Graduate Employment Outcomes of Health Service Management Work Integrated Learning Placements

Abstract

Introduction: Australian universities are increasingly focused on graduate employability outcomes.  Industry and government are also seeking job-ready graduates.  Employment outcomes for degree programs are measured by national surveys.  Understanding employment outcomes for health service management university programs however are not able to be determined by these surveys as the data are not sufficiently granular.  Universities embed a range of employability activities into their degrees to promote and support job-ready graduates such as work-integrated learning placements.  Study design: This study employed a novel approach to measuring employability outcomes for graduates who had completed a health service management work integrated learning placement.  Findings and research outcomes: Our study shows that graduates of a health service management program who complete a work-integrated learning placement have good employability outcomes and are gaining employment in roles related to their degree.  Further research is needed to understand the impact of the placement and other embedded approaches in health service management degree programs to determine the role of  each of the possible contributing factors