Higher education institutions must know the students and this meeting must take place in the pedagogical relation and academic environment. We strongly believe that it is essential to collect data to characterize the students before, during and after their graduation and, at the same time, achieve their demands, develop their personal and professional skills in order to satisfy the work world needs.
Focused on the fact that the great majority of the students are student-workers, issues associated with the expectations, perceptions and impact/changes in the workplace due to graduation are vital for the development of the institution as a learning reference and a professional partner for many of the region companies and community institutions.
It is intended to present a study about the academic and professional trajectories of higher education graduates of a private, mainly student-worker, Portuguese Higher Education Institution (ISPGaya) aiming to determine their motivations and perceptions about the relationship between their current work performance and their learning experiences in higher education. In a more specific way, through the accomplishment of the present study we intended to characterize the academic profile of the graduates; identify the main reasons for the enrolment in higher education, the graduation course and the institution; assess the quality of the graduation course/institution according to the graduates’ perspective; identify the abilities acquired in a perspective of preparation for the active life; characterize the current professional situation of the graduates; analyze the strategies and difficulties of job search as well as the period of time associated with the process of professional insertion; determine the association between the graduation course and the employment field; identify needs for the acquisition of skills and instruction.
The data was collected by the institutional Graduates’ Trajectories Observatory using a questionnaire composed by four sections: characterization; satisfaction with the course/institution; professional insertion and current professional situation and instruction needs.
The results allow us to trace a graduate profile: a student-worker, involved in night-school learning contexts that experiences a quick professional (re)insertion, mainly in the area of instruction with high levels of employability, stability and professional fulfilment. On the other hand, the level of satisfaction with the quality of the degree /institution emphasizes the possibility of returning for attending post graduation courses.