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Introduction

This introduction section includes brief introduction of the Asian Institute of Technology(AIT) with its three schools and satellite centers, a chronology of tracer studies in AIT, andtracer study of AIT graduates (2003 to mid 2008).

1.1 Asian Institute of Technology

As an autonomous, international, ostgraduate institution! AIT was established in "#$# tohel meet the growing need for ad%anced education in Asia. Three schools and AITsatellite centers ro%ide ad%anced education, training and research in the areas ofengineering! en%ironment and de%eloment! and management, to meet the needs of ri%ateand ublic sectors. &or more than fi%e decades, AIT has been an acti%e artner in the

romotion of technological change and de%eloment in the Asia'acific region. AIT todayhas graduated more than ",000 graduates from more than 80 countries, and currently hasan enrollment of o%er ",800 full time students tutored by an international team of facultyand staff drawn from all o%er the world. *nglish is the medium of instruction and writtenwor+, as well as the official administrati%e language. The brief introduction of the threeschools and AIT satellite centers is resented hereunder.

1.1.1 School of Environment, Resources and Development

The chool of *n%ironment, -esources, and e%eloment (*-) is committed to lay a

leadershi role in the ro%ision of e/cellent academic, research and outreach rogrammethat are rele%ant to the region. Through its academic rogrammes and outreach units,*-, AITs largest school, has been wor+ing towards caacity building and humanresources de%eloment in the areas of en%ironment and resources management, o%ertyalle%iation and socio'economic1gender de%eloment. The mission of *- is to resondto regional needs by mobiliing and enhancing caacities for socially, economically anden%ironmentally sound de%eloment in artnershi with the ublic and ri%ate sectors.The school follows an interdiscilinary aroach that integrates the technological, naturaland social sciences. The academic rograms of *- are designed to be resonsi%e to theregional needs in o%erty -eduction, *n%ironmental rotection, and ustainablee%eloment. They are categoried into three academic thrusts, namely 4ioresources,

*n%ironment, and *nergy and e%eloment tudies. This school has the following fieldsof study

". Agricultural ystems and *ngineering2. A5uaculture and A5uatic -esource 6anagement3. &ood *ngineering and 4iorocess Technology7. *nergy$. *n%ironmental *ngineering and 6anagement. ul and aer Technology. 9ender and e%eloment tudies8. :atural -esources 6anagement#. -egional and -ural e%eloment lanning"0. ;rban *n%ironmental 6anagement.

"

1


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1.1.2 School of Engineering and Technology

chool of *ngineering and Technology (*T) is the synergistic integration in :o%ember200$ of the two former chools, namely, the chool of


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1.1. School of !anagement

The chool of 6anagement (C6) has academic rograms which are of internationalstandard and are adated to the needs and challenges of the economies in an increasinglycometiti%e region. C6 offers 64A, h, */ecuti%e 64A and 4A rograms. All

academic rograms are conducted in *nglish. The 64A rogram encourages articiati%elearning and use a %ariety of interacti%e learning methodologies. rograms are designedfor students to learn latest management concets, techni5ues and tools, but moreimortantly, to de%elo s+ills and attitude of listening and understanding others, holisticthin+ing, collecti%e decision ma+ing, leading by e/amle, communicating, negotiating,and being sensiti%e to societal concerns. C6 ro%ides e/cetional indi%iduals with asuorti%e en%ironment in which they can de%elo their s+ills and atitudes, heling themto reach their rofessional goals and to ser%e the interests of countries in the Asia'acificregion. The curriculum is necessarily interdiscilinary, integrating as it consists elementsfrom engineering, economics, social sychology and management fields. It is structured insuch a way as to include the integrated comonents of the school re5uired courses,

electi%es or focus courses, and1or an 64A roBect or -esearch tudy.

There are three distinct */ecuti%e 64A rograms ' *64A in 4ang+o+, *64A ' =uman-esources 6anagement (*64A'=-6) and International *64A (i*64A) in Dietnam.The three *64A rograms ha%e different segmentation and cater to management conte/tof each segment. All the *64A rograms are of e5ual %alue and 5uality aiming atdifferent target grous. C6 offers two distinct doctoral rograms ' h and 4A. Theh rogram focuses on research wor+ embedded in theories from social sciences andhumanities, and reares students for teaching and research'related Bobs. 4A is a

rofessional doctorate rogram, where the research is rooted in the conte/t of rofessionalractice ma+ing a significant contribution to management ractice, olicy or strategy. The

two rograms ha%e different segmentation and cater to research conte/t of each segment.4oth rograms are of e5ual %alue and 5uality aiming at different target grous. 4othin%ol%e the de%eloment of substantial standard research wor+.

1.1." AIT Satellite #enters

It was in "##3 when AIT


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It was in mid 200 when AIT


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1. Tracer Study of AIT $raduates 2%%&

It has been found that alumni tracer studies are the most imortant %ehicle to build strongbonds between theAlma Materand the e%er'increasing graduates. This is feasible throughtwo ersecti%es. &rom one ersecti%e, the alumni are the rich source of feedbac+ forimro%ements in the course curriculum, teaching, research, e/tension, and networ+ing. Cnthe other, the tracer study hels to measure the e/tent of rofessional and academic careers

ursued by the graduates after gaining +nowledge and s+ill through academic institutionsli+e Asian Institute of Technology (AIT). tarting from "#" to date altogether "7 tracerstudies of AIT graduates ha%e been done in different formats and with different foci. Thelatest tracer study was conducted in 200810# targeting recent ast graduates (200$ to mid2008) with an additional searate reort for the AIT 9raduates with :orwegiancholarshi (200$ to mid 2008). This tracer study also emloyed both arametric and non'

arametric statistical tools in the data analysis and interretation. The total oulation forthis study was constituted by all the AIT graduates who graduated in between 2003 to mid

2008. They were 3## including 27#" male AIT graduates and "$0$ female AIT graduatesbelonging to 0 countries and territories. ince female AIT graduates constitute asubstantial number, the gender analyses were also made feasible in some asects of thistracer study.

1..1 '()ectives of Tracer Study of AIT $raduates 2%%&

". To find out the effecti%eness and rele%ance of AIT degree as a resource and credentialfor emloyment1Bob lacement uon graduation from AIT! emloyment oortunitiesfor graduates G for both men and women.

2. To find out the rele%ance of AIT courses1curricula and research to the current Bobfunction and rofessional de%eloment in resecti%e fields, and furtheringacademic1scientific ursuits.

3. To find out the rofessional status and ran+s of the AIT graduates in their resecti%eemloyments.

7. To assess the le%el of networ+ing among AIT graduates and recommendations tostrengthen the e/isting networ+ among them.

$. To assess the gender awareness of AIT graduates in their resecti%e rofessions.. To assess the contribution of AIT graduates in the de%eloment of their home

countries and of the region! including contribution to o%erty alle%iation and to fulfillAITs mission.

1..2 'rgani*ational Structure of the Tracer Study of AIT $raduates 2%%&

The whole reort is di%ided into the three maBor arts pre+introduction (title age,foreword, reface, ac+nowledgement, e/ecuti%e summary, table of contents, list ofabbre%iations)! appendices(aendi/ tables, coordination schema, 5uestionnaires, and listof resondents)! and main (ody which is comrised of "2 sections, namely, ")Introduction, 2) -esearch esign,3) AIT 9raduates, 7) 9raduates before tudies at AIT,$) tudies at AIT, ) &eedbac+ on Teaching, -esearch and er%ices, )


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&ocal erson of


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%alidating were done. As er re5uirements, some inter%ening %ariables were de%eloed forcross'tabulations. The @orld 4an+s classifications for region and the economicclassification for countries as shown below were also used for cross'tabulations.

#lassification of #ountries of the Target AIT $raduate (y Region and Economic #ategories

Region#ountries of the Target AIT $raduates

Africa, 6iddle *ast andEatin America

6alawi, 6oambi5ue , :igeria, -wanda, Togo,


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Table 3."Target oulation by egree, Mear of 9raduation and 9ender

9raduationMear

Academic egree 9raduates by gender

6aster octor iloma Total 6ale &emale Total

2003 $$ "2 77 7#2 2$2 77

2007 7# $3 7 $3 33# "# $3

200$ 07 7 3 $3 7$ 2# $3

200 87 2 7 $0 73 2 7#

200 #8 80 " # 72 30 8

2008 7"# "8 " 738 2$# "# 738

Total 3" 3"7 2$ 7000 27#2 "$0 3##8A female graduated in 2003 and a male graduated in 200$ assed way, hence, the actual target oulation becomes 3##.

AIT 9raduates

.1 $raduation and Academic Degrees Aarded in AIT

AIT conducted the ""0th graduation ceremony on " ecember 2008. ;ntil this date andincluding the degrees offered in this graduation ceremony, AIT has awarded altogether ",20" academic degrees in terms of iloma, masters N64A, 64A (*), 6. *ng., 6. *ng.(), 6. c., 6. c. ()O, and doctoral degrees (. *ng., . Tech. c. and h. ). as

resented in &igure 3.". It is e%ident that 6. *ng. degree alone has been recei%ed by morethan $0 ercent of the total awardees. These academic degrees were recei%ed by thestudents of 82 countries of Asia, *uroe, America and Africa.

igure .1- Total AIT Academic Degrees Aarded as of Decem(er 2%%

ource AIT 9raduation 4oo+, ""0th9raduation, "# ecember 2008.

