From Academia To Careers: A Comparative Study Of Cox And Parametric Aft Survival Models On Arusha Technical College’s Graduates Class Of 2022

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine what factors affect the time it takes Arusha Technical College graduates to land their first job following graduation. The study examines the length of unemployment for 568 graduates from 15 academic programs using information from a tracer survey carried out in 2022. The effect of academic programs, job search tactics, and demographic traits such as gender and age on graduates’ employment outcomes is investigated through the use of survival analysis techniques, such as the Cox proportional hazards model and the Kaplan-Meier estimator. The results show that the median time to start employment is roughly 10 months, with differences seen depending on the company category, gender, age group, academic degree, and job search tactics. Moreover, it is observed that male graduates are more likely than female graduates to secure employment before their peers, and that some academic programs have higher rates of job placement. The government sector is the most advantageous for early employment, followed by private and self-employment. Furthermore, graduates who use internet-based job search strategies also find employment more quickly than graduates who use other methods. Consequently, age, academic program, and job search strategy all have a substantial impact on graduates’ employment outcomes, which has implications for career development initiatives and industry-academia partnerships.