Slovenian Political Science Languishing: An Analysis of the Labour Market Challenges of Political Science Graduates and the Responses of HE Institutions

In 1999, the Bologna Declaration declared one of its principal goals to be the increased employability of young graduates. Today, thirteen years and three generations of Slovenian Bologna political science graduates later, the chances for these cohorts integrating successfully into the labour market has significantly decreased, which in fact is the case for the majority of education fields in Slovenia (see Farčnik and Domadenik, 2012: 64). Despite the fact that the role of the formal educational system has become increasingly dependent on market trends and competition forces in the preparation of future experts and professionals (see Pavlin, Svetlik and Evetts, 2010: 99). As Pavlin and Svetličič (2012: 388) acknowledge, the determinants of graduates’ career success fall into two categories: those factors under the influence of the higher education institutions; and those factors external to them. These determinants offer an explanation of the problems which - according to official labour market records and survey data - have affected the career success of political science graduates in Slovenia over the last two decades. We particularly scrutinise the cluster of determinants internal to HE institutions during the period since 1961, when political science was offered for the first time as a study programme in Slovenia. Our analysis takes into account the monitoring and improvements in educational quality, curriculum renewal, the human resources policy of the only political science department in the country, the associational activity, as well as the country’s democratisation and Europeanisation processes. We argue that the current ill-fortunes of political science graduates in the labour market are not only driven by processes external to HE institutions, but primarily by a lack of self-regulation and self-control in the political science profession.