Education and Training Outcomes: University Graduates in Zimbabwe During the 1980s

Despite the undoubted importance of university educated personnel, relatively little is known about what graduates from UZ have done once they have completed their studies. The university itself conducted a first destination survey of graduates in 1989 (University of Zimbabwe, 1990) but no comprehensive tracer surveys have been undertaken of graduates who have been in the labour market for at least a few years. This article summarises the findings of a tracer survey of two groups of UZ graduates who first enrolled at the university in 1980-1981 and 1985. When properly undertaken (in particular when response rates are reasonably high), tracer surveys provide invaluable information on the current activities of individuals who have completed specific types of education and training. In fact, tracer surveys are increasingly seen as an integral component of a new approach to ‘manpower planning’ which relies primarily on micro-level ‘labor market analysis’ of well delineated occupations or occupational groups. (Bennell et al, 1991; Godfrey, 1991; Psacharopoulos, 1991)

A ZJER research survey.