed to enhance the relevance of the Bachelor of Science

in Information Technology to improve the employment rate of its graduates?

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study will be an evaluation of graduates of the School of Information and Computing

Science of Marinduque State College (Boac), from Academic Year 2007-2018 and limited only to

the graduate of Bachelor of Science in Information Technology. It will delve into profile of the

graduates in terms of job placement such as job after graduation, present employment, reasons if

unemployed, employment status and nature of employment. Others are relevance of the school-

related factors to the job placement in terms of curriculum and instruction, faculty and instruction,

student services, organization and administration, and community extension, linkages and

research. Likewise, it will look on the competencies/skills and work related values developed by

Marinduque State College-Boac, Marinduqe considered by the respondents useful in meeting the

demands of their present work. Results will yield to the proposed plan of action to enhance the

relevance of the program of Information Technology to improve the employment rate of its

graduate.

It excludes other programs offered by the School of Information and Computing Sciences

such as Bachelor of Science in Information System and Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

because this programs have different time frame of operation and may have different aspects as

well.

Significance of the Study

This study would be beneficial to the following:

School of Information and Computing Sciences. Results of this study will provide objective

data and concrete evidence of the worth and quality of its information technology program, its
effectiveness, adequacy and relevance to the graduates, personal, employment, professional

development and growth, socio-economic productivity and satisfaction.

Marinduque State College. Findings of this study will provide insights on the adequacy

and effectiveness of their information technology programs, thereby providing them with sound

bases for the formulation and implementation of better policies and appropriation to effect better

quality IT program.

Instructors/Professors. Results of this study will enable instructors/professors to deduce

commendations that could be favorably and seriously considered by the institution authorities in

curriculum planning. Further, they will be provided with knowledge on the achievement of the

graduates which may in turn improve their services in the IT program.

Researchers. Results of this study will help the researchers of the School of Information

and Technology undertake similar researches in their own so that adequate research on the IT

programs will be conducted.

 Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Tracer Study
According to Mendoza (2016) tracer study is an approach widely being used in most

organizations especially in the educational institutions to track and to keep record of their students

once they have graduated from the institution. It is the follow up of graduates of higher education

or institutions. Its aim is to evaluate one’s progress up to the time he or she gets a job. Moreover,

tracer study is also a means of assessing the availability and quality of the graduates, hence,

through a tracer study, the institution is able to know and monitor the relevance of their programs

to the job market. It provides also an information as to whether the educational institution has to

review or modify the learning competencies and redesign an on- job-training for the graduates.

Moreover, a tracer study benefits every institution, most especially the Department of

Education (DepEd) and the public schools because it helps them know the status of their products

after graduating from their institution. It also measures the relevance of training courses and

documents, the number of trainings needed of trainees finding employment in their trained

occupation. Similarly, it helps in gathering and documenting feedback from the graduates that can

help improve curriculum planning, provision of intervention and reinforcement that contribute

towards improvement of skills and competencies learned by the graduates. Through a tracer study,

the educational institution can evaluate the quality of education it has given to its graduates by

knowing the graduate placement and position in the society which later can be used a benchmark

in producing more qualified and competent graduates (Mendoza, 2016).

 Truly, one of the factors that determine the effectiveness of an academic institution is

through the employability of its graduates. The quality of graduates is very much a function of

quality instruction and facilities because these will help ensure that graduates are equipped with

the knowledge, skills and values that will enable them to work in their respective field. This is very

true in the case of graduates of in demand course like Information Technology. The status of the

employability of its graduates is tracked to find out the usefulness of the learning competencies

and skills learned by the IT graduates and its relevance to their job. It is essential to find out how

the college can best improve the teaching of the skills relevant to the job. The employability is

track through tracer study.

Information Technology Education

Pirani and Salaway (2014) study entitled “Information Technology Alignment in Higher

Education” Alignment is defined as “the proper positioning or state of adjustment of parts, or an

arrangement of groups or forces in relation to one another.” For an information technology (IT)

organization, “proper positioning” within an institution becomes inherently more important as

technology emerges as a common thread in collegial and institutional activities. In ever more

circumstances, the actions of the institution and the IT organization affect the decisions of the

other.

Yet alignment can be difficult for IT leaders in higher education to achieve. The heart of

information technology’s alignment with an institution is a common understanding of that

institution’s priorities. But higher education’s idiosyncrasies cloud the process. Individual colleges
frequently operate as independent entities, creating distinct organizational cultures and managing

many academic, research, and administrative activities locally.

