Increasing the access to post-secondary education is a top priority around the world, but still many graduates experience serious challenges in entering the labor market. In Tanzania the issue is prominent and partly associated with the skills mismatch, but also with the imbalance of the number of jobs available in relation to the number of graduates seeking for a job. Skills development is acritical element of all efforts in this challenging area, and therefore a number of organizations has emerged to focus on this, especially in Tanzania. The area has been explored in the literature, but mainly quantitatively on a macro-level. Hence, there is a need of more qualitative research regarding the best practices of organizations focusing on skills development. This thesis therefore aims to investigate how skills development organizations can support graduates in entering the labor market in Tanzania. The thesis is a Minor Field Study, implying that semi-structured interviews with graduates and skillsdevelopment organizations were conducted on-site in Tanzania. Further, hypotheses, regarding challenges that graduates experience when entering the labor market, were formulated and tested through qualitative and quantitative data. The findings imply that the challenges graduates experience can be categorized into three groups: structural, skills and attitude. Skills development organizations can therefore support graduates in entering the labor market by addressing these challenges and adopt measures in three different operations: the planning, the execution and the evaluation of skills development activities. Except for specific actions within each operation, the findings accentuate the importance of incorporating both the graduate and employer perspective, as well as viewing the support as a long-term process, from the first years of studies to obtaining employment. / Att öka tillgången till eftergymnasial utbildning har hög prioritet runt om i världen, men trots att fler utbildas är arbetslösheten bland unga fortfarande ett stort problem. I Tanzania är detta särskilt påtagligt och delvis förknippat med kompetens- och kunskapsbrist, men också med obalansen mellan antalet lediga jobb och antalet utexaminerade som söker jobb. Hur organisationer kan stötta unga i övergången från utbildning till arbetsmarknaden har undersökts tidigare, men då främst genom kvantitativ forskning på makronivå. Därför behövs fler kvalitativa studier om hur organisationer effektivt kan stötta unga personer in på arbetsmarknaden, vilket detta arbete syftar till. Studien har utförts som en mindre fältstudie på plats i Tanzania. Den empiriska data som har använts i studien har samlats in genom intervjuer med studenter och organisationer samt genom ett frågeformulär. De empiriska resultaten kombinerades sedan med litteratur för att besvara forskningsfrågorna. Resultaten visar att utmaningar som utexaminerade studenter upplever kan delas in i tre kategorier; strukturella-, kompetens- och attitydutmaningar. Organisationer kan därför stödja utexaminerade studenter att komma in på arbetsmarknaden genom att möta dessa utmaningar och vidta åtgärder inom tre olika områden: planering, genomförande och utvärdering av aktiviteter för kompetensutveckling. Förutom specifika åtgärder inom vardera områden, betonar resultaten vikten av att införa både student- och arbetsgivarperspektivet, samt att se stödet som en långsiktig process, från de första studieåren till anställning eller självanställning

