Enhancing post-graduate programme effectiveness through tracer studies: the reflective accounts of a Ghanaian nation-wide graduate tracer study research team

Abstract

Graduate tracer studies have come to represent one of the key approaches for enhancing study programme effectiveness in contemporary higher education. This has led to a surge in graduate tracer studies by Ghanaian higher education institutions. However, reflective practices on challenges and lessons from these studies are lacking. Through focusgroup discussions and individual interviews with members of a research team that undertook a nation-wide data collection in connection with a graduate tracer study, this article distils challenges the research team struggled to surmount and lessons learnt for the conduct of future graduate tracer studies within the context of Ghana. Against the backdrop of the insights generated and discussed, it is concluded that reflective research exercises, such as the one reported in this article, are a scholarly imperative for continuous improvement in the conduct of graduate tracer studies, which is rarely undertaken in the Ghanaian higher education context.