The study intended to loo+ at the effect of AIT degrees in the rofessional and academiccareer aths of the recent ast graduates (2003 to mid 2008). Therefore, a few details onacademic degrees by the target and resondent graduates and gender is resented

hereunder.

.2 Target

$raduates

Table 3.."clearlyindicates that3##8 targetgraduatesrecei%ed

7000 academic degrees due to the fact that two target graduates got both masters anddoctoral degrees from AIT. Again out of the total 3##8 target oulation, two were

#

3


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untimely assed way (one female from :eal and one male from


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The further analysis on &igure 3. was done by %iewing gender roortion in differentgraduation years. The roortion of female graduates was ranging from 3 to 73 in thetarget oulation and 33 to 7 in the resondent oulation. The target and resondent

roortion of female is 3 and 33 in 2003 graduation year, 7" and 3# in the 2007graduation year, 72 and 7" in 200$ graduation year, 70 and 38 in 200 graduation year, 77and 70 in 200 graduation year, and 73 and 7 in 2008 graduation year, resecti%ely

." Reason for Targeting Recent $raduates

There were two imortant reasons of targeting recent ast graduates (2003 to mid 200$)for this tracer studies. Cne reason was to loo+ at the rele%ancy and effecti%eness of theAIT degrees, courses, and research acti%ities to the current changing conte/t of the region.The second reason was based on the hyothesis that the finding and contacting the recentgraduates would be easier so that resonse rate could be ma/imied. &rom the analysis ofthe roortion of the target as well as the resondent graduates as against to the eachgraduation year under consideration also suorted this hyothesis. The relati%e

roortion of the resondent graduates is higher in the recent graduation year and found inincreasing trend. =owe%er, while conducting research, a full cooeration and hel wasre5uested from the AITAA mother chater and corresonding national chaters and from

other AIT alumni. &ollowing icture on the meeting with AITAA national chatere/ecuti%e members including resident and the recent AIT graduates is one of thee/amles for this matter.

"2Discussions ith the representative of recent AIAT graduates and the e>ecutive

committee mem(ers of AITAA !yanmar 6ational #hapter.


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9raduatesbefore tudying at AIT


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the actual resondents, "000 (#2L) had got the highest or last academic degrees from theirown countries. The remaining #0 (8L) resondents had recei%ed their last degrees beforestudying at AIT from other than their own countries. The foreign countries gone forstudies for the last degree before AIT were >aan for a 4angladeshi, India for $ out of 84hutanese, Thailand and -ussia for " and 2


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The secialiation of the earlier studies before enrolling in AIT co%ered %arious fields suchas agriculture, animal science, %eterinary science, a5uaculture, fisheries, botany,

biotechnology, chemistry, geology, geograhy, en%ironmental science, economics,business administration, finance and ban+ing, transortation, ci%il engineering, electricalengineering, en%ironmental engineering, mechanical engineering, natural resources,forestry, geograhy, ublic administration, ublic health, leather technology, landmanagement, architecture, limnology, welfare studies, sociology, rural de%eloment,international relations, and *nglish language.

". ?noing a(out Studies at AIT

The %arious sources of information for +nowing about studies at AIT were in5uired. Inresonse, $2 resonded their multile resonses as resented in &igure 7.7. Cut of the$2 actual resondent graduates, 28 ($"L) reorted that they +new about studies in AITthrough AIT alumni. Then arents1relati%es1friends were the second most imortantsources of information as reorted by 230 (77L) resondent graduates followed by formeruni%ersity rofessors (3$L), ad%ertisement in TD (3"L), former classmates (2L),emloyer and co'wor+er (2L), AIT faculty and AIT =omeage (22L each),ad%ertisement through radio and &6 ("8L), uni%ersity lacement office ("7L), andad%ertisement in :ewsaer ("3L).

"$


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Thirty'se%en resondent graduates secified other sources of information among them 33indicated the collaborati%e rograms with AIT informed them to study in AIT, 2 got theinformation from education fair, and one from social gatherings and the last one got theinformation after %isiting AIT.

"." =or/ E>periences (efore Enrolling in AIT

The target AIT graduates were in5uired about their wor+ e/eriences if they had anybefore studying at AIT. :inety'eight ercent ("0#7) of the ""2" resondent graduates

resonded on their Bob e/eriences before AIT andamongst them, 80 (#L) said that they had wor+e/eriences (&igure 7.$). Their wor+ e/erienceswere ranging from 2 months to 2$ years and #months. This means a large maBority of the targetalumni had wor+ e/eriences before coming to AITfor ostgraduate studies. A large maBority (3#L) hadwor+ duration in between 2 to less than $ years

before studying AIT followed by $ to "0 years ofduration (27L), " to less than two years ("L) ande%en more than "0 years ("$L). A small roortion

of them (L) indicated that they had wor+e/erience of than one year (&igure 7.). Cut of 80

"


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Table 7." Tye of 6ain &unction at @or+ before AITMain Function (Multiple Response) Frequency Percent

Project Implementation 334 40.9

Management 22 2!."

#eac$ing %!9 2%.9Researc$ &nalysis ' Policy Inputs %"! 20.

nole*ge an* In+ormation,issemination

%" %9.%

Table 7.2 >ob osition before AIT by 9ender-o position Male / Female / #otal /

-unior Pro+essional 222 43.4 %3 40.9 3! 42.4

-unior Management "% %%.9 !3 22.% %34 %.9

Mi**le Management %20 23. "4 %9.4 %4 2%.9

Mi**le Pro+essional 9 %9.2 4 %".4 %2 %.%

1enior Pro+essional 3 0." 3 0.9 " 0.!

1enior Management ! %.4 % 0.3 %.0#otal %% %00.0 330 %00.0 4% %00.0

resondents graduates who had Bob before AIT 83$ graduates (#L) reorted their mainemloyer tyes.

".@ Type of Employer (efore AIT

&igure 7. clearly re%eals that the academic and research institutions and centralgo%ernment were main emloyers for the maBority of the resondent graduates asindicated by 23 ercent of the 83$resondent graduates for both tye ofemloyers. The second imortant emloyerswas reorted as the ri%ate sector (22L)followed by international 1 regionalorganiation (#L), non'go%ernmentalorganiation and ublic ser%ice utility

ro%iders (L each), and financialinstitution (3L).

". Type of Individual !ain unction at =or/ (efore AIT

Altogether 8" resondent graduates indicated the tye of main function at wor+ beforeAIT. &orty'one ercent of them reorted roBect imlementation as indi%idual mainfunction at wor+followed bymanagement (28L),teaching (22L),research analysis 1

olicy inuts (2"L)and +nowledge andinformationdissemination("#L).

".B Co( 5osition (efore AIT (y $ender

All the target graduates were re5uested to ro%ide the Bob osition and out of the 80graduates who had Bob before AIT 87" reorted their Bob ositions. All the Bobs wereclassified into categories and no one was found for the e/ecuti%e le%el of Bob osition

before studying AIT. 6ore than 70 ercent of the resonding graduates from both gendersha%e >unior rofessional le%el of Bobs followed by 6iddle 6anagement (27L) in malegraduates and >unior 6anagement among the female graduates before AIT (Table 7.2).@hen Bob

osition acrossthe economicclassification ofthe countrieswere analyed itwas found that

maBority of theAIT graduates

"


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Table 7.3 >ob osition before AIT by *conomic unior 6anagement #" ".# 72 "2.8 0 0.0 " 2$.0 "37 "$.#

enior rofessional 2 0.7 7 ".2 0 0.0 0 0.0 0.

6iddle rofessional 80 "$. " 2". 0 0.0 " 2$.0 "$2 "8."

>unior rofessional "## 3#.2 "$ 7. " "00.0 " 2$.0 3$ 72.7

Total $08 "00.0 328 "00.0 " "00.0 7 "00.0 87" "00.0

Table 7.7 alary before AIT by 9enderalary (;P16onth) 6ale L &emale L Total L

Q "00 $ ""." 72 "3.$ #8 "2.0"00 to 200 "0 2".2 " "#. "8 20.

2%1 to @%% 1&2 .1 12B "%. 1& &.1

$0" to "000 "08 2".7 2 "#.# "0 20.#

"00" to 2000 2 $.7 "$ 7.8 72 $.2

200" to 3000 ".7 7 ".3 "" ".3

R 3000 ".7 0 0.0 0.#

Total $07 "00.0 3"" "00.0 8"$ "00.0

Table 7.$ alary before AIT by 9ender, *conomic


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0

0

%00

%0

200

20

300

30

2003 2004 200 200" 200! 200

ra*uation ear

4

u

m

.

e

r

15R, 16M 1 15# 175

igure @.1- Target $raduates (y Schools and $raduation 9ear

broad regions. Table 7.$ clearly re%eals that, on an a%erage, female graduates wererecei%ing less salary than males. A wide range of %ariation was found from 38 ;P ermonth in EI< to 2000 ;P er month in =I


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Ta(le @.1- Respondent AIT $raduates (y Degree and $ender

egree Total (:)6ale &emale

nm L (nm 1 :) nf L (nf 1 :)

6 *ng 77 3$2 B@.& ""2 27."6 c 3"7 "7" 77.# "3 @@.1

64A 27 "22 7#.7 "2$ @%.

