Key Employability Skills Research Articles

Assessment Strategies, Instructional Resources, Science Course Teaching Methods and Acquisition of Employability Skills by Potential Science Graduates: The Lecturers’ Perspective

The study examines the interconnectedness of assessment strategies, instructional resources, and science course teaching methods relating to employability skills acquisition by potential science graduates from the lecturers’ perspective. The study utilised a research survey design. A sample of 371 was drawn from the population of science lecturers in universities in South-west using a multi-stage sampling technique. This involved purposive, stratified, and quota sampling techniques. A well-structured questionnaire was used to collect data analysed using descriptive statistics (multiple bar charts) and inferential statistics of correlation and regression analyses. The key findings of the study showed that instructional resources [instructional material, physical facilities, and human resources], science course teaching methods, and assessment strategies had joint significant predictions on employability skills acquisition. This implies that these variables must be adequately provided for improved acquisition of employability skills by students. Also, lecturers’ understanding of students’ key employability skills revealed low ratings of information technology, initiative, leadership, problem-solving, and adaptability skills of students. The study recommends that higher education administrators should strive to provide instructional materials, physical facilities and human resources as instructional resources to implement excellent teaching techniques and assessment strategies. The study concludes that lecturers should consciously seek self-upgrade and improve teaching techniques and assessment strategies.

Employability Skills Requirements in the Professional Services Sector: An In-depth Analysis of Graduates

In today’s competitive job market, the gap between academic preparation and industry expectations has become increasingly evident, highlighting the urgency of identifying the key employability skills required by graduates. This study evaluates the essential employability skills of graduates in the professional services sector. Using a descriptive research design, a questionnaire was administered to 282 respondents in the Philippines. The sample size was determined using Slovin's formula and a stratified random sampling technique. Data analysis involved frequency percentage distribution, weighted mean, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Findings reveal a significant proportion of respondents as team leaders, holding bachelor’s degrees, and working in professional services firms with more than 151 employees. Effective communication skills emerged as the foremost requirement, complemented by leadership skills that foster enthusiasm and commitment within organizations. Notably, disparities in employability skills were found when respondents were categorized based on organizations’ sizes. Concurrently, respondents reported challenges in articulating well-defined career objectives and demonstrating adaptability. These findings underscore the imperative for higher institutions to emphasize curricula that enhance graduates’ employability skills, particularly in communication, leadership, critical thinking, and problem-solving. Universities should tailor their academic programs to strengthen these crucial skills, benefiting both graduates and the professional services industry. Furthermore, continuous professional development and industry-academic partnerships are recommended to keep curricula aligned with evolving industry needs, ensuring that graduates are well-equipped for the dynamic job market.

Improving placement learning at scale: a case study evaluation

PurposeIn this study, the authors explore students' and industry’s perceptions about the challenges and opportunities of participating in a large-scale, non-compulsory, individual, in-person and unpaid business placement programme at an Australian university. The placement programme aims to support students' workplace transition by emphasising the development of key employability skills through reflective learning and linking theory to practice.Design/methodology/approachUtilising a case study methodology and integrating survey questionnaires, the authors collected both quantitative and qualitative data with large sample sizes.FindingsThe results highlight curriculum areas for improvement, emphasising tailored feedback to manage placement expectations and addressing employability skill strengths and weaknesses.Practical implicationsRecommendations include co-partnering with students to develop short, tailored and hot tip videos along with online learning modules, including the presentation of evidence-based statistics to inform students about post-programme employment prospects.Originality/valueThe study contributes to benchmarking good practices in non-compulsory, individual, in-person and unpaid placement pedagogy within the business education context.

Engineering employability skills: Students, academics, and industry professionals perception

Graduate employability is a major focal point of higher education. Designing curricula that equip graduates with the skills and attributes necessary to gain and retain employment is a challenge for Universities worldwide. This article investigates the perception differential between students, academics, and industry professionals. The aim is to identify the relevant skills and attributes to facilitate the transition of mechanical engineering graduates from education to employment. The results establish an upper second-class degree as the most desirable qualification. Studying a professional-body accredited course and being a student member of a professional institution are seen as crucial, despite the latter not being recognised as such by students. Significant differences are identified in the importance of Information Technology skills and software packages, with an institutional bias identified amongst academics. Lastly, the key skills and attributes to secure graduate employment are determined, with striking differences between industry professionals and students, the former desiring a personal and professional attitude and professional conduct above all else, the importance of which is underestimated by students. The findings provide novel insights into employability skills for mechanical engineers, and it is envisaged they may contribute to aligning engineering curricula with employer expectations, allowing graduates and academics to identify key employability skills and attributes, and improving graduate employment.

