The Incorporation of Graduates from Higher Technological Education into the Labor Market

Higher technological education graduates constitute one of the most important and promising newcomers at the labor market. A smooth and successful vocational socialization of this category of future workers is one of the primary targets of educational systems, and policy makers at both; a national and a European level. This article focuses on the incorporation process of graduates from Greek higher technological education in the labor market. Original empirical data has been collected through a national survey using a newly developed structured questionnaire that has been addressed to a large representative sample of graduates from 11 Technological Educational Institutes. The resulting sample consisted of 5,183 respondents corresponding to 9 broader groups of specialties consisting of 51 professions requiring four-year higher education. Statistical analyses have been used to determine the main parameters of successful vocational socialization. The main outcomes of this research study indicate that gender, specialty of bachelor degree and postgraduate education are the most important factors affecting significantly the status and quality of graduates’ incorporation into the labor market. This contribution concludes with a reflection upon the main results, as well as some recommendations for further research.