Gillard, Balley, and Nolan (2016), a study entitled “Ten Reasons for IT Educators to be

Early Adopters of IT Innovations” states that Professionals in the information technology field are

bombarded with an incessant stream of innovations in hardware and software as well as practices,

methods, and techniques. IT educators are among the first targets in the market and must decide if

and when to adopt these innovations in their instruction of students and professional endeavors.

The risks are not small: educators must weigh the impact on budgets, time management schedules,

instructional strategies, and student recompense.

Various factors influence IT adoption among IT educators. Budget restraints, institutional

resources, instructional support materials, timing, time, personal preferences, and personnel

decisions (or lack thereof) are but a few of the many possible factors. It is not feasible, practical,

nor prudent to adopt new technologies simply for the sake of adopting the “newest and latest”.

There are, however, numerous opportunities for the IT educator to choose whether to adopt an

applicable IT innovation. It is that juncture (adopt or do not adopt) that is the topic of this article.

School Related Factors

A study entitled “A Case Study Of School - Related Factors Affecting Nigerian Secondary

School Pupils’ Academic Performance” by Bojuwoye (2013), mentioned that some school-related

characteristics were highly rated by both the teachers and the students to indicate that these

characteristics have much more stronger effects on pupil academic performance than the other
characteristics not so highly rated. It is however very interesting that these highly rated

characteristics are related, that is, the effect of one leads to the other.

Inadequate resource materials for teaching seem to be the characteristic that has the greatest

effect on pupil academic performance. From the discussion it could be seen that other school-

related characteristics revolve around this characteristic of the school. Thus it has been argued that

without adequate resource materials for teaching in a large over-populated classroom and with the

teacher having overload of teaching schedule such a situation can dampen the spirit of an

articulated teacher and make her or him very ineffective.

The literature on poor academic performance by school pupils reveals as causes factors

related to personal characteristics of pupils and factors related to the pupils' environment – the

school and the home. In support of the pupil environment as a factor in academic achievement

Maclean (2016) and Little and Thompson, (2013) note that the difficulties resulting in failure by

the pupils may not necessarily lie with the child but with the educational system and in particular

the school.

Employment

Employment is an integral factor in providing a sense of purpose, direction, and self-esteem

necessary to the overall physical and mental health of an individual. In contrast, unemployment in

the economic sense means the inability of the national economy including public and private

sectors to create sufficient jobs to absorb those who are of working age, capable, and looking for

work. The problem of unemployment is global one affecting the economies of both developed and

developing countries.
 A widely accepted definition of employability is it is a set of achievements - skills,

understandings and personal attributes – that make graduates more likely to gain employment and

be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the

community and the economy (HEA, 2012). In developing and implementing effective

employability strategies, the framework says, HEIs need to consider what their interpretation of

employability is, how it can be translated into practice, how students and staff can be engaged,

current practice, and how to monitor progress. The framework supports them in doing this. The

process consists of four stages: discussion and reflection; reviewing and mapping; action, and

evaluation. As well as providing a summary of recent models and definitions relating to

employability, the framework uses questions to promote discussion and arrive at shared decisions

to develop a strategy.

In the Philippines, the unemployment rate in April 2017 was estimated at 5.7 %, lower than

the unemployment rate in April 2016 which was 6.1 %. Among the regions, Ilocos Region

(10.4%), National Capital Region (NCR) (7.2%) and CALABARZON (7.1%) had the highest

unemployment rates. Among the unemployed persons in April 2017, 63.7% were males. Of the

total unemployed, the age group 15 to 24 years comprised 49.5%, while the age group 25 to 34,

comprised 29.3% (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2017).

Truly, the largest percentage of unemployed Filipinos comprised of younger adults. One

attribute to the unemployment and difficulty of finding jobs among younger people is the

educational attainment. Accordingly, 33.5 % of the unemployed young adults finished only Junior

High School; others are school leavers and drop-outs who lack the employability skills needed by

the industry employers (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2017).

 The study of Ruby Absuelo of Edith Cowan University entitled Employability of

Philippine college and university graduates in the United States (2014) revealed employability was

enhanced when Philippine graduates networked with Weak Ties during initial employment and

continued to be advantageous for being adequately employed (i.e. resulted in lower

underemployment). However, lower employability and underemployment negatively affected

graduates with a bachelor‘s degree (particularly a business-related degree), those who were less

proficient in English, and those who were Green Card holders. The factors that were influential in

the employability of Philippine graduates coincided with the labor market demands of the

American employers sampled in the study. The thesis found that the current status of Philippine

graduates has improved substantially with a higher percentage of the respondents obtaining jobs

commensurate with their educational qualifications as opposed to their initial employment.

