Structuring Graduate Employment Support in Higher Education in Benin: A Sequential Analysis of the National School of Administration’s Actions

Abstract

Graduate employment has become an increasingly important concern for higher education institutions, raising questions about how support initiatives are organized and embedded in institutional practice. This study examines the degree of structuring of graduate employment support implemented by the National School of Administration in Benin through five analytical dimensions: problem identification, formulation, implementation, evaluation, and termination. To address this question, a qualitatively driven mixed-method design combined a questionnaire administered to 128 professional bachelor’s graduates with 22 semi-structured interviews involving internal and external institutional actors. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively, while interview transcripts were subjected to thematic analysis before the resulting categories were related to the five dimensions. The findings indicate that graduate employment difficulties are widely recognized and that several support activities are effectively implemented. However, no formal institutional diagnosis or explicit programmatic framework was identified, implementation relies on staff whose formal responsibilities do not include this mission, and evaluation remains largely informal without organized monitoring mechanisms. In addition, proposals to suspend or redirect existing activities reflect possible future adjustments rather than formal termination decisions. Overall, the study shows that the components of a single institutional intervention can display different degrees of structuring. Graduate employment support should therefore be considered in terms of its organizational anchoring, coordination, and articulation with training pathways and changing professional environments.