Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to explore education-job match among Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Graduatesin BunoBedelle Zone of Oromia Regional State. The study mainly attempted to examine the employment status, education-job mismatch and skill gap among TVET graduates in the study site. Accordingly, basic questions were formulated and concurrent mixed research design was employed to assess overall performance of TVET Graduates in Buno Bedelle Zone. This study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches with more emphasis on quantitative as the leading method through close-ended questionnaires while on qualitative through open- ended interviews.The researcher used primary and secondary source of data and instrument of data sach as questionnairy,interview and document review in this study. Four sample institutions Debana TVET,Chora TVET graduates,Dega TVET graduates and Didessa TVET graduates were selected using simple random samling.From those sample inistitutoins 289 employed Graduate, 4 Dean of TVET colleges and 16 employers using questionnaire, semi structured interview guides and document review . Simple random,snow ball and purposive techniques were employed to select those respondents.Then the quantitative data entered in to SPSS version 20, cleaned and analyzed using descriptive such as percentage and mean, and inferential statistics such as Independent Sample T-test, One-way ANOVA, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. The study revealed that employment status of TVET graduates during 2006 E.C. up to 2008 E.C. in the zone was good.To this end,the result of the study indicate the employment status was good, the quality and relevance of TVET program was poor. The study identified that there was a gap between the skills acquired at TVET and required in the job market in the study area. The major identified challenges for the prevailing skill gap were shortage of material resources, lack of on job training, lack of experience, lack of motivation, and weak leadership among other