*ng 7$ 38 "." "$.

Techc

228 3.7 "7 3.

h 3" " $7.8 "7 7$.2

Total ""23 8 0.7 77$ 3#.

that there were largest graduates from *- in 2003, 200 and 2008. imilarly, C6roduced largest number in 2007 and 200$. Ei+ewise, *T roduced the largest number in200. AT resent there are three schools, namely, *-, *T, and C6 which ha%e been

laying a leading role to meet the o%erall mission of AIT. Therefore, these three schoolswill be considered for the analysis hereafter.

@.2 Respondent $raduates (y School

The resondent graduates (""2")had got different academicdegrees through differentschools. &igure $.2 shows thatthe largest roortion of theresondent graduates (70L) wasfrom *T (summation of ATand


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in science and management studies and %ery low in engineering fields. Table $." indicatesthat maBority ($$L) of the total degrees in 6 c was recei%ed by women and they werealso recei%ing slightly more than $0 ercent of 64A degrees. In case of doctoral degrees,female resonding graduates had higher . Tech c degrees (3L) comared to maleresonding graduates. In totality, about 70 ercent of the degrees were found recei%ed by

the resonding female graduates.

@." ield of Study of the Respondent $raduates

The field of studies of both masters and doctoral resondent graduates was re%iewed. Cutof the ""2" total resondent graduates, "023 had recei%ed masters degrees alone and # ofthem had recei%ed doctoral degrees alone. =owe%er, 2 resondent graduates had studied

both masters and doctoral degree rograms and recei%ed both degrees from AIT.Therefore in master rogram there are "02$ ersons indicating studying in 38 differentfiled of studies. The Aendi/ Tables $.2 and $.3 re%eal the %arious field of study fromwhich the resondent AIT graduates had studied for 6asters and octoral rogram,

resecti%ely. @hile study masters degree, about "8 ercent of the resondent graduatesstudied in international business and management related field of studies in both AIT andDietnam under C6 followed by en%ironmental engineering and man agent (#L), energy(L), comuter science, telecommunication, information and communicationtechnologies, and urban en%ironmental management (each 7L). Incase of the doctoral

rogram the higher roortion of the resondent graduates were from the energy relatedfield of studies (#L) followed by international business and management related anden%ironmental engineering and management (each 8L), and transortation engineeringand industrial engineering (each L).

@.@


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Ta(le .1- Rating Teaching 4uality (y $ender, Economic #ategories and Region

en*er8 5conomiccategories8 an* Region

5cellent :ery oo* oo* Poor :ery Poor

#otal+ / + / + / + / + /

Male %%2 %.0 342 4.9 % 2.4 %.3 3 0. "23

Female 42 %0. 2%2 3.0 %42 3. 4 %.0 0 0.0 400

#otal %4 %.% 4 4.2 300 29.3 %2 %.2 3 0.3 %023

;I7 9.9 339 .% %3 3%.4 2 0.3 % 0.2 3

;M7 9 2%.9 2%4 49.3 %%3 2".0 %0 2.3 2 0. 434


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AIT is %ery good followed by good (2#L). &ew resondents ("$L) had an imression thatthe teaching 5uality in AIT is e%en e/cellent one. The teaching standard as ercei%ed bythe resondent AIT graduates was also analyed by gender, economic categories of thecountries and region which is resented in the following Table .".

Cn an a%erage, maBority in all the three categories (gender, economic classification, andregion) indicated the teaching 5uality of AIT as %ery good. A negligible number of theresondents in all categories indicated as oor and %ery oor. The main reasons of the oorand %ery oor rating as reorted by them can be listed as wea+ ractical asects,inade5uate facilities, less cooerating and heling less in thesis suer%ision, high coursefee but oor learning materials, high olitics among instructors, and heterogeneity in the

bac+ground of the students and di%ersity in teaching that had to be comromised.

.2 eed(ac/s on Thesis Research in AIT

An attemt was made to gather information on the le%el of satisfaction of the target AIT

graduates on the their thesis research wor+s in terms of research suer%isors contribution,committee members contribution, fle/ibility of choice in toic selection, research funda%ailability, and hel recei%ed from seniors and own batch mates. The %arious resonsesfor the satisfaction le%el of AIT graduates for their masters thesis wor+s were foundranging from %ery low to %ery high. &orty ercent of the #03 resonding AIT graduatesconsidered the contribution of thesis suer%isor as high followed by %ery high (38L)followed by medium ("8 L) and low and %ery low (7L). In case of committee memberscontribution, maBority considered as high (77L) followed by medium (30L), %ery high("8L), low and %ery low (8L). The fle/ibility of choice in masters research toic for thestudents in AIT is found high enough since 73 ercent reorted as %ery high followed byhigh (2L), medium (23L) and low and %ery low (L). 6aBority (37L) indicated thatfund a%ailability for research was medium followed by high (30L), low and %ery low(2"L) and %ery high ("3L). &ifty'four ercent of the resondent graduates reorted thatthey recei%ed %ery high to high le%el of hel from their seniors. imilarly, $ ercent ofthem reorted that they recei%ed high to %ery high le%el of hel from their batch mates(&igure .2).

23


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. eed(ac/s on Dissertation Research in AIT

Ei+e in thesis research, all the target AIT graduates who had recei%ed doctoral degree werealso in5uired to ro%ide feedbac+ on %arious asects on the dissertation research in AIT.6aBority (7L) reorted as %ery high le%el of inuts from the main suer%isor of thedissertation research followed by high (32L), medium ("8L) and only 7 ercent reortedas low le%el of hel. i/ty'two ercent of them reorted as %ery high and high le%el ofhel recei%ed from the c ommittee members and remaining others indicated as medium by30 ercent and low to %ery low by 8 ercent. The fle/ibility of choice in dissertationresearch toic for the students in AIT is found high enough since 2 ercent of theresonded graduates indicated as %ery high and high le%els followed medium (22L), andlow and %ery low (L).Thirty ercent of theresondent graduatesindicated that funda%ailability was high,howe%er, close to this

ercentage! another 28ercent also reorted lowand %ery low le%el of funda%ailability. &orty'nine

ercent of the resondentgraduates reorted that they

27


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recei%ed %ery high to high le%el of hel from their seniors. imilarly, $# ercent of themreorted that they recei%ed high to %ery high le%el of hel from their batch mates (&igure.2).

4oth tye of resondent graduates (masters and doctoral degree recei%ers) had similar

tye of reasons for rating the low or %ery low on %arious asects of thesis and dissertationresearch in AIT. Their oints ha%e been summaried and resented in the following Table.2 on comments made for rating low and %ery low by research asects.

Ta(le .2- Reason for rating lo and very lo (y research aspects

Research

aspects

#omments

&unding onresearch

:ot enough fund to conduct research, little otions to ac5uire research fund, noro%ision of getting fund for attending conference or wor+shos to enhance the career,most of the research fund was enough for tra%eling what was left was not enough to doe/tensi%e research, no any ad%ice about funding source for students, flat rate is notsuitable for all tye of research, both scholarshis and research funds are %ery low

comare with the other countries, and gi%en budget is too low comare to the time andwor+ load of the research.

uer%ision onresearch

ue to a huge of number of students, ad%isor does not ha%e enough time to contribute,read and comment on thesis and dissertation research and committee members didnt

ay full attention.=el fromseniors and

batch mates onresearch

If not at all but %ery oor connection between senior and Bunior, sometimes seniors arenot a%ailable or reluctant to hel at the time of need, sometime the time of research didnot match with the timing of seniors resence. ue to the feeling of cometition own

batch mates do not want to hel each other.

." Rating on AIT Services

The entire target AIT graduates were in5uired about their ratings on the 5uality ofinformation, ad%ice, and ser%ices they recei%ed from different ser%ice units of AIT. Asignificantly higher roortion of resondent AIT graduates ($7L) consider as %ery goodfollowed by e%en e/cellent (2"L), good (20L) and oor and %ery oor ($L) for theser%ices recei%ed from the field of study administration and management. imilarly, alarge maBority of them ($3L) reorted as %ery good followed by good (2L), e/cellent("L) and oor and %ery oor (7L) for the ser%ice recei%ed from school administrationand management. @hen an in5uiry was made on the 5uality of the ser%ice rendered by theregistry of AIT, it was reorted as %ery good by 77 ercent resondents followed by good(3L), e/cellent ("2L), and oor and %ery oor by ercent. Dast maBority ("L) of the

resondents indicated e/cellent and %ery good ser%ice in AIT library. The 5uality of theser%ice ro%ided by language center is rated as e/cellent by "# ercent, %ery good by 7ercent, good by 3" ercent and oor by 7 ercent.


