THE EFFECTS OF HUMAN CAPITAL ATTRIBUTES ON THE EMPLOYABILITY READINESS AMONG ENGINEERING GRADUATES IN THE HIGH EDUCATION INSTITUTE’S IN OMAN

doi:10.46545/aijbms.v3i1.222

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of human capital attributes on the employability readiness of the engineering graduates of the High Education Institutes in Oman. The study adopted self-directed structured questionnaire distributed to a sample of engineering students and graduates from a number of colleges and universities. The study used the structural equation modelling (SEM) for analysing the collected data. The findings of the statistical analysis of the study showed that Omani graduates signify professional ethics and morality, teamwork including respecting others, cooperating, negotiating, persuading, and contributing to discussions, Communication skills including listening and questioning, Capacity for lifelong learning including openness to new ideas, Creative thinking of the ability to develop and apply appropriate solutions, and Problem solving skills of the ability to analyse facts and situations as the top required skills of Readiness for Employability. Specifically, study findings showed Human capital attributes factor has high influence on the Readiness for Employability of the graduates in Oman. Finally, the study’s implementations and recommendations could be transferred to the Gulf and Arab or other countries’ contexts having similar settings of HE systems and similar issues of skills gap and employability concern of their graduates.

Highlights

The Omani Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) graduates are considered to have low readiness for employability skills (Lim, Lee, Yap, & Ling, 2016; Yang, Cheung, & Fang, 2015)
The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of human capital attributes on the employability readiness of the engineering graduates of the High Education Institutes in Oman
Since students and graduates believe that HEIs/Engineering departments are responsible for preparing them for a highly competitive labor market through improving their skills attainment, academic achievement, and professional abilities, the finding of this study should be used as guide lines for Ministry of Higher Education, HEIs’ Engineering departments, course designers, and policy makers to improve the quality of the students and eliminate the skills gap of the graduates enhancing graduates employability and achievement throughout their career life cycle

Summary

Introduction

The Omani HEIs graduates are considered to have low readiness for employability skills (Lim, Lee, Yap, & Ling, 2016; Yang, Cheung, & Fang, 2015). The skills gap of the graduates of the HEIs are affecting the new graduates’ employability and career outcomes at workplaces (Al-Azri, 2016). The principle link between HEIs graduates and the industry lies on the level of graduates’ readiness for employability skills that the graduates acquired to match the employer’s requirements (Al-Harthi, 2011; Allen & De Weert, 2007). This link is considered as a principle factor for graduate readiness for employability connecting graduate attributes factors and graduates’ attainment of employability skills, attitude, competencies, and knowledge (Clarke, 2018). In an important study of graduates attributes factors affecting the Engineers graduates’ attainment of the required Readiness for Employability skills, five attributes factors were believed to have the most influential matters on the acquirement of required employability skills including Human capital attributes, Social capital attributes, Individual attributes, Institution-Related attributes, and Active learning attributes (Al Hinai, Bhuiyan, & Husin, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c; Rahman & Bhuiyan, 2019)

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Discussion

Conclusion