Philippine graduates with medical technology degrees were particularly successful at

obtaining jobs commensurate with their educational qualifications despite relatively few holding

advanced degree, but on average this group had resided in the U.S. the longest. Graduates with

business-related degrees continued to lag behind those in other degree fields and experienced lower

employability and higher underemployment. Despite their initial employment disadvantage, these

degree holders were less likely to pursue continuing education or receive additional U.S.

school/educational credits. The findings of this thesis provide insight into the employability of

Philippine graduates. Because of the sampling restrictions, the findings cannot be extrapolated

beyond the scope of this research. These results should only be treated as indicative within the

context of this research. However, they provide useful insights for policy-makers, stakeholders

and academics in the Philippines (http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/868/).

 A study conducted by Business, Industry and Higher Education Collaboration Council on

Graduate Employability Skills (August 2017) emphasized that the higher education sector is

characterized by diversity; course and student profiles are different and universities aim to develop

students with distinct characteristics or attributes. Universities have taken different approaches in

the manner in which they develop graduate employability skills. Universities work to develop

employability skills in their students by providing academic staff with relevant support and

resources, integrating these skills into curriculum and course design, providing students with work

placements and exposure to professional settings and providing advice and guidance through

career services. Universities offer students opportunities for developing themselves through

participation in clubs and societies and university life. Students need to take responsibility for

reviewing or assessing their own employability skills, addressing gaps and then pursuing

appropriate ways to report or present relevant

Although the study found that history graduates are relatively weak on leadership,

teamwork and numeracy/IT skills, interestingly, when these graduates were asked which skills had

been actually needed in their first job, spreadsheets and databases came low on the list. This may

represent an element of self-selection in that graduates with weak IT skills avoid occupations

where strong ones are required.

Haberman’ (2014) study entitled “A Computer Science Educational Program for

Establishing an Entry Point into the Computing Community of Practice” states that The rapid

evolvement of the computing domain has posed challenges in attempting to bridge the gap between

school and the contemporary world of computing, which is related to content, learning culture, and

professional norms. We believe that the interaction of high-school students who major in computer
science or software engineering with leading represent at lives of the computing community of

practice may motivate them to pursue their studies further or pursue a career in the field.

A long-term formative evaluation of the program has been conducted regarding: (1)

students' attitudes towards the "different-from-school" style of learning that characterizes the

program, and (2) students' performance in developing projects. In this paper, we specifically

discuss the contribution of resources that students used for various phases of the project

development activity. We found that the following categories of resources were employed by the

students: self-learning, mentors, bibliographic resources (the Web, professional articles,

professional books), school resources (a school teacher, school learning, and materials), and other

human resources s (i.e., a classmate the student’s age, a family member, a grown-up acquaintance).

Laguador’s (2015) tracer study of computer engineering graduates revealed that majority

of the employed respondents are working in line with the Computer Engineering course, almost

one-third of the respondents are performing responsibilities not related to the course completed.

Nevertheless, some of them are working with a little application of computer.

Almost half of the currently employed graduates were engaged in one (1) job prior to their

present employment. On the other hand, one – fourth of the employed respondents are still working

with the company that gave them their first job opportunity. Furthermore, “no previous experience

on the position applied for” is the number one problem encountered by the computer engineering

graduates when looking for a job followed by pre-employment interviews and pre-employment

exams. Most of the companies are looking for skilled and well – experienced workers for vacant

positions in the company. During the respondents’ on-the-job training, they were supposed to be

trained in a computer – related environment, exposed to recent software products and do hardware

troubleshooting and maintenance chores.

 Inadequate oral communication skills is another problem of Computer Engineering

students during interview sessions, but this is also quite true to other fields of engineering. This is

simply because they are much engaged in logical and analytical operations wherein they need to

do and think these actions by themselves rather have interaction with other people. (cited in

Laguador, et al 2013).

Curriculum and Instruction

As stated in the CHED Memorandum Order No.25 Series of 1995, on Policies and

Standards for Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, the objectives that students by the time

they graduate are envisioned to: (1) have undergone the training in abstract and analytical

processes; (2) have developed personal and social values;(3) have acquired technical skills; (4) be

grounded in appropriate concepts and principles; and (5) be adaptive to the work environment.

