Study Basis

This study’s research methodology, outlined in chapter 4, is based on open-ended and semi-structured interview techniques to identify the primary causes of obstacles to graduate under-employment for SQU mass communication graduates. The views of 52 participants in nine diverse categories from SQU MCD and its external stakeholders were obtained to identify factors contributing to the graduates’ indifferent abilities to acquire jobs. The open-ended questions elicited responses from interviewees that required supporting probe questions to obtain rich and reliable data. The qualitative nature of the probes concerned issues of importance to the participant and enhanced the response to the prime question (Soroka 2002). Thus in this study, responses from the participants resulted in overlap between the structured questions and the unstructured probes, and between the question categories. Themes and sub-themes were therefore grouped from the responses rather than from the question structure itself.

Sultan Qaboos University’s College of Arts and Social Sciences, as discussed in s3.2.1, is the major college in social sciences for Oman. As the entry to the media industry for its graduates, the Mass Communication Department is considered crucial to the

were far fewer in the first year than the later cohorts (364 first-year and 872 fourth-year: Ministry of National Economy 2005). To a large extent, the anomaly is explained by intake from other colleges of SQU at different times during the 2004/05 year. Within the college, the MCD’s primary course, a bachelor’s degree, comprised 75 undergraduates on average from 2002 - 2005, whilst about 24 graduated each year, 2004 and 2005 (Table 3.2). There is little statistical record of employment from these cohorts, but unemployment is very high. As Unemployed Graduate 1 remarked:

I can say that from each (cohort of) 33 or 34 students . . . only one, two or three found jobs and the rest are jobless. I’ve been unemployed for two years now. As noted in the introduction, chapters 5 and 6 reporting on data analysis are structured on themes and sub themes elicited from questions and supporting probing questions of the study participants. A pervading theme for stakeholder opinion was the mass communication program itself. To analyse this theme, the following questions, apart from question 1, which is included for completeness, were considered:

Q1: SQU College of Arts’ Mass Communication Department graduates employability in Oman’s public and/or private sectors (Graduates’ employment prospects).

Q2: Skills and knowledge required of SQU MCD graduates to gain employment (graduate skills’ standards).

Q3: Issues regarding transition from university to the workplace (graduates’ job- seeking skills).

Q4: Are graduates supported by the university through offers of further training? (increasing graduates’ employability.)

Q5: Are graduates prepared for Oman’s media workplaces? (Work readiness and future learning opportunities.)

Respondents’ views on the purpose and perceived intentions for the MCD program are presented at Table 7. The respondent categories for the questions are shown in the table, together with the results of the analysis of the theme.

Table 7

Respondents’ Views on MCD Program

Question Respondent Category Findings Graduates unemployed and undergraduates

MCD’s shortcomings create graduate unemployment Q2:

Graduate skills’ standards

Faculty MCD’s intention is to introduce language classes to address students’ fluency standards

Graduate employees, private and public sectors

SQU requires better training for job-seeking skills, as Career Advisory Office (CAO) sessions theoretical and clash with lectures

Faculty Mixed response to stronger job-seeking skills focus, those who agree think it is CAO’s responsibility MCD needs better relationships with CAO Q3:

Graduates’ job- seeking skills

Graduates unemployed

MCD does not coordinate with CAO and CAO focuses its resources on other Colleges, eg at job exhibitions

Faculty Universities are educational,, not vocational, institutions

MCD is reviewing course structure to meet stakeholder demands

Government policymakers

University is an educational establishment, not a vocational institute, views ranged from a focus on SQU’s Career Advisory Office to a strategy for narrowing the gap between graduates’ competencies and private sector jobs

Private sector is not represented on the SQU Council, this should be reconsidered

Employers, private sector

Regular conferences required between university and media industry to discuss trends, define skills needs, design curriculum

Most large media employers have training centres, MCD should liaise on training matters

MCD graduates are not at a standard for competitive job-hunting Q4: Improving graduates’ employability Graduate employees, private sector

The role of the university is to know the mass media market and supply its labour needs

Table 7

Respondents’ Views on MCD Program (continued)

Question Respondent Category

Findings

Faculty University’s role to educate students in mass communications to an international standard: job- seeking is not its focus

Government policymakers

Policymakers role is to instill Oman’s culture,

identity and citizenship into students, particularly in a higher education environment

The university develops knowledge of systems and competencies to meet future conditions, e.g. IT is developing rapidly

Q5:

Work readiness and future learning opportunities

All graduates and students

University focus is an educational institution, not for producing competent individuals

The university system is not conducive to

achievement of competent mass media graduates, MCD should be an independent college (single view)

The majority of respondent categories expressed opinions on the goals, structure and expected outcomes from SQU’s mass communication program.