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&igure 7. further re%eals that the ser%ice of the 9o%ernment relation office is rated as%ery good by 73 ercent followed by good (70L), e/cellent ("3L) and oor and %ery oor($L). The 5uality of the ser%ice of the alumni relations office rated as good (73L), %erygood (3#L), e/cellent (#L) and oor and %ery oor (#L). &orty'four ercent of theresondent graduates rated student affairs as %ery good followed by good (7"L), e/cellent(8L) and oor and %ery oor (L). *ach 7" ercent for %ery good and good was foundrating the ser%ice of the student union followed by e/cellent ("0L) and oor and %ery oor(L). 6aBority (7L) indicated as the %ery good followed by good (28L, e/cellent (20L)and oor and %ery oor by the remaining $ ercent for the 5uality rating of sort facilities.The assessment on the 5uality of o%erall management of AIT by the resondent graduatesmade as %ery good ($7L), good (33L), e/cellent (#L) and oor and %ery oor by 7

ercent.

As re5uested to offer the comments on oor and %ery oor ratings for the 5uality ofser%ices rendered different ser%ice units of AIT, some of the resondent graduates haddone it and their resonses are summaried as below in Table .3.

Ta(le .- Reason for rating as lo and very lo on AIT services

Service 7nit #omments


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Eanguage center :ot enough 5ualified *nglish instructors

*/erimental labfacilities

:o enough lab facility for all subBects1items and whate%er a%ailable are mostlyoutdated e/erimental lab &acilities

Administration Administration and management are in need of imro%ement, do not care muchfor the students, lot of mista+es in documentation, esecially in finance andhousing section

Alumni -elation low in resonse and rocedures related to AITAA matters.-egistry er%ice is oor.

.@ Suggestions for Strengthening AIT Targeting its uture $raduates

All the target AIT graduates were re5uested to ro%ide their %iews on what must bestrengthened at AIT targeting its future graduates in terms of teaching 5uality, racticalalication for

roblem sol%ings+ills, content andco%erage of courses,

and additional newcourses if any. Thehighest roortion(78L) of theresondent AITgraduates indicatedtheir %iews for targeting racticalalication for

roblem sol%ing s+ills followed by teaching and research 5uality (3L), adding newcourses ($L) and 7 ercent suggested to re%ise content and co%erage of courses (&igure

.7). i/ty'si/ (L) resonding AIT graduates ro%ided se%eral other suggestions amongstthem most imortant ones are more emhasis on to ran+ed Bournal ublication!collaboration with to ran+ed uni%ersities! imro%ing comuting and lab facilities!credible admission rocess and a realistic camus Bob lacement! networ+ing! e5ui mores+ills needed while articiating in the meetings! organiing international seminar andwor+shos! concentrating on ublic sea+ing and resentation s+ills! increasing fielde/osures and ractical e/eriences! enhancing international studying en%ironment! andrefreshing and udating with new1ad%anced technology and new1alied concets(Aendi/ Table .").

-egarding the content and co%erage of courses, further elaborations are done emhasiingmainly on emerging issues li+e mitigation and adatation to climate change, I6,migration, re%ising curriculum loo+ing at the local needs not Bust coying curriculum fromwestern uni%ersities, introduction of debit and credit in details in finance, free choice toselect subBect matters across AIT school, and ro%ision of electi%e courses and internshi(Aendi/ Table .2).

The new courses to be added were suggested as the A5uaculture 4usiness 6anagement!omestic Diolence, =uman -ights and Traffic+ing! ocial *ntrereneurshi! 4usinessEaw!


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6odeling! -adar -emote ensing! and =igh Doltage *ngineering S ower ystemrotection (Aendi/ Table .3).

>I oul* not li?e to encourage any o+ my +rien*s an* relati@es to stu*y at&I# unless your teac$ing an* supporting ser@ices $a@e een impro@e*. #$eycoul* spen* t$e same amount pai* to &I# in stu*ying in t$e


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Ta(le B.1- #hoosing on #ountry after $raduation (y $ender, Economy and Region

9ender, *conomy, and-egion

Mes :o Total

f % f % f L

6ale $"8 79.3 "3$ 20.7 $3 100

&emale 33 76.8 "02 23.2 73# 100

Total 8$$ 78.3 23 21.7 "0#2 100

EI< $"2 80.5 "27 19.5 3 100

E6< 338 75.1 ""2 2.9 7$0 100

;6< " 50.0 " 50.0 2 100

=I< 7 100.0 0 0.0 7 100

Total 8$$ 78.3 23 21.7 "0#2 100

*ast Asia and acific " 79.3 "8 20.6 #07 100

outh Asia"37 72.8 $0

27.

2"87 100

*uroe and


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Ta(le B.2- Response Rate on Coining 5revious Co(

-esonse &re5uency ercent Dalid ercent

Mes 778 70.0 77.$

:o 387 37.3 38."

:ot alicable "$ "$. ".7

!"#total 1007 89.8 100.0

:o answer ""7 "0.2

Total ""2" "00.0

Ta(le B.- Duration Ta/en for the irst Co( after $raduation from AITDuration !ale emale Total

reFuency G reFuency G reFuency G


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igure B.2- Relation (eteen Age and #urrent Co( 5osition

Ta(le B."- #urrent Involvement of AIT $raduatesInvolvement reFuency 5ercent 8alid 5ercent

>ob #0" 80.7 8$.7

tudy 8 .8 8.2

4usiness $3 7. $.0

Cther "7 ".2 ".3

!"#total 1055 9.1 100.0

:o Answer $.#

Total 1121 1%%.%

Ta(le B.@- Co( 5osition (y $ender and (efore and after Studying in AIT

>ob -an+ East >ob osition before AIT ob osition

9ender 6ale &emale Total 6ale &emale Totalenior &re5uency " 8 82 3# "2"

$ercent ".7 0.3 1.0 "7.$ "0.2 12.76iddle &re5uency "20 7 "87 7"7 27 88

$ercent 23.$ "#.7 21.9 B.% B1." 72.3>unior &re5uency 387 2$ 7# " " "72

$ercent [email protected] %. 77.2 "2.$ "8.$ 1.9Total &re5uency $"" 330 87" $ 387 #$"

$ercent "00.0 "00.0 100.0 "00.0 "00.0 100

B." #urrent Involvement of AIT $raduates

A %ast maBority (8$L) of the actual resonding graduates reorted that they are wor+ing atresent. About 8 ercent were found in%ol%ed in study rograms for their further academiccareer ad%ancements. &i%e

ercent of the AIT graduatesreorted their in%ol%ementas businessU. Eess than 2

ercent secified their otherin%ol%ements such ashousewife, free lancer, Bobterminated and searchingfor a new Bob and fewindicated that they disli+ethe current Bob and Bust resigned. About si/ ercent of the resondent graduates did notmention anything about their current in%ol%ements.

B.@ #urrent Co( 5ositions of AIT $raduates

An analysis was made on Bob ositions by ran+ order and gender considering twosituations, the last Bob osition before AIT and the current Bob osition after AIT. The

Bunior le%el ofosition wasfound

redominantfor the last Bob

before AIT as$ ercentmales and 80

ercent femalesindicated forthe same.=owe%er, the middle le%el was found in largest roortion for the current Bob osition,after AIT. Table .$ clearly indicates that a significantly large number of AIT graduates got

romotion after their studies from AIT. The uward mo%ement of Bob osition is seen inboth genders when a comarison of Bob osition made considering their last Bob ositionbefore AIT and current Bob osition after AIT.

B. Age and #urrent Co( 5osition

9enerally, there is a ositi%e correlation betweenhigher Bob osition and age. @hen an attemt ismade to see the relationshi between age and the Bob

osition of the resonding AIT graduates by doingcorresondence analysis, it was found that higheraged graduates had e/ecuti%e or senior rofessional 1management le%el of Bob ositions. 6ostly middleage grou had middle or Bunior le%el of Bob ositions.

In a %ery few instances the AIT graduates with higher age ha%e also Bunior le%el of Bobositions and %ise'%ersa.

3"


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Ta(le B.- Type of Individual !ain unction at =or/

Main Function (Multiple Response) Frequency Percent

Project Implementation 3!9 39.

Management 34! 3".4

Researc$ &nalysis ' Policy Inputs 2" 2".9

#eac$ing 2%3 22.4

nole*ge ' In+ormation ,issemination 20 2%.

B.B !ain Employer Type

Altogether "0"7 (#0L) of the resondent graduates with wor+ e/eriences reorted theirmain emloyer tyes. The academic and research institutions found as the main emloyersfor the higher roortion (23L) of the target AIT graduates for their current Bob ositions.

imilarly, "# ercent of them were emloyed by their resecti%e ri%ate sector followedby central go%ernment("L), international 1regional organiation("L), non'go%ernmentalorganiations (L), ublicsector 1 utility ro%ider($L) and financialinstitutions (7L) as

resented in the &igure.3. Thus, academic 1

research institutions,ri%ate sector, centralgo%ernment, andinternational 1 regionalorganiations are the maBor emloyers for nearly 80 ercent of the resondent AITgraduates.