Likewise, according to CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No.05 Series of 1998, on

Policies and Standards for Associate in Computer Technology Program, the objectives of a non-

degree program in Information Technology are: (1) Equip the students with the specific skills for

entry into the information technology profession, and (2) prepare the students for eventual entry

into the regular degree program of the Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Information

Technology and Information Management.

Tedre’ (2017) study entitled “Know Your Discipline: Teaching the Philosophy of

Computer Science” states that the diversity and interdisciplinary of computer science and the

multiplicity of its uses in other sciences make it hard to define computer science and to prescribe

how computer science should be carried out. The diversity of computer science also causes friction
between computer scientists from different branches. Computer science curricula have been

criticized for being unable to offer computer scientists proper methodological training or a deep

understanding of different research traditions.

According to the study of Dotong and Laguador (2016), English and Mathematics subjects

are relevant as perceived by the respondents to their job placement; the only professional subjects

which falls within the descriptive rating of very relevant is “Microsoft Packages”. Instructional

Competencies of the Faculty members are also relevant; students’ services contributed above

average of slight relevance to the job placement and the plant and facilities including laboratories

were perceived by the respondents to be also relevant to their job.

Faculty and Instruction

In the Philippines, the Presidential Commission on Educational Reform (PCER) conducted

a study regarding the status of Philippines education and came out with a report in April 2000. One

of the significant findings of the said report is specific proposal number 5, which is most recent

and relevant to this study. According to the report, “The quality of higher education in any

institution depends on the quality of its faculty. For this reason, the government prescribes that

teachers at the tertiary level must have a Master’s Degree in the field in which they teach.

The quality of education depends largely on the qualifications and competencies of the

faculty. In view of the faculty’s vital role in influencing education outcomes, the Commission on

Higher Education (CHED) requires that teachers at higher education level must have at least

master’s degree in the fields in which they teach. CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 40, s.

2008 which requires all higher education institutions (HEIs) faculty to have at least master’s degree
shall be fully implemented by AY 2011-2012. Hence, there is need to encourage and provide

assistance to HEIs to enable them to meet this CMO requirement.

The faculty of the school has, and maintains expertise to accomplish the mission and to

ensure this occurs; the school has clearly defined processes to evaluate individual faculty

member’s contribution to the school’s mission. The school specifies for both academically

qualified and professionally qualified faculty, the required initial qualification of faculty (original

academic preparation and/or professional experience) as well as requirements for maintain faculty

competences. (AACSB 2009).

Student Services

Troll study (2011) initiate discussion among a small group of university and college library

directors being convened by the Digital Library Federation (DLF) and the Council on Library and

Information Resources (CLIR) to explore how and why libraries and library use are changing. This

exploration is envisioned as the first step in a larger initiative that includes conducting research

and presenting the research results to library directors, their provosts, presidents and faculty. The

ultimate goal is to facilitate understanding of how and why libraries are changing and better

position the library to meet the needs and expectations of university and college administrators

and library users.

Though librarians have always collected data to support strategic planning, the rampant

changes precipitated by new technologies are making traditional performance measures less

effective in demonstrating the library's contribution to higher education. The first section of this

paper explains the problem in detail and describes what is at stake. The second section analyzes

the intrinsic limitations of traditional measures and our understanding of the trends they reveal.
The third section addresses some environmental factors that may help us understand why library

use is changing. The paper concludes by proposing research designed to help fill the gaps in our

understanding of changes in library use.

The school – related factor like library was perceived slightly relevant to the job placement

of the computer engineering graduates. The availability of local and foreign books and materials,

conduciveness to study and research and accessibility of the Library to students were perceived

below average of relevance. Accounting/Cashiers Office and Registrar’s Office were perceived

slightly relevant to the job placement of the respondents. The College Dean’s Office and

Counseling and Testing Center were perceived “relevant” by the respondents to their job

placement (Laguador & Dotong, 2015).

Among the student services offered by the Lyceum of the Philippines University Batangas

to the graduate – respondents, extracurricular activities ranked number 1, followed by College

Dean’s Office and Counseling and Testing center ranking numbers 2 and 3 respectively. Health

services ranks lowest. This could be because only those students with health problems or students

suffering bad medical conditions got to the school clinic.

Organization and Administration

Lucey (2012) made mention the school administration plays a very important role in

student development. While research has not determined a direct relationship between

administration and student achievement, administration does strongly influence school

environmental conditions affecting such growth. Classroom experiences represent one area.

