Quality Of College Graduates Research Articles

Rationale for Embedding Soft Skills in Teaching and Assessment in Higher Learning Institutions

The digital age has witnessed the educational systems preparing students for employability with 21st-century skills, which comprise skills and abilities for success in society and the workplace. To this effect, one of the most significant discussions in higher education in Tanzania and elsewhere is the quality of university graduates. Graduates demonstrate deficiencies in mastery of essential competencies referred to as soft skills. Universities can play a significant role in soft skills development, but implementation in the classroom has faced diverse challenges that have obstructed effective teaching and assessment. One alternative solution is embedding soft skills within the extant program curricula because the academic infrastructure is already in place, so few additional resources may be required. Guided by attribution theory, this paper presents findings from the thematic analysis of semi-structured in-depth interview responses from university teacher educators working with a public university. By and large, the paper unveils that teacher educators recommend that soft skills play a fundamental role in shaping graduates’ personalities and enhancing social competencies. Nevertheless, teacher educators find themselves in dilemmas while pursuing teaching and assessment strategies that improve the furtherance of soft skills.

Partnership of University Institutions with Industries and Graduates’ Employability in Cameroon: Case of Graduates of Technical and Professional Schools of the University of Ngaoundéré

Context: Graduate employability remains a global interest in this 21st century as workplace demands and economic sustainability are growing, changing, and driving new competencies and needs as well as the need for an innovative, flexible, and motivated workplace. The quality of university graduates is not only crucial to individual productivity but also to national productivity, economic growth, and development. This quality could be enhanced by effective collaboration between institutions of the university and the industry. Therefore, this study examines the influence of the quality of partnerships between university institutions and industries on the employability of graduates from technical and professional schools of the University of Ngaoundere. Methods: A cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire was conducted amongst graduates from the University of Ngaoundere recruited through snowball and purposive sampling. The data were analyzed by SPSS Software, Version 20, using descriptive statistics and simple linear regression. Results: Findings revealed that the quality of the partnership between university institutions and industries strongly and significantly influences graduates’ employability (R2 =0.505, β=0.711, p<0.001). Conclusion: Therefore, the study recommends that effective educational policy and strategy should be adopted to improve graduates’ employability by focusing on improving collaboration and cooperation between university institutions and industries.

Determinants of Accounting Student Readiness to Face the World of Work

In the Indonesian context, the disparity in the quality of university graduates vis-à-vis workforce expectations remains a significant phenomenon. This research sets out to investigate the crucial determinants affecting the readiness of accounting students to navigate the professional realm, focusing on knowledge in the world of work, soft skills, and locus of control. Employing a survey methodology with a questionnaire, data were meticulously analyzed using multiple linear regression through the SPSS program. The findings underscore a positive correlation between knowledge in the world of work, soft skills, locus of control, and the work readiness of accounting students at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Udayana University. Although the overall work readiness scores are commendable, the study advocates for continuous maintenance and improvement initiatives to optimize students' preparedness for the workforce. The implication is that Udayana University, and potentially other educational institutions, could play a pivotal role by actively facilitating activities geared towards enhancing students' workplace skills. By doing so, these institutions contribute not only to academic excellence but also to the practical readiness of graduates for the professional challenges they will encounter in the world of work.

University Student Core Competencies – China’s Experience

Recent years have witnessed China’s great efforts in promoting student core competencies with the purpose of raising the quality of university graduates. To remain competitive in the global economy, the education system in China is expected to supply highly qualified and highly talented university graduates to the labor market. The present study is designed to investigate university student development of core competencies in China. The purpose of this study is to provide a basic profile of where university students are standing in the development of core competencies. Findings of the research are discussed. Information and insights gleaned through this study are helpful in developing strategies in cultivating university student core competencies to meet challenges of 21st century.

