Education-job nexus among AUB graduates of the years 2006 until 2010 from six different disciplines (architecture, business, economics, engineering, political science and sociology-anthropology) -

Abstract

This thesis examines the relationship between higher educational degree and work among AUB graduates from both theoretical and applied sciences. To assess this relationship, this research studies three major hypotheses. The first hypothesis suggests that graduates of theoretical sciences tend to work more in jobs that are not directly related to their fields of study than graduates of applied sciences. The second hypothesis suggests that graduates who work locally tend to adapt to the needs of the Lebanese market by working in available jobs that might not necessarily match their fields of study, while graduates who emigrated and work abroad tend to work in their fields of study with wider opportunities that are available in the international market. The third hypothesis suggests that the more the individual works in a job related to his-her field of study the more the job would serve his-her career aspirations. An online survey was sent to AUB graduates who received bachelor degrees in the years 2006 to 2010 from the architecture, business, economics, engineering, political science and sociology-anthropology departments. This survey collected responses from 155 graduates. Independent samples t-tests and Goodman and Kruskal’s gamma tests were performed to verify the study’s hypotheses. The results of the study refuted the first two hypotheses but supported the third one. AUB graduates from both theoretical and applied sciences turned out to be performing similarly in the labor market with respect to the matching of their current jobs to their undergraduate degrees. Graduates working abroad were found to be working in jobs that match their undergraduate degrees just as graduates working in Lebanon. Graduates working in jobs that match with their undergraduate degrees considered their jobs to be serving their career aspirations more than graduates on mismatched jobs. This study shows that AUB graduates perform well in the labor market and consider their bachelor degrees from AUB to be an important pus