Investigating the impact of experiential learning on employability skill development and employment outcomes: a UK case study of MBA students from the Indian Subcontinent

ABSTRACT Global economic events have had a profound effect upon both businesses and the available workforce. Industries need a more skilful and advanced labour market and individuals who complete tertiary-level education are afforded better protection against economic uncertainties. Consequently, demand for higher education worldwide is growing, due to a rising number of globally mobile students. However, return on investment is important and curriculums offering employability enhancement and work opportunities are motivating factors when international students make their study decisions. This paper details one UK university’s approach to enhancing international student employability skills and employment outcomes, using a 3-day experiential learning residential on an MBA programme. Employing a survey design, the research investigates the benefits of this residential to 182 international MBA students (all from the Indian subcontinent region). The findings report that the international students developed key employability skills via the residential which significantly increased their propensity to obtain subsequent employment. The results of this paper provide much needed insight into improving both the employability skills and employment outcomes of international students, especially students from the Indian subcontinent, via immersive experiential learning activities.

UNRAVELING THE ESSENTIAL EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS OF FINANCE AND BANKING GRADUATES IN MALAYSIA: A NOMINAL GROUP TECHNIQUE APPROACH

Employability skills are increasingly crucial in the modern job market, as employers seek specific qualities and competencies in addition to academic qualifications when hiring new employees. The quality of education provided by higher learning institutions, among other factors, is often linked to the presence or absence of these skills. This article aims to identify the essential skills that finance and banking graduates must possess in order to increase their employability within the industry. The study utilizes the nominal group technique (NGT) analysis approach, involving fourteen experts from the banking and finance sector, to determine a consensus on the key employability skills. The findings highlight eleven skills that the industry values in finance and banking graduates. Notably, decision-making and problem-solving skills, teamwork and leadership competency, and self-management skills emerged as the top three skills sought after by employers. On the other hand, practical experience through part-time work or internships was considered less critical. The significance of this research lies in its potential to inform universities in enhancing their curricula to bridge any existing skill gaps, thus better preparing graduate students for the demands of the workforce. This proactive approach not only benefits the graduates by increasing their employability prospects but also contributes to the overall development of a skilled and competent workforce in the finance and banking sector.

Embedding sustainable development goals (SDGs) in an undergraduate business capstone subject using an experiential learning approach: A qualitative analysis

Universities have an important role in ensuring that business school graduates can address issues regarding sustainable development and the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. While business schools have been progressively growing understanding of the SDGs, many have an unclear conception of their importance to business or how to effectively embed them into their curriculum. This paper explores the outcomes of one university in applying the SDGs as a learning framework for understanding global sustainability. Qualitative methodology was used to explore student perceptions regarding the efficacy of industry collaboration and Experiential Education Project-based Learning (EEPBL) methods, to integrate learning of SDGs into a university course. Through thematic analysis of 375 reflective essays and 18 semi-structured interviews, students reported an enhanced awareness and knowledge of SDGs, acquisition of key employability skills and development of new global perspectives. They found value in industry collaboration and EEPBL for acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the SDGs in a business context, and many developed an appreciation of their own agency for sustainability action in the future. This research can be presented as an example of one approach to both teaching students about the SDGs and embedding sustainability into their business curriculum.

The expectations of employability skills in the Fourth Industrial Revolution of the communication and media industry in Malaysia

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the industry's expectations on the key employability skills of fresh graduates in the communication and media industry. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has raised the question of whether the university should produce work-ready graduates with employability skills. Driven by the theory of human capital, society expects higher education to produce graduates with skills that are useful in their workplace.Design/methodology/approachThe data were gathered primarily through a quantitative survey, which was later extended to include qualitative interviews. Quantitatively, questionnaires were completed by 313 employers from the middle and top-level management from the communication and media industry. This study also expands on qualitative data through in-depth interviews with nine respondents who were among key decision-makers of recruiting graduates to garner their insights on required employability skills.FindingsThe findings revealed the following employability skills required by the industry in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: communication, ICT or digital, leadership, interpersonal, and personal qualities skills.Research limitations/implicationsThese findings are beneficial to education providers as well as media and communication industries in preparing students and developing their skills to adapt to the changes in the workplace.Originality/valueThe authors provide an empirical understanding of industry expectations towards employability skills in the Fourth Industrial Revolution of the communication and media industry within the Malaysian context.