Classroom teachers strongly motivate students and stimulate their long term successes.
 These motivations have lasting effects. School administrators should facilitate

environments allowing classroom teachers such opportunities. Such processes would use intrinsic

motivators, prompt self-reflection and development to prompt a cooperative, trusting relationship.

Unless the administration provides a school setting that supports teacher morale, only the

most mentally disciplined teacher will differentiate between the administrative burdens and learner

needs. Future research should consider the effectiveness of teacher coping measures for dealing

with such circumstances. Findings from such research would provide teachers stronger abilities to

focus on student developmental needs. Research into effective methods for developing

administrator prioritization and personal skills would also support environments promoting student

development.

Helens’ (2013) study entitled “Perceptions of ICT Careers in German Schools: An

Exploratory Study” reports on an exploratory investigation of the perceptions of information and

communication technology (ICT) as a field of study and work in German secondary schools. A

total of 160 students from five secondary schools in Lower Saxony participated in the study in

February 2013, and four teachers of the students were interviewed. The investigation is part of the

research carried out by the authors within the Griffith University Women in Information

Technology project, which has been studying the problem of low female participation since 2005.

Community Extension and Linkages

The Community is described as a group of people living and or working in defined

geographical and social boundaries; has Leadership and decision making processes; and consists
of diverse social, cultural and economic groups. They are the direct or indirect beneficiaries of the

services.

The Community Extension Worker is the main actor, living and deriving a livelihood

within the community, but is not necessarily born there. Hence a CEW is accessible and

understands the community’s strengths, vulnerabilities and aspirations better than usually more

educated, professional extension agents. S/he knows the language and has intrinsic understanding

of community cultural norms, customs and practices. CEWs are capable animators who can

persuade or attract others to good farm practices through teaching, visiting and demonstration in

the process of carrying out their farm work. (Kafeero & Namirembe, 2013).

Kilpatrick on his study “Maturing school–community partnerships: developing learning

communities in rural Australia” emphasized that Communities and schools that share the belief

that education is the responsibility of the whole community and work together, drawing on skills

and knowledge of the community as a whole, experience benefits that extend far beyond producing

a well-educated group of young people. The level of maturity of the school–community

partnership dictates how schools and communities go about developing and sustaining new

linkages, or joint projects.

The approach to school–community relationships, however, is crucial to its long-term

chances of success. A tactical approach involving a series of tactics or quick fixes, or a strategic

approach focusing only on particular areas of weakness and strategies to address these areas, are

not as likely to be as successful as ongoing capacity building arising from a sense of shared school–

community vision for the future. It must be recognized that building of school–community

partnerships occurs over time, and leadership processes must acknowledge and build on this.
Conceptual Framework of the Study

Knowing the whereabouts of the graduates, their working conditions and their retrospective

assessment of the course they finished, this research was pushed through. The study was anchored

on the concept of Policy Extremes developed by Kaijage (as cited by Parreño, 2015). There are

three policy extremes that aim to know the whereabouts of the students after graduation. The first

one relates to the education system with objectives independent of the employment system. The

second policy is when the vocational education wholly determines and shapes the needs and

demands of the employment system. The third extreme is where the education system is proactive

such that it molds and influences the employment system.

It is also anchored on the concept of employability. Indeed, employability upon graduation

and over the long term is understandably the major priority for the vast majority of college or

university students. Over the past two decades or so, the university has increasingly offered a wide

spectrum of higher education courses that provide students with the necessary tools enabling them

to develop their employability skills, to heighten their own awareness of these skills and to improve

their ability to articulate them. These skills, once acquired, of course need to be honed throughout

one's working life, being put into practice not only in job searching and during interviews but also

in personal development planning and in making the most of work experience opportunities. There

is no doubt that a student's life-long learning capability and therefore his/her employability is

enhanced through their university experience. The core mission that the university continues is the

creation of an open space of higher learning within a life-long perspective. This is based on equity

of access and should be seen as an opportunity for individual development, allowing all those

capable of benefiting from higher education to integrate better into the global knowledge society.
 Providing employment for an expanding population is one of the greatest challenges

nations must have to face the present time. This is particularly acute in developing countries where

the rate of population growth far outstrips job opportunities. Mounting a drive to meet that

challenge should come not only from the government but also from the private sector.

