THE TRANSITION FROM UNIVERSITY TO THE LABOUR MARKET FOR IT GRADUATES IN THE CITY OF CLUJ-NAPOCA - Volume 6 - Issue 3 - 2013

Oct 15, 2026

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The article examines how education aligns with societal needs by analyzing the transition from university education to the labour market for IT specialists in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. A survey was conducted among recent IT graduates and current students, covering demographic factors, education and interests, university education, and work experience. The study presents respondents’ data and interprets findings to identify a possible profile of an IT specialist and compare views of education’s labour-market relevance before and after graduation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The research description

Sample of respondents

Survey content

Survey administration period

Volume 6, Number 3, 2013 THE TRANSITION FROM UNIVERSITY TO THE LABOUR MARKET FOR IT GRADUATES IN THE CITY OF CLUJ-NAPOCA Ioana Magdaş, Alexandru Brad, Daniela Cristea, Otilia Alexandra Pop, Adina Radu, Nicoleta Sicoe Abstract: The European Union is deeply concerned with how education responds to the needs of society. The purpose of this article is to analyze the transition from the University education to the labour market for the IT specialists in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Romania. In order to achieve this, a survey was conducted among the recent graduates in the IT field in Cluj-Napoca. The surveys contents four sections: Demographic items, Education and interests, University education and Work experience. We also were interested to identify a possible profile of the IT specialist. In this article, it is presented the survey and the interpretation of the respondents’ data. Key words: University Education, IT graduates, Cluj-Napoca, Romania 1. Introduction The European Union is deeply concerned with how education responds to the needs of society. The Eurydice report: Key Data on Education 2012 [1] establish that “Tertiary education graduates integrate into the job market two times more quickly than people with lower qualifications. On average, it takes 5 months for tertiary education graduates to enter the job market, as opposed to 9.8 months for people with lower attainment levels.” According to Eurostat [2] “there are significant structural differences among European countries in young people's participation in the labour market.”In this statistic, Romania was included in the first group of countries “in which very few students are employed or unemployed. For countries in this group, the overlap between the labour market and education is very small. This could be the case e.g. if the young complete their studies before looking for a first job, and there are only few part-time or summer jobs for students. Countries in this group are Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia.” In Romania a particular situation is the job market in the field of IT. This labour market is growing and as a result, the demand for labor is high. According to Bureau of Labour Statistics, U.S. Department of labor [3] “Employment of software developers is projected to grow 30 percent from 2010 to 2020, much faster than the average for all occupations. Employment of applications developers is projected to grow 28 percent, and employment of systems developers is projected to grow 32 percent.”Consequently, the demand for skilled developers is currently at an historic high despite the ongoing hiring during the last decade. As a result, the number of students and graduates working in the IT field a student is growing. Cluj-Napoca city is the largest student base of Romania and it is considered a major IT hub in Romania, and the leading exporter of IT services. Starting to these observations, we wanted to analyze the transition to the labour market of the IT students and graduates in Romania. In order to achieve this, a survey was conducted among current students and recent graduates in the IT field in Cluj-Napoca city. The surveys contents four sections: Demographic items, Education and interests, University education and Work experience. We also were interested to identify a possible profile of the IT specialist. Another aspect was to compare how students view the relation of their education to the labour market before and after they graduate and are enrolled in the workforce. In order to get a better understanding on how different people perceive their education and make use of it, the respondents were profiled with respect to their preferred learning method, interest in technology, working experience, and involvement in internships and student-exchange programs. These allows for a more fine-grained analysis of the situation. 2. The research description The purpose of this study is to

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the article?

To analyze the transition from university to the labour market for IT specialists in Cluj-Napoca and to outline strengths, issues, and potential improvements in the educational process.

How was the study conducted?

The study used surveys among current students and recent graduates in the IT field in Cluj-Napoca, designed for comparative analysis of their perceptions before and after entering the workforce.

What topics does the survey include?

It includes demographic items, education and interests, opinions about university education’s relevance, and questions related to work experience and preferred learning or engagement in internships and exchange programs.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Putri