Finnish University Students’ Expectations of Transition to Working Life

Author(s):

Mirka Mäkinen-Streng

Conference:

ECER 2010

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 01 C, Employability and Transition to Work of Higher Education Graduates.

Paper Session

Time:

2010-08-25

09:15-10:45

Room:

M.B. SALI 16, Päärakennus / Main Building

Chair:

Mariana Gaio Alves

Contribution

Introduction

At the time students enroll at university they usually have some kind of an idea of their future. According to Bergenhenegouwen (1987, 537) students expectations towards studying have prospect of getting a job they would like to work in. Working during studies is common. Throughout Europe students have temporary jobs to finance their studies. There seems to be a connection between working during studies and employment after graduation. (Kivinen & Nurmi 2003, 97-99.)

In Finland before present economic depression employment of recent graduates improved. Employment rate of year 2006 university graduates at the end of year 2007 in Finland was after master’s degree 87.7 % and after bachelor’s degree 74.3 % (Statictics Finland 2009).

After recent economic depression in Finland university graduates often considered their education and work matching which is not the case in every European country. There were also differences between fields of study. Most of Finnish graduates thought they use in their work knowledge acquired in the course of studies. Most of them also thought their work correspond to their level of education. (Kivinen & Nurmi 2003, 97-99; Schomburg & Teichler 2006, 105-108.)

The aim of this study is to examine university students’ expectations of transition to working life in the time of economic depression. The research question was: What kind of expectations do students’ have of transition to working life? Factors used to examine views on the expectations of transition to working life include phase of studies, context of studying (in this case faculty) and working while studying.

Method

The data was gathered by using a web-based questionnaire in spring 2009. The respondents (n=1503) were students of two Finnish universities (University of Turku and Turku School of Economics) representing seven faculties (humanities, education, medicine, natural sciences, law, social sciences and economy). The response rate was 33.6 %. Students' expectations of transition to working life were measured by five Likert type items on a scale from 1 (does not describe my situation at all) to 3 (describes my situation well). Items were: I know which kind of work there are for graduates of my study programme. I know which kind of job I would like to work after graduation. I have thought to delay my graduation because of present economic situation. I believe in getting a job matching with my education. I am worried about employment after graduating.

Expected Outcomes

Most, 76 %, of the students were working at the same time they are studying at the university. However, quite rarely their work experience was field-specific. Most of the students knew which kind of work there are for graduates in their field. Quite rarely students did not know which kind of job they want to work after graduation. Students working during studies knew better than students not working during studies which kind of work they would like to have after graduation. In addition, rarely students considered to delay their graduation because of present economic situation. Stage of studies had connection with thoughts to delay one’s graduation because of economic situation. One third of students were worried about their employment after graduating. There were field-specific differences between students in worrying about employment. As expected, students at final stage of studies were more worried about their employment than students at early stage of studies. Most of the students believed in getting a job matching with their education. However, field-specific differences occurred also in these expectations. Furthermore, stage of studies had an effect on believing to have a job matching with one’s education.

References

Bergenhenegouwen, G. 1987. Hidden curriculum in the university. Higher Education 16, 535-543. Kivinen, O. & Nurmi, J. 2003. Unifying Higher Education for Different Kinds of Europeans. Higher education and Work: a comparison of ten countries. Comparative Education 39 (1), 83-103. Schomburg, H. & Teichler, U. 2006. Higher education and Graduate Employment in Europe. Results from Graduate Surveys from Twelve Countries. Netherlands: Springer. Statictics Finland 2009. Employment of recent graduates improved in 2007. [http://www.stat.fi/til/sijk/2007/sijk_2007_2009-03-25_tie_001_en.html]

Author Information

Mirka Mäkinen-Streng

University of Turku

Department of Education

Turku

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