Douglas College Business Program students have graduated for the past twenty-two years. This study was undertaken to examine three specific aspects of the 'impact' that the Douglas College educational experience has had on these business graduates. Impact, as defined by Alfred (1982), is the sum total of outcomes, changes and benefits produced by a college. Through the use of Astin's model of the components of the process of higher education, specific outcomes related to employment, finances and further educational development were investigated. A survey was conducted of graduates from selected business programs from the years 1981 and 1986. Analyses were carried out to determine outcomes of having graduated from a Douglas College business program. It was found that the Douglas College business program graduates experienced positive outcomes related to employment, finances, and pursuit of further education. Graduates perceived that the benefits related to employment were more important than other benefits related to their educational experience. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Field research was used to document the psychological and contextual experience of job insecurity for 15 graduate women in jobs with limited tenure and protection. Single, hour-long, intensive focused interviews were used, employing a projective technique. Transcripts of taped interviews were analyzed for factors associated with positive and negative emotional shifts. Factors were categorized and grouped into domains, which included: the nature of the subjects' job insecurity; effects on work performance, work relations, emotional and physical health, finances, leisure, and, personal and family life. The experience was shown to fit a transition model of loss and adaption to change. Major stressors were uncertainty, financial fears, pressure to perform, loss of trust, job search and career fears. Typical cognitions included: self doubt; feeling unappreciated, disillusioned, powerless and isolated. Cynicism and feeling compromised were less common reactions. Work relations, and work performance were generally adversely affected as were leisure activities and family life. Financial retrenchment was common. All subjects reported stress and anxiety; some reported depressive symptoms. Thirteen coping strategies were identified. Cognitive coping was prominent, in particular, denial-like processes used to maintain optimism. "Good coping" and "poor coping" profiles were developed from the data. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify factors that may have influenced the choice of major and the persistence to graduation of six African American accounting majors who attended and graduated from a private, predominantly white university from the academic years 2003 through 2009. A set of indicators based on several retention studies was selected for the purpose of identifying pre-college, off-campus, and on-campus factors that influenced students' choice of major and persistence to graduate with a major in accounting. The major findings of this study were that early skill development prior to the college experience, family support, and cultural socialization influenced the participants' ability to choose a major associated with their skill set. Their persistence to graduation was attributed to that choice. With regard to future studies, expansion of research on African Americans in higher education will give direction for administrators seeking to increase the number of under-represented students in fields where there is a marketplace need.

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The effect of social capital on labor market outcomes is a key concern in sociological studies. Even though there are extensive studies on this topic, with the worldwide expansion of higher education, insufficient scholarly efforts have so far been devoted to understanding access to social capital in the educational setting and labor market impact of social capital for well-educated individuals. Moreover, studies on social capital and migration tend to focus on the role played by social capital on migration decisions and outcomes, contingency impact of social capital on migrants' labor market outcomes are not well understood. To fill the knowledge gap, this research is to examine undergraduates' social capital accumulation and mobilization on campus, and the associated outcomes for their job seeking, with the particular focus on 1) the impact of macro institutions on migrant students' social capital accumulation and mobilization; 2) contingency impact of social capital on labor market outcomes. Combining primary data from in-depth interviews in Tianjin and secondary data collected in Nanjing, China, I examine the different processes of social capital accumulation and mobilization between local and migrant students on campus, and associated labor market outcomes between local and returned migrant students. Findings of this study suggest that university provides an important context for undergraduates to establish social ties and accumulate social capital. By attending higher education institutions, especially elite ones, students gain opportunities to build exclusive social connections on campus. However, opportunities to accumulate social capital on campus are highly structured between local and migrant students because of the household registration system. Moreover, data from in-depth interviews have demonstrated that migrant students suffer disadvantaged capacities to mobilize social capital compared to their local counterparts. The household registration system deprives migrant populations of access to some local employment opportunities, such as government and government-affiliated organizations, migrant students suffer from weaker job information and influence when mobilizing their social capital. Further, by analyzing survey data from Nanjing, it has verified the institutional contingency impact of social capital upon the household registration system between local and returned migrant students. Both total and university-based social capital increases local students' chance to get a desirable job but does not do so for returned migrant students. The central argument of the study is that institutional constraints, such as the household registration system, could lead to different capacities for the accessibility and mobilization of social capital among local students, migrant students, and returned migrant students, finally leading to differential labor market outcomes in Chinese cities.

