Attributes of Business Administration Graduates from Stakeholder Perspectives: Case Study of Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus

Abstract

Unemployment of new graduates remains because of a mismatch between employer demands and graduate attributes. To reduce the skills gap, the study programs need to know what attributes are required by stakeholders. This study aims to identify the attributes of business administration graduates based on the requirements of stakeholders, and to determine the importance of the attributes of business administration graduates. The qualitative data was collected from stakeholders consisting of 17 internal stakeholders and 29 external stakeholders. Based on qualitative data analysis approach, the data was analyzed and thematically categorized by researchers. The study found that the importances of both generic and specific attributes of graduates were mentioned by stakeholders. The attributes of business administration graduates include 36 generic attributes and 3 specific attributes. This study suggested that the study programs should integrate the attributes of graduates into curriculum design and provide students with teaching and learning activities that enable them to develop the expected attributes. However, this study investigated graduate attributes specifically for the Bachelor of Business Administration Program, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prince of Songkla University, Pattani Campus. The results of the study may not be generalized to other programs of study or other areas because the required graduate attributes in a specific area can be different than others.