The Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta has published a tracer study of its students who graduated during the past ten years. The report, Faculty of Arts Graduates 2003-2012: Tracer Study is authored by Dr Manwel Debono, director of the university’s Centre for Labour Studies, and the research conducted with the assistance of administrative staff from the Faculty of Arts.

The study managed to obtain responses from 1,570 Faculty of Arts graduates, representing 66% of the target population. This is considered a very high response. Data was collected between October and December 2012.

Overall the results show a high employment rate for Faculty of Arts graduates. At the time that the survey was taken, only 5.9% of such graduates were unemployed and seeking employment, and these mostly had just finished their studies. As for the rest, 76.7% were in full-time employment and 10.8% in part-time employment. The remainder were ‘inactive’, that is, not employed and not seeking employment.

The study found only few significant differences in gender outcomes, with male and female graduates acquiring similar qualification levels, equally likely to be employed or seeking employment, or holding jobs that match their expectation. A main difference found was that, in relative terms, males tended to be better represented among senior officials or managers while females tended to be better represented among professionals or clerks.

Levels of job satisfaction varied, but 62.9% of all Faculty of Arts graduates felt that their jobs matched their expectations. There appears to be a correlation between the number of years since a person has graduated and the level of job satisfaction attained, suggesting that fresh graduates who do not find the job that matches their expectation immediately after graduation are likely to succeed later on.

Although by their nature certain categories of jobs predominate among graduates of specific subjects, there is overall no significant difference in employability or job satisfaction between graduates of different subjects. There is likewise no significant difference in current labour status between language and non-language graduates.

Whereas teaching and the public service remain predominant career paths for Faculty of Arts graduates, the range of jobs open to them has widened considerably, both within the public sector and beyond. Many Faculty of Arts graduates work in established service industries such as tourism, heritage, transport, communication and social and health care, while others are developing their careers in emerging sectors such as the environment, diplomacy and finance among others. Certain jobs have a clear connection with the subjects studied; others not. However, employability and job satisfaction are not inevitably related to the degree of such connection.

Finally, as was to be expected, respondents holding postgraduate qualifications are more likely to work as professionals, hold jobs that meet their expectations, and earn considerably more money than their peers with lower qualifications. 74.3% of all respondents who obtained postgraduate qualifications appear to be settled in their work and mostly feel that their job matches their expectations.

The tracer study is available at:http://www.um.edu.mt/alumni/tracerstudyarts2003-12.pdf