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This dissertation consists of three quantitative studies analyzing educational policies and programs that help to improve college readiness, college success, as well as the transition from college to the labor market. The first chapter studies the impact of raising the bar for high school math on college readiness and success. The chapter examines the causal effects of recent state-level reforms increasing the high school graduation math requirement on high school graduation and college outcomes. Using nationally-representative survey data, the study exploits variation in the reform timing across states in a staggered difference-in-difference framework. Findings indicate that raising the high school graduation requirement in math coursework is a potentially effective policy tool to prepare students better for college, but highlight racial disparities in the effectiveness of the math reforms. The second chapter discusses experiential learning through work-based courses at 2-year and 4-year colleges. Experiential learning is a critical component for a smooth transition from higher education to the workforce. In this chapter, I apply an innovative text mining technique to identify and analyze work-based courses from transcript data. The study examines patterns and post-degree labor market outcomes of taking work-based courses at college, and has important implications for colleges and policymakers to better support students on gaining from the courses. The third chapter estimates heterogeneity in labor market returns to Master’s degrees. Using an individual fixed effects model with rich administrative data, the study provides up-to-date causal evidence on labor market returns to Master’s degrees, and examines heterogeneity in the returns by field area, student characteristics, and the macroeconomic condition in which students graduate and enter the labor market. Findings show that obtaining a Master’s degree increases quarterly earnings, but the return varies widely by field of study. And economic downturns appear to reduce but not eliminate the positive return to a Master’s degree.

As a group, youth who have spent time in foster care are far behind the general population in postsecondary educational attainment. Nevertheless, most do hold aspirations for higher education. For those who make it to college, foster care alumni face a variety of obstacles related to successful postsecondary completion. However, it is unclear whether the factors that affect postsecondary success in this population are similar to those identified for other college students or more unique to the distinctive experience of being in foster care. Furthermore, while there is general consensus that higher education is beneficial to foster care alumni in overcoming adversity, no study has examined how foster care alumni who graduate from college actually fare in their adult lives compared with the general population of college graduates, or with those in the general population who did not graduate college. The study aims first to identify the predictors of postsecondary retention and success using survey data from a cross-sectional sample of foster care alumni who received Casey Family Scholarship Program or Orphan Foundation of America Foster Care to Success postsecondary scholarships. Second, the study compares adult outcomes of foster care alumni graduates with general population graduates and general population non-graduates to explore the role higher education plays in these youths' lives. Results are interpreted in relation to Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory, theories of educational persistence and motivation, trauma theory, and theories related to other difficulties of being in foster care. Analyses include bivariate examinations of postsecondary factors and their relation to college disengagement; discrete-time survival analysis of general college retention factors and factors more unique to the foster care population in predicting college graduation; and multivariate comparisons (ANOVA's, ANCOVA's, and chi-squares) of foster youth graduates and non-foster youth graduates and non-graduates in relation to their post-college life circumstances. In bivariate comparisons of general population factors related to retention, five of the nine factors (academic-related skills, institutional commitment, social support, social involvement, and institutional financial support) had at least one indicator with a significant or trend-level relationship with college disengagement. In bivariate comparisons of foster care-specific factors related to retention, four out of the seven factors (maltreatment/ trauma/PTSD, other mental health problems, independent living stability, tangible support) had at least one item with a significant or trend-level relationship with college disengagement. Comparing the two separate factor models, the general population factor group modeled the data slightly better in predicting college graduation than the foster care-specific factor model. No model improvement was found when foster care-specific factors were added into the general population factor model. Both general population and foster care alumni graduates fared more positively than general population non-graduates for three post-college factors: individual income, financial satisfaction, and happiness. Only the general population graduates were found to be faring better than general population non-graduates on a variety of other factors. Foster youth graduates fared less positively than general population graduates on a variety of post-college outcomes. Results have implications for policy and practice regarding the most effective means of supporting postsecondary aspirations of youth with foster care experience.

A report on a research study presented to The Department of Social Work School of Human and Community Development Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand In partial fulfilment of the requirements For the degree Master of Arts in Social Development March, 2019 / The increasing number of unemployed graduates is of great concern worldwide. In countries, such as Zimbabwe, the economic crisis is so persistent that many Zimbabwean students migrate to South Africa to complete degrees in the hope of securing employment soon after completing their degrees. However, they too are currently facing challenges related to unemployment. In order to explore this phenomenon, the research design was explorative in nature. A phenomenological study was thus conducted to explore the experiences of unemployed Zimbabwean graduates. The theoretical framework underpinning the study were the social exclusion theory and capability theory. The sampling method utilized in the study was non-probability, purposive sampling. The sample of participants in this study consisted of twelve unemployed Zimbabwean graduates. The research instrument used was an interview guide. Individual interviews were conducted with participants to gather data. Data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The findings indicated that unemployed Zimbabwean graduates face many challenges in the South African context which disempower them from reaching the goal of obtaining job-satisfying employment. Based on conclusions reached, recommendations are made related to addressing the problem-situation constructively. In relation to social development, the study contributes to the current debates on migration and unemployment, especially addressing issues including policy recommendations on the intervention strategies to be provided to address issues of unemployment amongst graduates. / MT 2020

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