B. Individual !ain unction at =or/ and Co( Satisfaction

Altogether #$3 resondent AIT graduates reorted their indi%idual main Bob function asresented in Table .. :early 70 ercent of them reorted roBect imlementation asindi%idual mainfunction at wor+followed bymanagement asindicated by the 3

ercent of theactual resondingAIT graduates.Twenty'se%en

ercent of them reorted research analysis 1 olicy inuts tye of wor+s. imilarly, each 22

ercent said teaching and +nowledge 1 information dissemination. @hen the indi%idualmain function at wor+ of the current Bob osition is comared with the last Bob before AIT,an uward shift was found for management (28 to 3 ercent) and for research analysis 1

olicy inuts (2" ercent to 2 ercent). @ithout Bob satisfaction of the emloyees, theemloyers may not be able to meet theirobBecti%es or roduction targets to a greatere/tent. Cut of the total #2$ resonding AITgraduates, 88 ercent reorted that they weresatisfied with their current Bobs. This is a goodindication but at the same time one has to gi%e

roer attention on the reaming "2 ercent of the

resonding AIT graduates who are not satisfiedwith their current Bobs.

32


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Table . 9ross alary Ee%el of ob and East >ob before AITSalary Range

07SH!onth3

#urrent 5osition


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Ta(le B.- A6'8A (ased on Age categories 0 #ategories3 and Salaries

>ob Test df 6ean 5uare & ig.

ob

(After AIT)

4etween 9rous 2 78$7."02 .73 .7

@ithin 9rous #28 $$"88.37

Total #30

East >ob

(4efore AIT)

4etween 9rous 2 3027$7$.$"# "3.8

$

.00"

@ithin 9rous 8"2 2"827.7

Total 8"7

by considering salary income before AIT and After AIT against between and within theage grous was done through one way analysis of %ariance (A:CDA). The significancetest indicated that there is significant difference in salary income by age grous in case ofthe last Bob before AIT. =owe%er there is no significance difference in salary income byage grous after

graduation fromAIT. The airedamles t'Test wasdone for the meansalary incomes ofthe last Bob beforeAIT and the current

Bob after. The testresultindicated that thereis a significance

difference in the mean salaries of these two means as shown below.

The standard de%iation is 5uite higher than the mean salary which indicates the wide rangeof %ariations in salary in two situations, before AIT and after AIT.

B.11 #urrent Salary


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aria#les !"m o& !'"ares d& Mean

!'"are

( !ig.

9raduation Mear andalary of current >obafter AIT

Ceteenroups

%42""!.2 29"%33.4 4." 0.0004

Dit$in roups 94%"293. 92 "4233.3

#otal "09"0.! 9309raduation Mear andalary before AIT

Ceteenroups

%293!0. 2%!4.% %.% 0.342

Dit$in roups %%9"!33.0 09 22492.!

#otal %322"!0. %4

B.12 Co( 5osition and Salary Income (y $ender

The imlication of AIT studies loo+ed from the ersecti%e of changes in Bob ositionscomared to their ositions before AIT with the current osition which is meant as afterAIT studies. The @ilco/on igned -an+s Test and earson


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-ele%ancies and*ffecti%eness

Cne of the most imortant obBecti%es of doing tracer study is to assess the rele%ancy andeffecti%eness of AIT studies in the rofessional career ad%ancement, usefulness and le%elof benefits gained, and imact of AIT studies in educational and scientific ursuits.

.1 Co( Relevancy of AIT Studies in #urrent Involvement

All the target AIT graduates were re5uested to ro%ide whate%er number of Bobs theyBoined after their graduation from AIT with the additional information on the rele%ancy ofAIT studies. Altogether #0" (8$L) getting in%ol%ed in Bobs and $3 ($L) in%ol%ed in

business reorted the rele%ancy of AIT studies in their current Bob and business. As shownin Table 8.", AIT studies ha%e been e/actly related for a large maBority of them ($L)followed by artly related for 3# ercent and not related for 7 ercent for their current Bobsand businesses.

Ta(le .1- Employment ;istory and Co( Relevancy of AIT Studies

In%ol%ement and *mloymentrofile

-ele%ancy

*/actly related artially related :ot related

&re5uency % &re5uency % &re5uency %


37/58

rogram has been reorted as highly and %ery highly useful by " ercent, " ercent, 0ercent, 3 ercent, and 3 ercent, resecti%ely.

. 'verall Jenefit $ained from AIT Studies

The o%erall benefits gained by the target AIT graduates from the AIT studies weremeasured in terms of technical 1 ractical s+ills, theoretical +nowledge, gaining higherstatus 1 recognition, gaining self'confidence, gaining higher income, higher rogression 1

romotion in the same Bob, and higher mobility across the Bob. e%enty'fi%e ercent of theresondent AIT graduates reorted that whate%er technical 1 ractical s+ills they had learntfrom AIT has high or %ery high le%els of benefits followed by and 22 ercent of them saidas medium and reaming 3 ercent indicated as low and %ery low le%els. =owe%er, 83

ercent of them reorted that they ha%e been benefited highly and %ery highly from thetheoretical +nowledge they gained from AIT. Ei+ewise, 8 ercent for gaining higher

status 1 recognition, 8 ercent for gaining self'confidence, 2 ercent for gaining higherincome and higher rogression 1 romotion in the same Bob, and for higher mobility

3


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across the Bob were reorted under high and %ery high le%els of benefits gained after AITstudies. &rom these resonses one can easily conclude that the AIT studies ha%e significantcontributions in terms of benefits enBoying by AIT graduates.

." Impact of AIT Studies in Scientific and Educational ields

All the target AIT graduates were in5uired whether they went for further studies aftergraduation from AIT. Amongst them, resonded and 222 (2#L) confirmed theirfurther studies. ome of them had already comleted and some are continuing their studiesand e/ected to graduate in 200# by "3 resondents, in 20"0 by 2 resondents, 20"" by2" resondents, 20"2 by 27 resondents, and each $ resondents in 20"3 and 20"$. Theyha%e studied or been studying %arious academic degree rograms such as certificate,diloma, master, doctoral and ost'doctoral degrees from %arious uni%ersities in *uroe,;A, Australia, and Asia. Among these further studied or studying resondents, 80

ercent said that their further study degrees were1are related to their degrees or studyrograms in AIT. &igure 8.3 shows the o%erall scenario of the contribution of the AIT

graduates in the scientific, educational and rofessional fields is encouraging articularlyin research and ublication, membershi in the rofessional organiations, consultingwor+s, articiation and aer resentations in the international conferences and seminarsin three time eriods as before studying in AIT, during study in AIT, and after AIT studies.The remar+able contributions are %isible in all the listed scientific and educational fields.

.@ Relevancy and Effectiveness (y $ender

The rele%ancy and effecti%eness of different +nowledge and s+ills learnt through courses,research, wor+sho1field %isits, multicultural en%ironment, networ+s, and o%erall AIT

rograms were analyed by gender of the resonding AIT graduates. 4oth genders weremore or less e5ually resonding the effecti%eness and rele%ancy of AIT courses,

38


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wor+shos1field %isits, multicultural learning1internationality, and o%erall rograms fortheir current acti%ates. =owe%er, the significant difference between male and female wasfound the effecti%eness and rele%ancy of research and networ+s (eers, rofessors andstaff) of AIT in their current wor+ing fields (Table 8.2).

Ta(le .2- Significance Test Results for 8arious Sources of ?noledge and S/ills (y $enderSources of ?noledge S/ill 5earson #hi+SFuare

Dalue df Asym. ig. (2'sided)

#ourses4.% 4 .34%

Research%9.%2 4 .00%

=or/shopfield visits4.3 4 .33

!ulticultural learning internationality!.239 4 .%24

6etor/s 0peers, professors, staff3%0.!" 4 .029

'verall 5rogram.%0! 4 .2!"

The le%el of benefits gained from the AIT studies were analyed by gender considering

different asects of benefits such as technical1ractical s+ills, theoretical +nowledge,gaining higher status1recognition, gaining self confidence, gaining higher income, higher

rogression 1romotion in the same Bob, and higher mobility across the Bobs. A significantdifference in enBoying the benefits by gender was found only in gaining higher status 1recognitions (Table 8.3).

Ta(le .- Significance Test Results for 8arious Aspects of Jenefits (y $ender

Asects of 4enefits 5earson #hi+SFuare

Dalue df Asym. ig. (2'sided)

Technical 1ractical s+ills 2."87 7 .02

Theoretical +nowledge 8.0$3 7 .0#0

9aining higher status 1 recognition #.8"0 7 .077

9aining self'confidence 3."70 $ .8

9aining higher income 7.37$ $ .$0"

=igher rogression 1romotion in the same Bob 8.30" $ ."70

=igher mobility across the Bob 3."8$ $ ."

3#


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e%elomental Acti%ities and

:etwor+ing


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Ta(le &.1- !a)or ocus of the Significantly #ontri(uted 5ro)ects

5ro)ect ocus 0nK2&3 reFuency

0f3

5ercent

0fn3

*n%ironment "#0 $.Infrastructure1transort1communication "0 $8.8

:atural resource management """ 38.7olicy analysis "0 3.*conomics 1mar+eting1management ## 37.3o%erty alle%iation # 33.*nergy #" 3".$


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Ta(le &.2- Type of #ontri(ution in the Development 5ro)ects Research Studies#ontri(ution Type reFuency 0nK2&3 5ercent 0fn3

Imlementation 2$$ 88.2

esign 222 .8

uer%ision "3 $.7

6onitoring and e%aluation "$ $7.0

erson could contribute in only one tye or more than one tyes. The highest roortion ofthem (88L) was found for roBect imlementation followed by roBect design (L), and$ and $7 ercent for roBect suer%ision and monitoring and e%aluation, resecti%ely(Table #.2).

