Abstract
The present study aimed to examine the relationship between the quality of undergraduate education perceived by novice nurses and their retrospective satisfaction with their education. It also studied the relationships between the perceived usefulness of their education for their current jobs and the quality of the jobs held by novice nursing professionals. The moderator role of mobility in this relationship was also analyzed, as it reflects a boundary condition in which additional preparation or job opportunities may occur. The study used data from the graduates’ survey carried out by the Agència per a la Qualitat del Sistema Universitari de Catalunya (AQU) in 2017. The analysis of data from 644 graduates of Catalan Universities in 2014 highlights different functions of two types of knowledge and skills; those directly related to science and the practice of nursing are stronger predictors of retrospective satisfaction with nursing education. In turn, the perception of the usefulness of horizontal skills, such as transversal and communication skills, plays a stronger role in predicting job quality. The results about the role of mobility were not conclusive, and more research is needed to clarify its influence on nursing education and subsequent professional practice.
Highlights
The university’s mission has been to teach and carry out scientific research oriented toward the generation, transfer, and dissemination of knowledge
The present study aims, first, to analyze the relationship between the education quality appraised by nursing graduates, and their retrospective satisfaction with the nursing education received; second, to explore the association between education usefulness for professional practice and the quality of their current jobs; and third to analyze the moderator role of mobility in the relationship between the education usefulness of nursing in current jobs and their job quality
We focused on graduates in Nursing (n = 670)
Summary
The university’s mission has been to teach and carry out scientific research oriented toward the generation, transfer, and dissemination of knowledge This role has evolved as University education has grown in terms of the number of students and the demand for professional education, so that young people can obtain better employment and careers [1]. Universities play an intermediary role, contributing to better job placement in the knowledge economy, industry, and job markets [2] This situation was summarized by Teichler [3] who stated “higher education rather than the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, emphasizes extrinsic motivations of students and graduates, and focuses on the extent to which higher education is closely geared, as far as structures, curricula, knowledge bases, etc. Public Health 2020, 17, 7145; doi:10.3390/ijerph17197145 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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