VET Tracer Study

In 2014, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of Georgia began implementing a study on the vocational education program graduates (known as the “Tracer Study”), which serves as a results assessment tool for the systematic analysis of important and long-term changes (positive or negative, planned or unplanned) that have taken place in the lives of graduates in terms of their employment.

In the course of this assignment, ACT studied the following issues: graduates’ satisfaction with the vocational education program and the institutions; future educational plans of graduates; graduates’ level of education before enrolling in the vocational education program; collection of information on graduates’ activities (employment/self-employment/internship/continuation of studies and other activities) after graduation (if a graduate was unemployed, the reasons behind their unemployment were identified); employed graduates’ satisfaction with their working conditions; the connection between education gained in a vocational education institution and graduates’ careers; identification of factors that have helped or have interrupted graduates (employment/self-employment/internship and/or continuation of studies); and the graduates’ assessments of different aspects of vocational education.

The survey provided information on how graduates proceeded with their careers in different directions (e.g. education, employment, self-employment, or unemployment). Data includes both factual information about graduates as well as their perceptions and assessments. The goal of the Tracer Study was to study changes in the lives of graduates after they have completed their studies.