Elias C. Olapane | Mary Jean F. Cataluna
The effectiveness of a program can be truly gauged best through a tracer study. This pioneer tracer study sought to track down the demographic data and extent of application of training received by the education graduates of the West Visayas State University – Calinog Campus from 2013-2016 focusing on three (3) academic programs: Bachelor of Elementary Education major in General Education, and Bachelor of Secondary Education majors in English and Mathematics. Of the 276 total graduates, 92% were traced using an adopted and duly validated questionnaire. Data showed that the majority of the graduates were females, single, and LET passers within the modest rating. Most of their undergraduate students were financed by their parents. Majority are now permanent teachers at the Department of Education (DepEd) in Iloilo City and Province and have an annual income which ranged from Php 101,000 to Php 250,000. They likewise believed that the human relation skills they learned from their tenure on the Campus have been very useful to a very great extent in their current work. Similarly, they found other skills applicable to a great extent in their profession, to wit: communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and research skills. It is recommended that the University intensifies its linkages with educational institutions to create jobs for its education graduates.