&. Involvement of AIT $raduates in 5rofessional and Social 6etor/s

The target AIT graduates were re5uested to list rofessional and social networ+s including

AITAA to which they ha%e been in%ol%ed after graduation from AIT. The tye of networ+was secified as national, regional and global. imilarly, the membershi also re5uested tosecify as general or e/ecuti%e tyes.Alongside additional information wasre5uested on the degree of in%ol%ement interms of %ery high, high, medium, low and%ery low for the in%ol%ed rofessional andsocial networ+s. Altogether 273 resondentAIT graduates reorted rofessional andsocial networ+s in which they were in%ol%edor affiliated. The highest roortion (7$L) of

them indicated as the member of AITAAnational chaters and related organiations, 33 ercent reorted to be the member of localor national rofessional organiations, " ercent indicated to be affiliated with theinternational1regional organiations, and ercent indicated to be affiliated with local non'go%ernmental organiations(Aendi/ Table #."). A largemaBority of the resondent AITgraduates ($7L) has networ+s in thenational le%el followed by globalle%el (2L) and regional le%el("#L). :inety'one ercent indicatedthat their membershi tye in the

rofessional or social networ+s isgeneralU and # ercent reorted ase/ecuti%eU tyes (&igure #.2). Thedegree of in%ol%ement %aries amongdifferent members of the social and

rofessional networ+s. As resentedin &igure #.3, the largest roortionof the resondent AIT graduates (3L) indicated as medium le%el of in%ol%ementfollowed by high le%el (27L), low le%el (20L), %ery high le%el ("3L) and %ery low le%el

by ercent of the resonding AIT graduates.

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#.7 ulfillment of the !ission of AIT

The main thrust of AIT education and research is to roduce highly 5ualified human

resource in order to meet de%eloment needs of Asia and beyond. As mentioned earlier, #$ercent of Thai and 8$ ercent of non'Thai AIT graduates had remained1returned to theirhome countries and they ha%e been scholarly alying newly ac5uired +nowledge ands+ills from AIT in their resecti%e Bobs and countries. They ha%e been contributing throughtheir go%ernments, academic and research institutions, international and regionalorganiations, ri%ate and ublic organiations, and non'go%ernmental organiations. Theyha%e been co%ering wide areas of de%eloment such as resources lanning andmanagement, infrastructure de%eloment, informations and communications,en%ironmental rotection and climate change, human rights and gender, and o%ertyalle%iation. They ha%e been in%ol%ed in %arious de%eloment roBects and research studiesand also getting in%ol%ed in %arious rofessional and social networ+s.

The o%erall findings based on the emirical e%idences of this trace study ro%ide a %alidand solid ground that AIT has been roducing highly 5ualified and committed

rofessionals re5uired to lay leading roles in the regions sustainable de%eloment and itsintegration into the global economy. In other words, it was found %ery high to high le%el ofrele%ancy and effecti%eness of AIT course1curricula, research, and academic degrees tofulfill the AIT mission at large. The %ery high and high le%els of wor+ efficiency andcometency of the AIT graduates as indicated by their emloyers as immediatesuer%isors and eers also ro%ide an additional %alidation on this matter.

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artnershi anduggestions

There always remains tremendous scoe of alumni in strengthening any academicinstitutions for which they belong. They always lo%e their institutions! thin+ about the

rogress and ossibilities of their contributions for the further enhancement of academicand research acti%ities. &or this section, the target AIT graduates were re5uested to ro%ideinformation on their influential osition to de%elo artnershi with AIT or to suort AITas well as to get their %iews on how AIT can generate more resources for its financial%iability, how AIT should mo%e forward to meet the regional education and de%elomentneeds, and to get their suggestions on what AIT should do to strengthenrelations1artnershis with its alumni.

1%.1 5artnership to Support AIT

An attemt was made to get the information from the target AIT graduates on ossibleartnershi or their current ositions to suort AIT through ro%iding scholarshis,research funds, training articiants and funds, student internshi1e/change rogram, Bob

lacement for AIT graduates, and collaborati%e research and academic rograms with AIT.As shown in Table "0.", se%en ercent of the target AIT graduates reorted that they are ina osition to ro%ide scholarshis to AIT. Ei+ewise, eight ercent of them reorted thatthey can ro%ide research funds to AIT and ten ercent indicated that they are in a osition

to send training articiants with funding to AIT. lightly more than eighteen ercent ofthem reorted that they are interested on student internshi or e/change rogram. Abouttwenty'one ercent indicated that they are in a osition for facilitating Bob lacement forAIT graduates. Twenty'three ercent of them were found interested on initiatingcollaborati%e research and academic rograms with AIT.

Ta(le 1%.1- AIT $raduatesL 5osition of Influence for 5ossi(le 5artnership Support to AIT

$osition o& ,n&l"ence -es o Missing

&re5uency L &re5uency L &re5uency L

$ro/iding scholarshis 83 7. 08 5.2 730 38.

$ro/iding research &"nds 8$ 7.6 00 53.5 73 38.9

$ro/iding training

articiants and &"nds"08 9.6 $$ 51.3 738 39.1

(acilitating st"dent internshi

echange rogram207 18.2 7#" 3.8 72 38

(acilitating o# lacement &or

A,T grad"ates23" 20.6 7$ 1.5 72$ 37.9

,nitiating colla#orati/e

research and academic

rograms 4ith A,T

2$2 22.5 7"0 36.6 7$# 0.9

1%.2 Suggestions for Strengthening AIT

All the target AIT graduates were re5uested to ro%ide suggestions on financial %iability

and sustainability of AIT and its future mo%e to meet the regional educational and

77

10


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de%elomental needs and strengthening relationshis with AIT alumni. e%eralsuggestions were recei%ed and summaried as here under.

1%.2.1 Suggestions for $enerating !ore Resources and inancial 8ia(ility

The target AIT graduates were re5uested to suggest on how AIT can generate moreresources for its financial %iability. Altogether 3"0 resondent AIT graduates ro%ided 303different suggestions and these suggestions were summaried and resented in Table "0.2).These suggestions were mainly focused to artnershi, management, teaching andresearch, alumni networ+ing, wor+shos, training and new rograms and consulting.

Table "0.2 shows that 7 ercent of the actual resondent suggested to wor+ forartnershi for the collaborati%e acti%ities with industrial, business, and academicorganiations and institutions. Thirty'se%en ercent of them suggested for the bettermanagement of AIT through imro%ement in financial, administrati%e and academicasects. imilarly, 2 ercent of them emhasied for the teaching and research 5ualityimro%ements. Ei+ewise, 2" ercent of them suggested strengthening relation with theAIT alumni through networ+ing. 6ore than 20 ercent of them suggested for thewor+sho, training and other new rogram which attract fund for AIT. *%en ercent of

them suggested to AIT to in%ol%e its faculty members in consulting wor+s.

1%.2.2 Suggestions for the uture Direction of AIT

4eing a leading regional academic institution, AIT has been always focusing on theregional education and de%eloment needs. Therefore, all the target AIT graduates werere5uested to ro%ide feedbac+s on how AIT should mo%e forward to meet the regionaleducation and de%eloment needs. In resonse, 337 resondent AIT graduates ro%ided778 suggestions, which were summaried and resented in Table "0.3.

As re%eled through Table "0.3, the highest roortion of the resondent AIT graduates

(3"L) had suggested strengthening artnershi 1e/change rograms with regionaluni%ersities, artner institutions, go%ernmental and nongo%ernmental organiations,

7$

Ta(le 1%.2- Suggestion for inancial 8ia(ility of AIT 0!ultiple Responses3

Suggestions 06K1%3 reFuency 5ercent

artnershi "73 7."

6anagement ""7 3.8

Teaching and -esearch Fuality Imro%ement 80 2$.8

Alumni :etwor+ing $ 2".0

@or+shos1Training1:ew rograms 3 20.3


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ri%ate industries and comanies. Fuality teaching and research was the second imortantsuggestion for the future mo%e of AIT to meet the education and de%eloment need asreorted by 27 ercent of the resondent AIT graduates. *ach twenty'one ercent of theresondent AIT graduates had suggested for the imro%ement in the AIT managementsystem and targeting ractical roblems of the region. &ourteen ercent of them had

suggested in considering romotional acti%ities 1 conferences 1 meetings. About 8 ercentof them suggested for strengthening alumni relationshis. About 2 ercent of themsuggested rendering consulting ser%ices by the AIT faculty members.

1%.2. Suggestions for Strengthening Relation 5artnerships ith Alumni

In the subsection "0." of this section, some of the resondent AIT graduates ha%e gi%entheir influential osition to de%elo artnershi with AIT. &urther in5uiry was made withthem on what AIT should do on strengthening relations1artnershis with its alumni.Altogether 3" resondent AIT graduates ro%ided their 7$ suggestions which are

summaried and resented in Table "0.7.