Key Employability Skills

There are suggestions that employers are usually dissatisfied with the lower levels of skills graduates have before starting employment. There also appears to be a debate among different stakeholders about how teaching and learning institutions prepare graduates. The aim of this paper is to identify what employers perceive employability to mean and what are appropriate work skills that correspond with it. Empirical analysis done by famous researchers was analyzed and the results indicate that while employability skills could be identified, there was no clear what universities need to provide in order for graduates to gain important employment.The findings suggest that while the stakeholders are concerned that graduates starting employment may lack certain employment skills, they still base their hiring decisions to take on graduates upon an historical perspectives of employment skills developed overtime, without taking into account the future requirements of ‘employment’, the possible challenges of an increasingly competitive economy and other possible labor changes which could be considerable and as yet, very much unknown. This study tries to make a contribution to research on employability by recognizing the gaps that may exist between employers and graduates and any incongruence in understanding of what ‘employability’ means and which employability skills might take significance.

Preparing osteopathy graduates for future careers: A review of osteopathic education in Australia

Introduction: Osteopathy in Australia faces an uncertain future as an unprecedented number of graduates enter the profession. While most are destined to work in private practice, workforce data suggests that limited career diversity and practitioner maldistribution are associated with growing rates of job dissatisfaction and professional attrition. Cultivating employability skills that promote diverse careers is the responsibility of education providers, yet it is unclear whether existing osteopathy programs are achieving this. Our aim was to determine if osteopathic curricula provide the employability skills required to prepare graduates for diverse careers.Methods: This study was conducted as part of a larger project by RMIT University and Osteopathy Australia entitled “Strategic plan for the osteopathy profession 2030”. A two-part approach was utilised. Part A involved a comparison of core learning outcomes (contained within current Australian osteopathy curricula) against key employability skills required for success in a diverse range of careers. A consensus development panel was consulted in Part B to capture the perspectives of experts in the field. Results: Content analysis and expert panel discussions identified the curricula has a strong focus on critical thinking, communication and problem solving and less focus on teamwork, leadership, initiative and enterprise and technological skills. Furthermore, osteopathy programs offer limited elective and micro-credentialing opportunities. Conclusions: Career diversity and increased job satisfaction for osteopathy graduates may be achieved by empowering them with the skills to succeed in careers beyond private practice. This calls for curriculum reforms and expanded elective and micro-credentialing options to enable students to broaden their skills and widen their options.

What makes better career opportunities for young graduates? Examining acquired employability skills in higher education institutions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model to examine key employability skills that match workplace requirements and foster employability.Design/methodology/approachThis research comprises a cross-sectional study from self-financing institutions in Hong Kong. The current study adopted structural equation modeling to examine key employability skills that match workplace requirements and foster employability.FindingsBased on the empirical findings, the acquired employability skills of young graduates are entrepreneurship, professional development, work with others, self-management, communication and problem solving. Moreover, higher education institutions should work closely with industry stakeholders to get employers engaged with the work-integrating learning (WIL) programs and subsequently equip young graduates for better employability opportunities. In connection with employer engagement, employability skills of communication, problem solving and self-management would be improved. Furthermore, entrepreneurship and problem-solving skills could further be developed for young graduating students working in SME organizations during WIL.Originality/valueAs a notable gap exists in the current literature to examine young graduates' key employability skills in the context and content of Hong Kong self-financing tertiary education, this research explores key employability skills of self-financed young graduates and the relative importance of employability skills across company size using a quantitative approach.

