Evaluation of the situation of employment of the graduates of the field of the environmental health in Iran between 1996 to 2003

Introduction: Educating of specialized man power, creation of jobs, and use of their services are among important activities of every management system. It is clear that loss of financial resources and making hopelessness morale in young and educated class of the society as alive human resources and powerful capitals can be prevented if acquisition of skill and creation of various speciality harmonize with the needs of society. Annually, the universities admit a number of young individuals to study in the field of environmental health. This admission has been largely increased since year 1996. Thus, the question of the employment of these graduates is being considered as one of the difficulties in this area. A comprehensive study was carried out with concerning to occupational situation of the graduates of this field between 1996 to 2003, in order to evaluate the situations of graduates' employment of country different programs of the field of the environmental health and investigation of its various dimensions for the purpose of the presentation of techniques for long- term planning. Material & Methods: In this purpose, from 7315 graduates with associate of arts degree, 3382 graduates with bachelor of science degree (B.S), 136 graduates with master of science degree (M.S). On the basis of statistical methods, 576, 367, and 39 graduates were selected, respectively. The analysis of data was performed using SPSS software following the distribution and completion of questionnaires. Results: The results showed that considerable percentage of graduates holding associate of arts degree (64.6%) and 42.7% of graduates holding B.S degree was unemployed pending Khordad year 1382 (2003). Percentage of unemployment rate among M.S graduates was by far less than other graduates and reached to. 8.7%. Meanwhile, the highest percentage of unemployment rate was share of female graduates holding associate of arts and B.S degree and male graduates holding M.S degree. Conclusion: To solve the problem, it is recommended to reduce the student’s admission capacity to the minimum limit of demand, to stop admission of students to the associate of arts program, to establish continuous undergraduate course of study in environmental health, and to provide necessary background for employment of the graduates of this field by enhancing the skill and academic level of the students by means of revision of the approved curriculum, teaching entrepreneurial skills, in order to discover labor market, new services and innovation of modern practices