Job placement and satisfaction with employment in the Communication university programs adapted to the EHEA. A case study

Abstract

The implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), effective in Spain since the 2008-2009 academic year, raised the need for universities to actively commit to employability, but the study of the work trajectory of the new graduates has been practically unattended in Spain. In this paper we analyze the employment details in the three years after graduation of the graduates from the communication programs who finished their studies at the Rey Juan Carlos University (Madrid) between the academic years 2012-13 and 2015-16. Employment period of the analyzed cohorts takes place between 2014 and 2017. The results indicate a deep deterioration of the labor market in the communication sector in 2014, when only 30% of the recent graduates had an occupation according to their training profile one year after graduation. Employment in the sector has been recovering since 2015. In the years following, around 50% of graduates accessed the specific labor market after one year, and specific employment reached almost 70% in the third year after graduation. However, even relying on the stability of their jobs, recent graduates see few options for improvement and professional growth in the communication sector.