Impact of Technology on Higher Education

We are pleased to publish the first regular issue of <em>Higher Learning Research Communications (HLRC)</em>, which follows the Special Issue, <em>Implications of COVID-19 on Higher Education</em>. The pandemic continues to impact higher education; in many parts of the world, it is still resulting in classes being held remotely, while in other regions, classrooms are slowly reopening to face-to-face or hybrid instruction. As the manuscripts in the special issue, as well as those in the current issue, reflect, the implications of the pandemic on higher education will be far-reaching. We continue to encourage authors to submit empirical research and essays that document ways that higher education will be different as we emerge from the pandemic. The focus of the HLRC is on issues whose importance has been magnified by the pandemic, including digital teaching and learning, higher education and the public good, and the preparation of students in key 21st-century employability skills.

Work-Integrated Learning: A Game-Based Learning Activity That Enhances Student Employability

Enhancing student employability is a key aspect of any chemistry-based degree; however, embedding such activities in the curriculum is often challenging. Placements (internships in the USA) or experiential visits are the most widely used approach, but these are not always inclusive. Work-integrated learning (WIL), the practice of combining traditional academic study or formal learning with student exposure to the world-of-work, is widely seen as an alternative approach to provide key employability skills. Our study utilizes a game-based learning activity based on the TV show The Apprentice to conduct WIL. Working in teams, students evaluated the performance of two different chromatography analytical columns and are asked to generate various marketing materials to highlight the performance of one column over the other. This included creating an infomercial and marketing flyer before finally pitching their findings to an expert panel. This activity provided a creative platform for students to showcase a range of employability skills, which they reflected upon immediately afterward and a year after graduating. Students indicated that the real-life work-based content of this specific activity significantly enhanced their employability and helped them secure a job. This educational WIL can be modified for any discipline of chemistry, providing a unique and inclusive way to provide a vast array of skills to enhance employability.

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

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.

The role of critical reflection as an employability skill in sport management

ABSTRACT Research question: The two research questions driving this study were (1) ‘To what extent do sport management students address the individual and social dimensions of critical reflection during work-integrated learning (WIL) experiences?’, and (2) ‘Do these skills align with what employers need from those working and seeking employment in the sport industry?’. Research methods: A total of 314 WIL stakeholders (i.e. students, Academic Supervisors and Industry Supervisors) representing 20 tertiary sport management institutions in the Netherlands participated in the study’s questionnaire. The purpose was to identify the potential differences across perceptions of three stakeholder groups on the extent to which students address the individual and social dimensions of critical reflection and the ways critical reflection skills align with the sport management industry needs. MANOVA and separate ANOVA tests compared perceptions on students’ integration of three individual and three social dimensions of critical reflection. Results and findings: Results showed disparities between perceptions on the extent to which students critically reflect. Industry Supervisors perceived students only addressed two of six dimensions of critical reflection (i.e. asking for feedback and reflecting on career ambitions). Findings in this study are consistent with other empirical evidence concerned with graduates’ level of key employability skills and highlight the need to strengthen the development and alignment of social critical reflection skills with sport industry employer needs. Implications: This study addresses the need to align sport management graduates skill set with sport industry workforce needs and enhance graduate employability. The classification of critical reflection skills into six dimensions offers a useful guide to sport organisations and helps assess which dimensions require attention or further development.

Preparing students for the global workforce: Chinese and non-Chinese working professionals on key employability skills

In this study, 79 Chinese and non-Chinese working professionals responded to an employability-skills survey. They were asked to identify key language and intercultural proficiencies that would allow non-Chinese professionals to work more effectively with Chinese colleagues and clients. All participants work or worked in multilingual and multicultural settings from a limited set of business sectors and job positions in mainland China. Quantitative data suggest that the participants consider intercultural competence to be the most valuable skill in global work settings. Intercultural competence includes the ability to collaborate with colleagues and clients of different nationalities, the ability to adapt to Chinese problem-solving norms when conflicts arise, and the flexibility to apply Chinese cultural practices inside and outside the workplace. Notably, a significant mean difference exists between the Chinese and non-Chinese participants concerning adaptability to Chinese norms around conflict. Regarding language proficiency, the participants identified conversational competence as the most important skill for interpersonal communication at work and beyond, placing less emphasis on the ability to read formal documents and correspondence in Chinese. This analysis attempts to suggest pedagogical guidance for Chinese and other business language educators seeking to develop sustainable business language curricula that meet the demand for a globally competent workforce.

