A participative approach to evaluation of graduates' professional outcomes

This work discusses the professional outcomes of University of Padova graduates in academic year 2007/08. Its aim was to carry out an overall assessment of higher education professional outcomes, involving all the main actors of the learning process, students, teachers and tutors, in a perspective of participatory evaluation, to improve teaching and tutoring. The research design complements qualitative and quantitative approaches to data analysis. First, professional outcomes were analyzed according to longitudinal survey data, on a random sample of 210 graduates in Educational Sciences, interviewed within three years of obtaining their degree. The results of two parallel studies, sequential to the quantitative survey, are presented, involving 98 professors and 10 tutors in evaluation of professional outcomes. In particular, discourse analysis was applied to actors' free answers during semi-structured interviews, which focused on positive aspects and criticism of the courses analyzed, and potential improvements to them.