Total Interpretive Structural Modelling of Graduate Employability Skills for the Built Environment Sector

Lovelin Obi,Bankole Awuzie,Paul Hampton

doi:10.3390/educsci10120369

Abstract

Contemporary practices and future projections in the Built Environment (BE) sector highlight an increasing demand on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to produce graduates possessing relevant skills aligned to meet workplace demands. This study aims to analyse the key skills influencing BE graduate employability in the United Kingdom (UK) for the benefit of HEIs. This investigation leverages on a critical review of extant literature and an elicitation of the perceptions of targeted macro, meso, and micro level key stakeholders in the BE sector to identify key employability skills. The Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) technique was used to analyse the contextual interrelationships among the identified skills to develop a hierarchical model that provides HEI with insight for BE curriculum development. Six key employability skillsets hierarchically modelled into four levels were identified as crucial for potential graduates to successfully attract and adapt to contemporary practices in the Built Environment sector. Findings reveal communication and team-working skills as critical, independent skills driving the successful development of the remaining four skillsets. This research extends the literature on employability skills by investigating the interactions of various skills that predominantly predicts graduate employability in the Built Environment sector. The resulting TISM skills model provides hierarchical and logical interdependencies beneficial to assist HEIs to strategically design BE curricular to enhance graduate employability.

Highlights

Discourse on employability, employability skills in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) curricula, and the mix match between graduates’ attributes and employers’ expectations has received considerable attention in both developed and developing country contexts [1,2,3,4,5]
The purpose of this paper is to present a qualitative analysis of the significant factors that influence graduate employability in the Built Environment (BE) sector and elucidate the interaction amongst them
The Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) analysis was conducted to define the contextual relationships of the identified skills for the benefits of improving the BE pedagogy

Summary

Introduction

Employability skills in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) curricula, and the mix match between graduates’ attributes and employers’ expectations has received considerable attention in both developed and developing country contexts [1,2,3,4,5]. In the context of work and career, these attributes allow graduates to make impactful contributions in the work place, both in the short and long term—and can be referred to as employability skills [7]. In the UK, it is argued that graduates possessing the appropriate employability skills can potentially enhance the performance of various sectors of the UK economy [8]. The CBI/Pearson Education and Skills Survey [9] revealed that more than three-quarters of businesses (77%) in the UK expect to have more job openings for graduates possessing employability skills as demanded by the workplace. The growth and contemporary changes and increased market competition in the construction industry has resulted in an increasing demand

Objectives

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Conclusion