After higher education: exploring the transition to employment for graduates with disabilities

Since the 1990s, the number of people with disabilities enrolled in tertiary education has gradually increased. However, they still face obstacles to graduation (longer paths, lower success rates) and in their transition into the labour market. Framed in the complex issue of profitability of tertiary education, the purpose of this article is to analyze the employment status of graduates with disabilities and the influence of some demographic and academic factors, as well as the use of the local employment services, on their post-university outcomes. A secondary analysis was performed on data related to the academic and professional careers of 241 graduates with disabilities from a large university in northern Italy between 2012 and 2016. The results of the survey (carried out from 1 to 5 years after graduation) suggest that the contact with the employment services plays a significant role in improving employment rates, even if the latter are low, and the gap with peers without disabili...