e-TRACER STUDY OF EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES OF

TOURISM MANAGEMENT GRADUATES

Introduction
Tracer studies have been conducted by researchers to track down the employment
marketabiliy of graduates of academic programs in Higher Education Institutions. Further,
HEIs are required by Commission on Higher Education to conduct a tracer study and is
equally reflected as one of the mandatory documents by any higher education accrediting
body such as the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the
Philippines (AACCUP), Inc. For developing and transition countries, skills matching and
anticipation is becoming an even more complex task given their particular socio-economic
conditions, weak institutions, capacities and governance systems (Schmbourg, 2018). A
tracer study conducted by Rocaberte (2016) at the University of Pangasinan reveals that new
graduates are challenged by the lack of job opportunities, which reasonably takes them a
longer time to wait because of lack of experience. This is further supported by Verona (2011)
that government needs to reckon on issues regarding labor mismatch – a situation where the
aggregate supply of labor skills is insufficient to address the decline in productive labor, more
especially in urban or semi-urban area.
According to the data of Philippine Statistics Authority (2017) across educational
groups, 32.8 percent of the total unemployed were high school graduates, 7.8 percent were
post secondary graduates, 13.7 percent were college undergraduates, and 20.4 percent were
college graduates. An average of four million Filipinos were jobless half of these are college
graduates. In fact, there are more jobless college graduates than jobless high school
graduates. More specifically, employment in tourism characteristic industries was estimated
at 5.4 million in 2018, higher by 1.8 percent compared to 5.3 million in the previous year.
Share of employment in tourism industries to total employment in the country was recorded
at 13.0 percent in 2018 (PSA, 2019). Given the opportunity and dynamics of the process,
perfect matching between skills demand and supply could not be done into perfection
especially in rapidly changing labour markets and economies, given the fact that many people
can do many different jobs and many jobs can be done by people with different skill sets
(Schmbourg, 2016). Due to rapid technological developments, changing demographics and
the way the business of doing business changes, there will always be new skills required by
industry. When a college student reaches fifth year, what he learned in the first year could no
longer be relevant. HEIs should ensure that the learning experience of graduates is consistent
with what the industry needs. The purpose of the study is to assess the employment outcomes
of Bachelor of Tourism Management graduates ...................

Moreover, the Department of Tourism reported

In Jan 2019, the underemployment rate, which is the percentage of the underemployed
to the total employed, was estimated at 15.6%, lower than its Jan 2018 level at 18.0%.  The
unemployment rate, on the other hand, was estimated at 5.2%, marginally lower than the
5.3% recorded in Jan 2018. The labor force participation rate (LFPR) was estimated at 60.2%
By conducting a survey on the cohort of graduates from a specific institution,
profession, discipline, level of education, their employment characteristics, competencies and
skills development, and have a comparative analysis, the information gained from these can
be used by the graduate’s alma mater and other education stakeholders for curriculum
development and other emerging reforms (Gines, 2014).

Literature Review
 Conceptual Framework

Demographic Profile

 Sex
 Civil Status
 School Year Graduated

Educational Background Employment Profile

 Career Service Eligibility  Employment Status

 Professional Examinations  Present Occupation
Passed  Name of the Company
 Attendance to Graduate
 Nature of Industry
Studies
 Place/Area of Work

Employability of
Tourism
Graduates

Experiences of the Competencies Learned

Graduates from the Program in
Finding One’s Job
 Nature of first job
 Duration of finding
the first job from
graduation
 Number of years in
first job
Statement of the Problem
The main purpose of the study is to trace the employability of the Bachelor of
Tourism Management graduates of Cebu Normal University – Medellin Campus from School
Year 2016 to 2019. The following specific questions will be addressed:

1. What proportion of the graduates responded when classified according to:

1.1 sex
1.2 civil status and
1.3 school year graduated
2. What is the educational background of the graduates in terms of the following:
2.1 Career Service Eligibility
2.2 Professional Examinations Passed
2.3 Attendance to Graduate Studies
3. What is the employment status of the graduates on the following aspects when classified as
employed, underemployed and unemployed?
3.1 Present Occupation
3.2 Name of the Company
3.3 Nature of Industry
3.4 Place/Area of Work
4. What were the experiences of the graduates relevant to their first jobs in terms of:
4.1 nature of first job
4.2 duration of finding the first job from graduation
4.3 number of years in first job
5. What competencies in college work were very useful and relevant in finding one’s job?

Significance of the Study

The researchers will provide knowledge about the university graduates employability
in the program offered during the Academic Year 2012-2015. The study is deemed
significant for it benefit the following sectors and groups of persons:
To the Government, specifically Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to
promote gainful employment opportunities, to develop human resources, to protect workers,
promote their welfare, and to maintain industrial peace and lastly to pursue their mission
which is the “attainment of full, decent, and productive employment for every Filipino
worker.” To Commission on Higher Education (CHED) as a key leader and effective partner
in transforming college students towards producing highly competent and productive
professionals through dynamic, excellent, and client-oriented services.
To the Cebu Normal University-Medellin Campus, this will be a significant basis
for initiating and implementing improvement plans to its academic curriculum, as it will
provide information about the graduates’ chosen career and this will help in developing high
performing professionals and intellectuals proficient in generating new knowledge toward a
progressive and peaceful pluralistic society as CNU commits through its mission.
To the faculty, this will serve the teachers, educators and mentors to upgrade the
standards by continuously uplifting the minds of the students to be competitive and excel in
their respective areas of specialization and by cultivating and advancing academically skilled
students who will take active participation in the globally competitive world for service and
international development acquired from the University.
To the parents, this will serve as their guide in encouraging and motivating their
children to be serious in whatever field they have chosen and they should also look at their
children’s long term educational career with great affirmation that at the end of the 4 year
journey in college they will end up to have a good job.
To the students, this will serve as their motivation to study harder in pursuing their
dreams working in their chosen field that there are successful graduates.
To the future researchers, this study will surely help and serve as a reference for the
future studies.

Methodology

The researchers will use the quantitative method in gathering data of graduates’
employability. The study will use the purposive sampling method. The questionnaire which
is taken from CHED will be used as a basic tool of investigation as input. The participants of
the study ___ graduates of Bachelor in Tourism Management of Cebu Normal University –
Medellin Campus from Academic Year 2012-2015. Therefore, there are ___ target
participants of the study.

Results and Discussion

This part will present the tables and the result of the study.
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