Tracking graduate outcomes of undergraduate physiology major students.

Abstract

Physiology graduates are well-positioned to pursue a career path in the high-demand healthcare industry, but students may lack awareness of the available opportunities. At Monash University, there has been a marked increase in student completion of the Physiology Major for the Bachelor of Science degree. Despite the projected employment growth across health professions, medicine remains the prioritized career aspiration for many physiology students. Alumni career paths are insightful to understanding career trends and possibilities, but there is currently no published information on the employment outcomes of Physiology Major graduates. The professional networking LinkedIn platform was used to track Monash University Bachelor of Science alumni, who graduated with a Physiology Major in 2017 and 2018 (n = 286). Searching the alumni by name on LinkedIn identified 63% of these graduates (n = 180), each of whose further study and profession at the time of data collection in 2023 was noted and categorically analyzed using a coding protocol. Physiology graduates were most commonly employed in health professions (43%) followed by research-related careers (18%) and business or law practice (14%). Of the health professions, a quarter of graduates were studying or working in medicine while the rest were working in allied health areas, with physiotherapy being the most common. Among those in research-related careers, just over half pursued doctoral qualification followed by 24% in research assistant roles and 15% in clinical trial coordination. These findings will reinvigorate the undergraduate physiology curriculum to broaden student awareness of and preparedness for career opportunities within the health professions and research workforce.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first study to report on Physiology Major graduate employment outcomes, using LinkedIn. The data show that almost half of graduates pursued a career in a health profession after completion of their science degree, followed by 18% in a research career and 14% in business or law practice. With gaps in the health profession workforce, greater efforts are necessary to enhance career awareness for Physiology graduates.