This study presents the opinions of a stratified sample of542 graduates of the Faculty of Social
Sciences, University of Botswana on their transition from higher education to employment;
and the extent to which the jobs they held were appropriate to the level of education attained.
The findings reveal that while the transition time between graduation and first employment
was between 0 and 4 months for 34% of the graduates, 25% of them took over 54 months to
secure their first jobs. The mean transition time for all the graduates was 4.6 months while
they made an average of 13.5 contacts with employers before getting their first employment.
The results of the analysis further showed a downward trend in the percentage of graduates
whose transition times were less than 4 months over the study period. In addition the study
revealed that over 72% of the graduates felt strongly that their jobs were appropriate to their
level of education and relevant to the courses taken at the university. Based on the findings,
the study recommends among other things, that the Botswana Government should sensitise
and boost private sector involvement in the employment of graduates into their services in
order to reduce the full burden of employment of graduates.