Factors Affecting Self-Employment of Technical and Vocational Education and Training Graduates: The case of St. Mary’s University College

Abstract

This research aimed at identifying the factors affecting self-employment of TVET graduates of the St. Mary’s University College, through survey method involving both quantitative and qualitative tools. Thus, questionnaire and interview instruments of data collection were utilized. Systematic random sampling technique was used to select respondents (i.e. 182 graduates’ students were drawn for the survey using the questionnaire). The results revealed that 77.7 % of the TVET graduates of the SMUC were wage employed and only 7.4% were self-employed. The rest, 14.9% were unemployed. Thus, SMUC is successful in producing demand-driven skilled manpower to the labor market though self-employment rate is very low. As to the factors affecting selfemployment choice, it was found that 88.3% of the graduates and most of the instructors had addressed it to the ‘lack of start-up capital’ which pushed the graduates to wage employment alternative. In fact, the graduates could not access the credit service opportunities which had been provided by the support service system, and in addition, lack of market familiarity, lack of viable concept of business operation, and lack of experience in managing and running a business are the other factors mentioned by the graduates. Instructors also believed that graduates’ attitude towards self-employment, lack of self-determination, lack of risk taking behavior were the major factors for wage employment. Graduates also mentioned that hard work (100%), the need to achieve life goal (97.3%) and self-determination (96.6%) had been considered as the first three important factors of personality traits for self-employment. All the informants in the interviews agreed that the trainers had lacked entrepreneurial training skills. Vocational guidance and counseling service was also rated as medium and low by 58.7% of the graduates, which implies a perceived weak service. Based on the findings, possible solutions were drafted and recommended to concerned stakeholders.