Where Has all the Education Gone in Africa

Obtaining a comprehensive and detailed picture of the labour market outcomes of secondary school leavers and university graduates is essential in order to enable governments, donor agencies and other key stakeholders in civil society to develop well designed education and employment policies. Anecdotal evidence and generalisations abound concerning the employment outcomes of secondary school leavers and university graduates, but there is very little solid, accurate information on what these groups in African countries do after they have completed their education. The main objective of the research presented in this report is to fill this gap. Standard tracer survey methodology has been used to generate comprehensive time-series information on the activity profiles of representative samples of secondary school leavers and university graduates. This information provides and invaluable source of data for monitoring and evaluating the impact of educational reforms. The research has been conducted in Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.