The study is also anchored on the concept of the importance of job creation. Not only do

jobs in the private sector provide employment opportunities for the members of the labor force

which endow them with purchasing power through the incomes they receive as compensation for

their contribution on product but at the same time job creation is responsible for the so-called

multiplier effect. The birth of new manufacturing establishment, for instance, will help bring about

the use of raw materials indigenous in the country and to certain extent will contribute to the ability

of the government to discharge its responsibility to the people which it seeks to serve through the

taxes they pay. With high incidence of employment rate, not to say, full employment, aggregate

purchasing power of the labor force helps boost the economy through increasing production, since

they are all consumers thereby resulting in the efficient use of country’s resources. Also with more

people gainfully employed, hours are put to productive use thereby affording little room for

misdemeanors and criminality than when individuals have all the time for themselves.

Labor must be made acquainted with all these gains that partly accrue to their interests.

And so they have a moral obligation to insure the continuous operation of business establishment

if only for their own sake and not those of the owners of the business alone. Any closure or

contraction of business operation affects labor’s interest and the economy as well.

Further, tracer studies can provide the information needed to reform educational programs

to bring about the match between the requirements of the employment world and study. Surveys

do have their disadvantages for it is sometimes difficult to locate graduates and let them complete
questionnaires. Schomburg (2007) warns that the graduates might not always be able to identify

the relationship between the knowledge acquired during study and their professional lives and that

research findings are valuable in as much as planners can turn the findings into concrete reforms.

However, the main purpose of this paper is for the researcher to investigate the employment

status of the graduates and determine the employment status graduates, the skills and competencies

most useful in acquiring the first job after they have graduated. The concepts that the researcher

has indulged was to look on the graduates’ important profiles and to assess whether or not these

profiles had satisfied their expectations so that whatever results they could account for would be a

good venue of curriculum enhancement as well as program development.

Research Paradigm

INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

Job Placement Profile Distribution of Survey

Job after graduation
Present employment
Reasons if unemployed
Employment Status and
Nature of Employment
Relevance of school-
related factors to the job
placement
Curriculum and Instruction;
Faculty and Instruction;
Student Services;
Organization and
Administration; and
Extension, Linkages and
Research
Competencies/skills and
work related values
developed by the college
related to the job
Figure 1. Research Paradigm
Questionnaire for
determining the job
placement profile of the
BSIT Graduates from AY
2007-2018
for assessing the school- Plan of action for
related factors to the job Enhancement employment
placement rate of BSIT graduates
for competencies/skills and
work related values
developed by the college
Retrieval
Tabulation
Analysis
Interpretation of
Data
 Figure 1 illustrates the paradigm of the study that uses the system approach following the

IPO format. The input includes the independent variables of the study such as the job placement

profile, relevance of school-related factors to the job placement, and competencies/skills and work

related values developed by the college related to the job. The process considered the distribution,

retrieval, tabulation, analysis and interpretation of data using self-made questionnaire and

checklist. The output will focus on the action plan for enhancement after analyzing the results.
 Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

This tracer study will use descriptive research design. It involves the collection of data in

the attempt to test the hypothesis and so with the different questions posted as regards to the status

of the subject under study. Along with this, Calderon (2006) emphasized that descriptive research

is a purposive process of gathering, analyzing, classifying and tabulating data about the prevailing

conditions, practices, beliefs, process, trends and cause and effect relationship, thereby making

adequate and accurate interpretations about such data with or without the aid of a statistical method

(cited by Laguador, 2013).

Respondents of the Study

The study will make use of non-probability sampling of respondents. In this sampling

design, the researcher selects the respondents who were conveniently available. The respondents

of the study are 200 Bachelor of Science in Information Technology graduates from 2007-2018.

Research Instrument

Survey questionnaire will be the main instrument of the study. The questionnaire will

consist of three parts. The first part aims to determine the job placement profile of the respondents

in terms of job after graduation, present employment, reason if unemployed, and employment

status and nature of employment. The second part intends to find out the relevance of school-

related factors to the job placement of the respondents in terms of: curriculum and instruction;
faculty and instruction; student services; organization and administration; and community

extension, linkages and research. The last part wants to identify the competencies/skills and work

related values State College-Boac, Marinduqe considered by the respondents useful in meeting the

demands of their present work.

Data Collection

Names, addresses and contact numbers of the graduates from 2007-2018 will be requested

from the College Register’s Office. The researcher will administer personally or by sending email

messages to the graduate-respondents to get the needed information to process the research.