Background Research: The COVID-19 pandemic has likely impacted the resilience of Indigenous and non-Indigenous post-secondary students in Canada. Resilience may be negatively impacted by psychological experiences such as emotional loneliness, social loneliness, and a lack of life meaning. These three psychological experiences are exacerbated by lock down measures, quarantining, and cancelled events such as weddings and funerals. Young adults in post-secondary education must already manage challenging developmental milestones, often with unstable social and familial networks. Furthermore, Indigenous students must manage potentially discriminatory post-secondary environments, as well as school curriculums that challenge Indigenous values. Understanding this, school environments require decolonizing improvements that meet the psychological needs of their students in a changing social, economic, and political climate. Improvements to loneliness and life meaning may subsequently improve resilience, in addition to academic success, inclusion, and stress recovery. Objectives: This thesis aims to provide solution-focused data using Indigenous research methodologies. This thesis specifically explores the statistical relations between emotional loneliness, social loneliness, life meaning, and resilience. Barriers to social support options (i.e., counselling, group therapy, clubs, family, friends, etc.) and university-endorsed activities (i.e., jobs, volunteering, leadership roles, etc.) are also explored for their respective impact on experiences of loneliness and life meaning. Students’ response rates and Indigenous written responses are then analysed (1) to better understand students’ lived experiences, and (2) to uncover decolonizing approaches to improving both on campus social support options and university-endorsed activities. Hypotheses: (H1) Students will report higher scores on measures of emotional loneliness than social loneliness. (H2) Lower scores on measures of emotional loneliness, as well as higher scores on measures of life meaning, will predict higher scores on measures of resilience. (H3) Lower scores on measures of perceived barriers when accessing social support options will predict lower scores on measures of loneliness. (H4) Lower scores on measures of perceived barriers when accessing university-endorsed activities will predict higher scores on measures of life meaning. Method: This thesis incorporates a decolonizing methodology outlined by Hayward et al. (2021). This study utilizes 676 participant responses (3.30% of which identified as Indigenous) from students attending the University of Victoria in a full- or part-time program (Ages: 16-56 years, M = 20.13, SD = 3.84). Data collection occurred between September to December 2021, allowing for responses over the course of one semester. During this period, students were in the process of returning to campus, with daily national COVID-19 cases around roughly 3,000-4000 individuals (Worldometer, n.d.). Online recruitment methods were completed through the Department of Psychology SONA Research Participation System, and through a listserv utilized by the IACE at the University of Victoria. Demographic Questions included employment, financial stability, living situation, social circumstances, school status, workload, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on wellbeing. Standardized Questionnaires included the de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, the Life Engagement Test, and the Brief Resiliency Questionnaire. Additional Questionnaires were created to assess student experiences when accessing both social support options (i.e., the source for support, the method and frequency of contact, and barriers when accessing) and university-endorsed activities (i.e., valued activities, valued aspects of activities, and barriers when accessing). Analysis: At the broadest level, t-tests and hierarchical regression analyses are used to demonstrate a theoretical relation between various predictors and predicted variables. To provide more detail, student response rates for various questionnaires are used to contextualize student experiences when seeking social support options and meaningful activities. For an in-depth account of student experiences, four separate thematic analyses are conducted on Indigenous written responses. Results: All four hypotheses were supported. Scores of emotional loneliness were higher than scores of social loneliness (H1). Scores of resilience were significantly predicted by scores of emotional loneliness and life meaning (H2). These findings justified an exploratory analysis, which demonstrated that only scores of life meaning, and not resilience, emotional loneliness, or social loneliness, predicted scores of school satisfaction. More frequent experiences of barriers to social support options or university-endorsed activities respectively predicted higher scores of loneliness (H3) and lower scores of life meaning (H4). These results are complemented and expanded upon by notable response rates and themes identified from Indigenous student written responses. Discussion: These results suggest the importance of resolving emotional loneliness and a lack of life meaning among post-secondary students, which may be feasible with the use of social support services and university endorsed activities. This may subsequently improve experiences of resilience and school satisfaction. Social Support Options: The Indigenous and general sample both preferred informal, offline, and known sources of support; they also preferred face-to-face, texting, video calling, and phone calling as methods of communication. Common barriers to social support options included issues of cost, the perceived severity of their needs, availability, and a perceived lack of closeness with supports. Across all domains, Indigenous participants were more likely to experience barriers when seeking support. Indigenous written responses specifically identified a need for (1) more considerate services, (2) more culturally and racially specialized services, (3) increased time and availability for each student, and (4) lowered costs. University-Endorsed Activities: The Indigenous and general sample were both more likely to value paid jobs, volunteering, research assistant positions, and off-campus employment, when compared to teaching assistant positions, on-campus employment, or other unpaid positions. They were also most likely to value meeting people with similar interests and gaining knowledge. Students were most likely to face barriers related to a lack of relevant or remote university-endorsed activities. Indigenous written responses suggest an increased need for meaningful, accessible, culturally relevant, and financially rewarding activities. Twenty-one recommendations are offered to decolonize and improve post-secondary settings. / Graduate

