study involved a stratified random sample of Alumni at 12-18 and 24-30 months following completion of their Award and recipients of the Australia Awards Small Grants Scheme. This summary presents the highlights of the study’s findings. Alumni are highly employable formal and informal training to a very and excelling in their careers high extent, although they are more likely to do so through informal Over 97% of Alumni are currently training. employed and of these, over half have received a promotion since returning Technical knowledge, and analytical from Award. Those who have and critical thinking skills are the most received a promotion overwhelmingly prevalent of skills/knowledge attribute this to the skills and transferred. knowledge they acquired on their No difference in the propensity to Award. Virtually all Alumni report that pass on skills in the workplace was the skills acquired on-award are found between cohorts, indicating that relevant to their current job. Alumni remain committed to passing Alumni are using their on their skills/knowledge over time. skills to make significant The overwhelming majority of development contributions in Alumni are well-supported in the their home countries workplace, although most face Almost all Alumni are making constraints to applying their skills contributions in their area of practice, Over 90% of Alumni describe their while half are transferring skills and workplace as supportive, however one-third are contributing in the area females were over four times as likely of policy. to describe receiving no or little Development contributions are support, probably reflecting gender occurring principally within Alumni’s barriers women face in the workplace. organisational but one-third are The most significant enablers in the also making contributions with wider workplace were a supportive societal reach. Alumni who studied environment, in particular from Education or Agriculture/Food supervisors, more responsibility Security are more likely to make a assigned and greater direct contribution at societal level. qualifications (i.e. skills/knowledge Two-thirds of Alumni report also Alumni had gained on-award). making social contributions Despite the generally supportive beyond their workplace. environment, Alumni also faced Contributions beyond the workplace challenges. Over three-quarters of all tend to be through direct application survey respondents reported facing of skills and knowledge constraints in the workplace, the most or by transferring these skills to prevalent of which were lack of others in the community. resources and, to a lesser extent, resistance to change by co-workers. Alumni are passing on acquired skills to others in their Alumni are maintaining and workplaces developing the links they established while on-award Alumni are transferring skills to colleagues in the workplace through
study involved a stratified random sample of Alumni at 12-18 and 24-30 months following completion of their Award and recipients of the Australia Awards Small Grants Scheme. This summary presents the highlights of the study’s findings. Alumni are highly employable and excelling in their careers Over 97% of Alumni are currently employed and of these, over half have received a promotion since returning from Award. Those who have received a promotion overwhelmingly attribute this to the skills and knowledge they acquired on their Award. Virtually all Alumni report that the skills acquired on-award are relevant to their current job. Alumni are using their skills to make significant development contributions in their home countries Almost all Alumni are making contributions in their area of practice, while half are transferring skills and one-third are contributing in the area of policy. Development contributions are occurring principally within Alumni’s organisational but one-third are also making contributions with wider societal reach. Alumni who studied Education or Agriculture/Food Security are more likely to make a direct contribution at societal level. Two-thirds of Alumni report also making social contributions beyond their workplace. Contributions beyond the workplace tend to be through direct application of skills and knowledge or by transferring these skills to others in the community. Alumni are passing on skills to others in their workplaces Alumni are transferring skills to colleagues in the workplace through formal and informal training to a very high extent, although they are more likely to do so through informal training. Technical knowledge, and analytical and critical thinking skills are the most prevalent of skills/knowledge transferred. No difference in the propensity to pass on skills in the workplace was found between cohorts, indicating that Alumni remain committed to passing on their skills/knowledge over time. The overwhelming majority of Alumni are well-supported in the workplace, although most face constraints to applying their skills Over 90% of Alumni describe their workplace as supportive, however females were over four times as likely to describe receiving no or little support, probably reflecting gender barriers women face in the workplace. The most significant enablers in the workplace were a supportive environment, in particular from supervisors, more responsibility assigned and greater qualifications (i.e. skills/knowledge Alumni had gained on-award). Despite the generally supportive environment, Alumni also faced challenges. Over three-quarters of all survey respondents reported facing constraints in the workplace, the most prevalent of which were lack of resources and, to a lesser extent, resistance to change by co-workers. Alumni are maintaining and developing the links they established while on-award acquired
australia-awards-in-africa-2014-outcomes-study.docx