The highest roortion of the resondent AIT graduates (73L) made their suggestion onudating contact details and informing AIT acti%ities as well as e%ents would further

strengthen the relationshi between AIT and its alumni. Thirty'eight ercent of theresondent AIT graduates suggested organiing alumni meetings 1 wor+shos 1e%ents orcreating forum for discussions that would hel in strengthening relationshis. Thirty'fi%e

ercent of them also suggested initiating new way of strengthening relationshi such asregular contact between ad%isor and ad%isees, web board to share the oinion, andnominating at least one reresentati%e from each country of AIT alumni. Another mostimortant suggestion as suggested by 37 ercent of the resondent AIT graduates was tofoster coordination and networ+ing through alumni and AITAA.

7

Ta(le 1%."- Suggestion for Strengthening Relation 5artnerships ith Alumni

0!ultiple Responses3

Suggestions 06K13 reFuency 5ercent

;dating


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ersecti%e of *mloyersand eers on AIT 9raduates

The information on how the emloyers (immediate suer%isors) and eers of AITgraduates ha%e been mar+ing them is %ery imortant from the ersecti%e of +nowing theimact of +nowledge and s+ills learned from AIT and their erformances in the real

rofessional and academic fields. In order to get the unbiased information from theemloyers and eers, efforts were made to get resonses from those who had not gettingany AIT degrees or who had not e%en Boined the training rograms. The searate two setsof 5uestionnaires were designed e/clusi%ely for them. Altogether "00 emloyers asimmediate suer%isors and "0 eers submitted their comleted 5uestionnaires.

11.1 5erspective of Employers

4efore getting into the emloyer ersecti%e on AIT graduates, the bac+groundinformation of their own has been gi%en in terms of their age, gender, nationality, current

Bob title or osition and since how long they ha%e been suer%ising the AIT graduates astheir subordinates. Then, other discussions are made based on their ersecti%e on AITgraduates in terms of riority in recruiting AIT graduates, rating on Bob erformance ofAIT graduates, strength and wea+ness of AIT graduates, rosects of AIT graduates in Bobmar+ets, and their osition to suort AIT and also their suggestion to AIT for its futuregrowth.

11.1.1 Jac/ground Information of Employers

The largest roortion of the resondent emloyers(7L) was found belonging to the age grou of 3"to 70 followed by 2# ercent to the 7" to $0 agegrou. -emaining "$ ercent, # ercent, and 3

ercent indicated their age in $" to 0 years, lessthan 30 years, and more than 0 years, resecti%ely(&igure "".") Cut of "00 emloyers, one did not

mention about his age and. In terms of gender,

ercent of male emloyers filled their 5uestionnairescomared to 23 ercent female emloyers! this seemsob%ious since one can not rule out the ossibilities oflarger oulation of male emloyers in reality. Theseresondent emloyers were from 22 countries of Asia,*uroe and America. The largest number (3") wasconstituted by Thai nationals followed by


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Table 11.1: Duration of Supervision

uration &re5uency

Q3 6onths ""

R3 to Q 6onths "3

R to Q"2 6onths ""

R" to Q2 Mears 30

R2 to Q$ Mears 2$

R$ Mears

:o answer 7

Total "00

resident (2) and each " for -ector, Dice resident, Dice ean, euty =ead and


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of "00 emloyers, 87 rated as %ery high and high le%els of Bob erformance of the AITgraduates on +nowledge and technical s+ills on gi%en tas+. ame le%els of erformanceswere indicated by #2 ercent of the emloyers on ositi%e attitude of AIT graduatestowards sustainable de%eloment. &ifty'fi%e ercent considered as high, 28 ercent formedium, " ercent for %ery high and " ercent for low on *nglish roficiency of the AIT

graduates. *ighty'eight ercent of the resondent emloyers considered %ery high andhigh le%els of Bob erformance on team wor+. :inety'two ercent of the resondentemloyers found Bob erformance as %ery high and high on ability to interact withe/atriate. The %ery high and high le%els of ratings was done by # ercent of resondingemloyers on commitment1dedication to the wor+, #2 ercent indicated on wor+efficiency, #0 ercent for wor+ cometency, and # ercent on gender awareness andalication (&igure "".7).

11.1.@ Strength and =ea/ness of AIT $raduates

The immediate suer%isors as emloyers were re5uested to ro%ide their oinion on the

strength and wea+ness of AIT graduates. The main strong oints reorted were the abilityto wor+ under ressure, to wor+ in a multicultural en%ironment, caacity to gras newissues 5uic+ly, curiousness and creati%e, trustworthy, good command in *nglish language,good attitude, and confidence in assigned resonsibility, ha%ing good +nowledge ands+ills, self'moti%ated, ha%ing related wor+ e/erience, research ability, and ability to wor+in a team. They ha%e ointed out some wea+nesses as well which can be listed as lowle%el of leadershi 5uality, lac+ of attention to details, lac+ of management s+ills, o%ersmart, o%er confidence, domineering too focused doing it my way, and too fast inresonding to unhay things.

11.1. 5rospects of AIT $raduate in Co( !ar/ets as 5erceived (y Employers

The emloyers ersecti%e on the rosectsof AIT graduates in the Bob mar+ets is feltone of the most imortant information forAIT and its graduates and therefore theywere re5uested to gi%e their oinionconsidering the 5uality standards of AITgraduates and a%ailability of Bobs in the Bobmar+ets. They were gi%en fi%e scales of the

rosects to be rated such as %ery high, high,medium, low, and %ery low. i/ty'four

ercent of the resonding emloyers considered that there is a high rosects followed by%ery high ("L), and medium ("$L). &our ercent of the emloyers did not resonse onthis matter (&igure "".$).

11.1.B 5rospects of Supporting AIT and Suggestions

The immediate suer%isors or emloyers were in5uired about the ossibility of theirorganiation to send or lanning to send their staff to study or training rogram in AIT.Twenty'two ercent of the resonding emloyers indicated that they could send their staffin AIT for graduate study and 32 ercent indicated their interest to send for training

rograms in AIT (&igure "".). Their oinion were re5uested on what should AIT target inits teaching and research for its study rograms to be more rele%ant in rofessional wor+s.

7#


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Table "".2 :ationality of eersr.:o.

:ationality &re5uency ercent

" Thai 3$ 33.0

2


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The ersonal information re5uested were on theirage, gender, nationality, current Bob osition,duration of wor+ing together with AIT graduates,academic 5ualification and their interest onstudying in AIT. The age of the eer ranges from

23 to " years with a mean of 33 and standardde%iation. A %ast maBority (L) was found 3$ or

below 3$ years of age (&igure "".). The gendercomosition of eers indicated that more male eers ($L) and less female eers (77L) asshown in &igure "".8. These eers of the AIT graduates hailed from "8 countries of Asia,*uroe, America, and Australia. Table "".2 showsthat the highest roortion of eers (33L) wereconstituted by Thai followed by


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towards sustainable de%eloment, *nglish roficiency, team wor+, ability to interact withe/atriate 1 international team, commitments1dedication to the wor+, wor+ efficiency,wor+ cometency, and gender awareness and alications. The rating scales were rangingfrom %ery high to %ery low but none of the eers rated as %ery low le%el of erformance.6ore than #0 ercent of the eers considered as %ery high and high le%els of Bob

erformances in all other asects e/cet in the Bob erformance related to genderawareness and alication (&igure ""."2).

11.2." Strength and =ea/ness of AIT $raduates as 5erceived (y 5eers

e%eral oints indicating the strength of the AIT graduates were made such as, goodcommand in *nglish language, good in comuting, commitments 1 dedication to the

community transformation, comrehensi%e +nowledge, ositi%e thin+ing, reliable andsincere, higher research ability, self'confidence, seriousness in wor+, ability to teamwor+,communication s+ills and interacti%e, eager to learn more, straight forward, with ositi%eattitudes, and high le%el of roblem sol%ing s+ills. The wea+nesses of the AIT graduateswere also ointed out by the resondent eers such as low *nglish roficiency, gi%ing littletime to family and family matters, ut high ressure on wor+s and colleagues, moresensiti%e, tal+ati%e, 5uic+ decision ta+er, too emotional, sometimes stubborn, aggressi%e,easy to lose temer, lac+s in critical thin+ing, inade5uate +nowledge on social research,lac+s in ractical e/eriences, and wea+ in olicy analysis.

11.2.@ Suggestion to AIT (y 5eers

$2


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The oinion of the eers was in5uired on what AIT should target in its teaching andresearch for its study rograms to be more rele%ant in rofessional wor+s. They had gi%ensome %alid suggestions such as course should be interdiscilinary, direct collaborationwith regional 9Cs, and :9Cs should be established, enroll students gi%ing riority toneedy countries, de%eloing ractical field based curriculum, run such rograms that

romote technical asects as well as attitude and beha%ior changes, international e/changeof academic ideas, start internshi rograms, follow strict rules for selection rocedurewhile allocating full scholarshis, and research focus on ractical need or issues of thecountry. In addition, they ha%e gi%en on strengthening research s+ills articularly in socialfield focusing on sustainable community de%eloment.