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Increasing the access to post-secondary education is a top priority around the world, but still many graduates experience serious challenges in entering the labor market. In Tanzania the issue is prominent and partly associated with the skills mismatch, but also with the imbalance of the number of jobs available in relation to the number of graduates seeking for a job. Skills development is a critical element of all efforts in this challenging area, and therefore a number of organizations has emerged to focus on this, especially in Tanzania. The area has been explored in the literature, but mainly quantitatively on a macro-level. Hence, there is a need of more qualitative research regarding the best practices of organizations focusing on skills development. This thesis therefore aims to investigate how skills development organizations can support graduates in entering the labor market in Tanzania. The thesis is a Minor Field Study, implying that semi-structured interviews with graduates and skills development organizations were conducted on-site in Tanzania. Further, hypotheses, regarding challenges that graduates experience when entering the labor market, were formulated and tested through qualitative and quantitative data. The findings imply that the challenges graduates experience can be categorized into three groups: structural, skills and attitude. Skills development organizations can therefore support graduates in entering the labor market by addressing these challenges and adopt measures in three different operations: the planning, the execution and the evaluation of skills development activities. Except for specific actions within each operation, the findings accentuate the importance of incorporating both the graduate and employer perspective, as well as viewing the support as a long-term process, from the first years of studies to obtaining employment. / Att öka tillgången till eftergymnasial utbildning har hög prioritet runt om i världen, men trots att fler utbildas är arbetslösheten bland unga fortfarande ett stort problem. I Tanzania är detta särskilt påtagligt och delvis förknippat med kompetens- och kunskapsbrist, men också med obalansen mellan antalet lediga jobb och antalet utexaminerade som söker jobb. Hur organisationer kan stötta unga i övergången från utbildning till arbetsmarknaden har undersökts tidigare, men då främst genom kvantitativ forskning på makronivå. Därför behövs fler kvalitativa studier om hur organisationer effektivt kan stötta unga personer in på arbetsmarknaden, vilket detta arbete syftar till. Studien har utförts som en mindre fältstudie på plats i Tanzania. Den empiriska data som har använts i studien har samlats in genom intervjuer med studenter och organisationer samt genom ett frågeformulär. De empiriska resultaten kombinerades sedan med litteratur för att besvara forskningsfrågorna. Resultaten visar att utmaningar som utexaminerade studenter upplever kan delas in i tre kategorier; strukturella-, kompetens- och attitydutmaningar. Organisationer kan därför stödja utexaminerade studenter att komma in på arbetsmarknaden genom att möta dessa utmaningar och vidta åtgärder inom tre olika områden: planering, genomförande och utvärdering av aktiviteter för kompetensutveckling. Förutom specifika åtgärder inom vardera områden, betonar resultaten vikten av att införa både student- och arbetsgivarperspektivet, samt att se stödet som en långsiktig process, från de första studieåren till anställning eller självanställning

The purpose of this study was to explore characteristics that influence Latino male students' enrollment in four-year colleges. This study utilized a mixed-methods approach and acquired information specifically pertaining to the high school Latino male population. Participants for the study included Latino male high school students in Grades 9-12, parents of Latino male high school students in Grades 9-12, and counselors of high school students in Grades 9-12. The study was conducted across two campuses. Data for student and parent participants were obtained through an online survey questionnaire and counselor data was obtained through face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The results of this study reveal that there are influential characteristics that contribute to Latino males' potential enrollment in college. Of the data obtained from student participants, 70.2% of participants on Campus 1 and 90.5% of participants on Campus 2 planned on attending college. Responses from parent surveys found that 85.8% of parents had expectations for their Latino male student to attend college. Through the semi-structured focus group interviews, it was found that the school district and campuses in which the study was conducted had several procedures or processes in place to positively encourage Latino male student enrollment in four-year colleges. Results of this study provide a better understanding and insight on characteristics that influence the high school Latino male student in Grades 9-12 to enroll in college.

To understand how Aboriginal youths’ access to post-secondary schooling opportunities is created and constrained, structures of inclusion and exclusion are examined. In particular, the legitimization of unequal treatment and disparate outcomes is problematized; making the case that public schooling systems limit the opportunities of youth. In this study, youths’ post-secondary aspirations are contextualized on the basis of racial identity, gender, programs of enrolment, graduate destinations, parent’s level of schooling, parental income, and community size; binary analyses evaluate the relationships among these variables. The variables were accessed from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Findings of this research counter other studies that demonstrate Aboriginal youth with lower post-secondary opportunities relative to their peers. This study substantiates that barriers to aspiration achievement and post-secondary opportunities are not from a lack of ambition or academic preparedness among Aboriginal youth attending Canadian public schools.

To understand how Aboriginal youths’ access to post-secondary schooling opportunities is created and constrained, structures of inclusion and exclusion are examined. In particular, the legitimization of unequal treatment and disparate outcomes is problematized; making the case that public schooling systems limit the opportunities of youth. In this study, youths’ post-secondary aspirations are contextualized on the basis of racial identity, gender, programs of enrolment, graduate destinations, parent’s level of schooling, parental income, and community size; binary analyses evaluate the relationships among these variables. The variables were accessed from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Findings of this research counter other studies that demonstrate Aboriginal youth with lower post-secondary opportunities relative to their peers. This study substantiates that barriers to aspiration achievement and post-secondary opportunities are not from a lack of ambition or academic preparedness among Aboriginal youth attending Canadian public schools.