Exploration of Employability Skills in Business Management Studies Within Higher Education Levels

Higher education in the United Kingdom is becoming more responsible to focus beyond teaching and learning process; this is evolving to further reflect the needs of the marketplace, engagement with firms within the industry, responsibility to enhance talent, and to close the skills gap to prepare students for employment opportunities during studies and after graduation. The purpose of this study is to provide the key employability skills in business management studies within higher education with further focus on the UK as one of the leading Western and knowledge-based economies through a systematic literature review process. The study also aims to highlight employability skills reported in the selected studies by categorising them into three main categories: very common employability skills required, common employability skills required, and uncommon employability skills required. However, throughout the studies included in the review, focus on specific skills varied due to the way researchers assessed as well as external factors taken into consideration such as cultural differences, external environment changes, the type of educational institutions, and the way curriculum was delivered, as well as the variations of specific interests of employers from a sector to another. The review is organised in six key sections: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Results and Analysis, Discussion, and lastly, Conclusion and Implications. The reported employability skills resulted in the review can be taken into consideration to further enhance understanding of how employability skills can be embedded into curriculum within business management schools in the UK and other organisations that are responsible for articulation of employment related policies for students and recent graduates. The review can also establish that enhancement of employability skills should be a collective responsibility including universities, employers, policymakers, and students to ensure that educational outcomes are meeting the needs of the market. Higher education providers should aim to close the gap of employability by the point of graduation stage and to be ready to compete in the overcrowded labour market.

Music technology and Future Work Skills 2020: An employability mapping of Australian undergraduate music technology curriculum

This study explored how Australian music technology courses teach employability skills. A curriculum mapping of 63 undergraduate courses was conducted with course learning outcomes aligned against two benchmarks. The first benchmark was the Ten Skills for the Future Workforce which identifies key employability skills graduates will require in the coming decade. The second benchmark was the Australian Qualifications Framework Specification for the Bachelor Degree which defines the generic skills graduates must obtain through Australian Bachelor Degrees. This curriculum mapping reveals that Australian music technology courses teach Novel and Adaptive Thinking, Computational Thinking, New Media Literacy, and Design Mindsets universally. However, this curriculum mapping also reveals a deficit in employability skills related to Cross-Cultural Competency, Transdisciplinarity, Virtual Collaboration, and Collaboration more generally. The implications of this mapping is that Australian music technology educators seem to be prioritizing specific technical and creative skills over higher-order applications of skills and knowledge which are contextualized in their broader social and cultural contexts. Finally, this article shows how curriculum mapping can be implemented to embed employability skills progressively across a program sequence using a case study from the School of Music, University of Queensland.

EMPLOYERS’ ASSESSMENT OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCE GRADUATES FROM NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES

In view of deteriorating quality of graduates from Nigerian tertiary institutions, this study sought to determine employers’ assessment of management science graduates on key employability skills. The study involves the administration of questionnaires by means of convenience sampling on 680 employers of management science graduates in public and private sectors in Edo/Delta States. T-test and ANOVA were used to analyse data. Notwithstanding the age difference, the result obtained shows that employers rated the graduates of management sciences as slightly ‘fair’. Notably, employers in the private sector rated management graduates higher and more positively than their counterparts in the public sector. Additionally, the employers in the present study described management science graduates as reliable, employable and hardworking. It was recommended that the quality of management science graduates can be improved by placing emphasis on increased funding, infrastructural development, and educator-employer based curriculum which focuses on practical skills, as well as the reactivation of industrial attachment in the Nigerian universities. On the side of the employers, investment in the orientation and training of new entrants into work organization should not be neglected.

An exploration of global employability skills: a systematic research review

The purpose of this paper is to explore and categorise, through a systematic research review, the key employability skills identified by researchers across the globe. This paper also aims to identify any similarities and differences present in employability skills demand of different sectors of industry or parts of the world. For the purpose of this study, 43 studies conducted across 17 countries were included and a systematic research review protocol was applied to develop categories. A vote-counting technique was used for the purpose of data analysis. The results revealed a set of employability skills commonly reported worldwide as important by all studies included in the review. These skills were further re-grouped under ten different skill sets. The findings of this study point to several implications for educators, employers, graduates and policy makers.