Hey &indingsand -ecommendations

12.1MTrace Studies in AIT

The tracer study of AIT graduates has been one of the imortant research acti%ities in AIT.The first tracer study was done in "#". The eriodic tracing of AIT alumni focuses onudating the alumni directory and gathering certain information re5uired for theimro%ement of AIT curriculum, teaching, research, e/tension, and networ+ing. As of>anuary, 200#, altogether "7 AIT Alumni tracer studies ha%e been conducted, includingthis one, Tracer tudy of AIT 9raduates (2003 to mid 2008). This latest tracer studyincludes one more searate reort for the Tracer tudy of AIT graduates with :orwegiancholarshi (200$ to mid 2008).

12.2 Tracer Study of AIT $raduates 02%% to mid 2%%3

The target oulation was 3## constituted by 2 ercent males and 38 ercent females.6ore than #" ercent of the target graduates had recei%ed master degree followed bydoctoral (8L) and diloma ("L) from AIT. Although these graduates reresented 0countries more than $3L ercent belong to Thailand. The other countries with largenumber of target graduates are India, 4angladesh, :eal, 6yanmar,


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;6


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reasons such as continuing study for h, continuing research at AIT and ha%ing gotbetter aid Bobs comared to the Bobs in own country. In terms of gender, # ercent ofmales and ercent of females returned1remained their home countries. A %ast maBority(8$L) of the actual resonding graduates reorted that they are emloyed in %arious Bobsat resent and 8 ercent were found in%ol%ed in study rograms for their further academic

career ad%ancements. &i%e ercent of the AIT graduates reorted their in%ol%ement asbusiness. Eess than 2 ercent secified their other in%ol%ements. A large maBority in bothgender (37 ercent of males and 30 ercent of females) indicated that their Bobs wereconfirmed e%en before graduation from AIT. As indicated, AIT studies ha%e been e/actlyrelated for a large maBority of them ($L) followed by artly related for 3# ercent andnot related for 7 ercent for their current Bobs and businesses.

12.@ 5rofessional Status and Ran/s of the AIT $raduates

The comarison of rofessional status and ran+s of the AIT graduates was madeconsidering the last Bob before AIT and the current Bob after graduation from AIT. The

Bunior le%el of osition was found redominant for the last Bob before AIT as $ ercentmales and 80 ercent females indicated for the same. =owe%er, the middle le%el was foundin largest roortion for the current Bob ositions of both gender (3 ercent males and "

ercent females). This clearly indicated that AIT studies ha%e significantly contributed inBob status1ran+s. A large maBority (3#L) of the AIT graduates was recei%ing salaries in therange of 20" to $00 ;P1month for the last Bob before AIT. In contrast, for the current Bob,maBority (33L) resondents indicated salaries in the range of $0" to "000 ;P1month.This means the AIT degrees ha%e enormous contribution in both Bob ran+s as well salaryle%els.

12. Relevancy of AIT #ourses#urricula and Research to #urrent 5rofession

The effecti%eness and rele%ance of AIT


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followed by 6anagement as indicated by the $7 ercent of the actual resonding AITgraduates. lightly more than 77 ercent of them found mainly contributing for -esearchAnalysis 1 olicy Inuts tye of wor+s. imilarly, 3 ercent mainly in%ol%ed in Teachingfollowed by 3 ercent in Hnowledge 1 Information issemination.

Cut of the #3 resonding AIT graduates, 2 ercent indicated that +nowledge and s+illsgained from the course wor+s ha%e been highly and %ery highly useful. imilarly, the+nowledge and s+ills gained from the AIT research, wor+shos1field %isits! staying atmulticultural 1 international en%ironment! networ+ing with eers, rofessors, and staff! and

by o%erall rogram has been reorted as highly and %ery highly useful by " ercent, "ercent, 0 ercent, 3 ercent, and 3 ercent, resecti%ely. Amongst resonded AITgraduates, 222 (2#L) reorted about their further studies after graduation from AIT. Theo%erall scenario of the contribution of the AIT graduates in the scientific, educational and

rofessional fields is encouraging, articularly in research and ublication, membershi inthe rofessional organiations, consulting wor+s, articiation and aer resentations inthe international conferences and seminars. The remar+able contributions are %isible from

the list of their contributions in %arious scientific and educational fields.

12.B 6etor/ing

The target AIT graduates were re5uested to list rofessional and social networ+s includingAITAA. Altogether 273 resondent AIT graduates reorted rofessional and socialnetwor+s in which they were in%ol%ed or affiliated. Cnly ""0 (7$L) indicated theiraffiliation with AITAA and related organiations. 6aBority of the resondent AITgraduates ($7L) has networ+s in the national le%el followed by global le%el (2L) andregional le%el ("#L). :inety'one ercent indicated that their membershi tye in the

rofessional or social networ+s is general and # ercent reorted as e/ecuti%e tyes. Thedegree of in%ol%ement %aries among different members of the social and rofessionalnetwor+s. The higher roortion (3L) indicated as medium le%el of in%ol%ementfollowed by high le%el (27L), low le%el (20L), %ery high le%el ("3L) and %ery low le%el

by ercent of the resonding AIT graduates.

12. $ender Aareness and Application

$

-*


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@hen the fre5uencies of maBor foci of the contributed roBects or research studies wereanalyed, " ercent of the resondent AIT graduates reorted their contribution in genderawareness and alication. Thus the in%ol%ement of AIT graduates in gender andde%eloment roBects and research studies seems %ery low which is ob%ious due to the factthat a %ast maBority of them had AIT degrees from other than related field of study. The

emloyers and eers of the AIT graduates were re5uested to Budge the le%el of genderawareness and alication of the AIT graduates including their other asects of the wor+s.The %ery high and high le%els of ratings was done by the # ercent of emloyers and 87

ercent of the eers. It indicates that e%en if their academic degree is not from the relatedfield of study, AIT graduates are aware and contributing for gender and de%eloment.

12.& Relevancy and le>i(ility of AIT #oursesResearch

In order to fulfill AITs mission to de%elo highly 5ualified and committed rofessionalswho lay leading roles in the regions sustainable de%eloment an attemt was made tofind out the rele%ance and fle/ibility of AIT courses1curricula, research and outreachacti%ities and its integration into the global economy. 6aBority ($$L) of the AIT graduateshad an imression that the teaching 5uality in AIT is %ery good followed by good (2#L)and e/cellent ("$L). Cn an a%erage, maBority in all the three categories (gender, economicclassification, and region) indicated the teaching 5uality of AIT as %ery good. A largemaBority (8L) considered the contribution of thesis 1dissertation suer%isor as high and%ery high. In case of committee members contribution, maBority (2L) considered as highand %ery high. e%enty'ercent and 2 ercent indicated as high and %ery high le%el offle/ibility in choice in masters research toic and doctoral dissertation toic, resecti%ely.

*ighty'four ercent of emloyers rated as %ery high and high le%els of erformance on+nowledge and technical s+ills on gi%en tas+. ame le%els of erformances were indicated

by #2 ercent of the emloyers on ositi%e attitude of AIT graduates towards sustainablede%eloment. &ifty'fi%e ercent considered as high, 28 ercent for medium, " ercent for%ery high and " ercent for low on *nglish roficiency of the AIT graduates. *ighty'eight

ercent of the resondent emloyers considered %ery high and high le%els of Boberformance on team wor+. :inety'two ercent of the resondent emloyers found Boberformance as %ery high and high on ability to interact with e/atriate. The %ery highand high le%els of ratings was done by # ercent of resonding emloyers oncommitment1dedication to the wor+, #2 ercent indicated on wor+ efficiency, #0 ercentfor wor+ cometency, and # ercent on gender awareness and alication. -egarding the

rosects of AIT graduates in the Bob mar+ets, 8" ercent of the resonding emloyersconsidered that there is a high and %ery high rosect.

$

-*


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12.1% Development #ontri(ution

Altogether 28# resondent AIT graduates ro%ided the list of $ de%eloment roBects 1research studies in which they had significantly contributed after graduation from AIT. Cutof these 28# resonding graduates 232 had in%ol%ed in two roBects, "33 had contributedfor 3 roBects, " had wor+ed for 7 roBects and 72 had e%en contributed significantly for $

roBects after graduation from AIT. The maBor foci of the contributed roBects or researchstudies were found to en%ironment as indicated by ercent of the resondent graduatesfollowed by infrastructure 1 transort 1 communication ($#L), natural resourcemanagement (38L), olicy analysis (3L), economics 1 mar+eting 1 management (37L),

o%erty alle%iation (37L), energy (32L), caacity de%eloment (2$L), agriculture 1 ruralde%eloment ("8L), gender awareness and alication ("L), and human rights 1 eace

building and health including =ID1AI (3L). The resondent AIT graduates were alsoin5uired for their tyes of contribution to roBects or research studies in terms of design,imlementation, suer%ision, and monitoring and e%aluation. 6ultile resonses wererecei%ed since same erson could contribute in only one tye or more than one tyes. Thehighest roortion of them (88L) was found for roBect imlementation followed by

roBect design (L), and $ and $7 ercent for roBect suer%ision and monitoring ande%aluation, resecti%ely.

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