AUTHORS: Rhodalie O. Emilio, Christine S. Diaz
DATE COMPLETED: February 10, 2015
KEYWORDS:
ABSTRACT
The Tracking of Political Science Graduates batch 2006 – 2007 allocates sample space for inquiry on the following areas: respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, retrospective views about the Political Science course, need for further training and post-graduate training and recommendations for the improvement of the Political Science course. A mixed research design was utilized where both the qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed during the data gathering.
Majority of the respondents were between 25-28 years old, single, and Roman Catholic. The number of female respondents is almost equal to the number of male respondents; of the six batches involved in the study, the 2011 batch generated the most number of respondents. A huge majority are based in the Philippines and identified Law school as their highest educational attainment. Most of them are also currently employed on a full time basis, with majority in the private sector, particularly in the academe cluster. Referrals and personal connections were the most often cited method of helping the graduates find work. Majority of these who are employed have in their current work for one to three years, with most earning less than 10,000 pesos. Those who have left previous jobs cited better employment opportunities as their reason. Incidentally, the respondents cited salaries and benefits, career advancement and relatedness to skill as the top three things that they look for in finding employment.
The retrospective views of respondents generally project views on to the utilization value of competencies, knowledge and traits acquired from college education. In the are of knowledge, the respondents cited as most useful the courses on Philippine Constitution, Practicum, Research and English. They rated Comparative Governments, Political Theories, Math and Theology subjects as slightly useful while History, Political Analysis and Philosophy were deemed useful.
In terms of competencies, the respondents cited all of the skills they had learned in college. These are skills in the following areas: social relations, computer literacy, organizing, research, writing and speaking. In sum, these skills were extensively applied by the respondents in their present situations, in the work place or in the academe.
As for the traits, they deemed as highly useful the magis way of doing more for others, cura personalis and faith that does justice. Preferential option for the poor was described as merely useful, and this may be due to the latent streak of materialism within the students, as manifested by their prioritization of a high salary when looking for employment. Furthermore, significant recommendations cited by respondents can be categorized in the areas of instruction, research and community extension. Those recommendations provide fresh insights for the Political Science Department and the higher academic institution towards further growth and development.
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