The Itinerant Curriculum as an Alternative Curriculum Pathway in Nigerian Higher Education

The quality of university graduates and research outputs in relation to the expectations of local employers of labour and the organisations that should commercialise research findings, are far from fulfilling the goals set by the educational system and Nigerian society as a whole. This paper examines the imperative for an urgent rethink on the curriculum of Nigerian higher institutions in order to keep pace with the needs of society. This study explores and highlights the need to deconstruct and reconstruct the curriculum to ensure it is tailored to reflect the specific needs of the country. The argument is that a shift away from the current curriculum system can improve the educational system and society as a whole. The focus is on the itinerant curriculum as an alternative that will steer the educational system in the right direction by adopting curriculums that align with and are tailored to suit the particular and inherent structure, system and needs of the Nigerian society. It explores the adoption of a mixed and more indigenous curriculum centered on the Nigerian situation, goals and objectives as opposed to the predominantly Eurocentric curriculum in practice in Nigerian institutions and across Africa. This study proposes that curriculum researchers adopt a contributory system where students and professionals have an input in designing course curriculums to reflect real life occupational situations and solutions.

Использование математических методов для мониторинга качества успеваемости студентов

The article deals with the statistical analysis of the effectiveness of the educational process at university. The research featured factors affecting the quality of training university students. The authors employed quantitative and qualitative indicators and organizational and pedagogical approaches, as well as methods of correlation and variance analysis. The indicators were systematized and generalized in order to identify the extent of their impact on the effectiveness of the factors under consideration. The reliability of the results was checked using the Pearson test. The methodology of the study was based on the identification of factors that affect the students’ achievements. A factor is a condition for good quality education. Based on the principles of general and professional education of the individual, the authors identified two groups of factors: 1) those related to the performance of the general education stage (academic performance, training profile); 2) those related to the results of higher education (academic performance, areas of training, course of study, academics). The academic performance of the first-year students did not depend on the results of the Unified State Exam and school grades. This dependence began to manifest itself during the second year, i.e. after the adaptation period. Statistical processing provided a mathematical model of the dependence of academic performance on the identified factors. The model can be used to predict the results of academic performance, as well as to adjust the learning process in order to improve the quality of university graduates' training, e.g. additional consultations, new information technologies, changes in the curriculum, level-based differentiation of content, tasks, individualized tasks, etc. The results are of interest for organizers of psychological and pedagogical support of professional self-determination for university students and their socio-psychological adaptation.

University-Industry Interaction as an Element of the University’s «Third Mission»

In the context of the transformation of education, characterized by the rapid obsolescence of knowledge, the increasing role of technological and social innovations, the globalization of the economy and education, it is becoming increasingly important to ensure successful cooperation between universities and business. At the same time, the state gains an advantage due to the rapid transfer of new knowledge, research and innovation, enterprises and organizations increase opportunities for effective development.The aim of the study is to identify the most successful forms of interaction between educational organizations and enterprises, the mechanisms of influence of the University on the development of the region of its location, participation in socio-economic processes. The problem is considered through the prism of the concept of the “third mission” for universities, which involves active interaction of educational organizations with society, including employers. Besides, the authors use the provisions of the theory of stakeholders, which describes the parameters taking into account the interests of various actors in the process of University management.On the example of the Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov, the article analyzes the existing experience and successful practices of organizing such interaction, as well as the emerging problems. The information base of the study was a survey on the satisfaction of employers with the quality of University graduates’ training, conducted in SAFU in 2019.As findings, the article states the main systemic problems of interaction between universities and the sphere of production such as the lack of coordinated strategies for training in various specialties, discrepancies in understanding the sets of competencies and skills of graduates, the fragmented university-industry interaction in research and development areas, different motivations and values.The authors come to a conclusion that the University must undergo a path of transformation to ensure strategic interaction with business and industry, including the development of a common “entrepreneurial” culture in the team, as well as the expansion of interaction with public institutions and socio-economic actors in the framework of the “third mission”.

Управление взаимодействием вузов и предприятий отрасли

The purpose of the article is to develop the basics of managing the interaction of transport universities and enterprises to improve the efficiency of the industry as a result of improving the quality of graduates, and therefore its personnel in general. The article analyzes the features of the organization of relations between a branch university, which differs from a broad-profile classical university, and employers. Modeling of relations between the corporation structural divisions and educational institutions providing educational services is carried out. The mathematical apparatus for describing relationships is selected, indicators of resource satisfaction are proposed, and the resulting one is satisfaction with interaction. To assess the satisfaction of the parties with the results of interaction of relations, a model of resource exchange is proposed. Its use will allow us to get to the quantitative characteristics of the achieved relations. The introduction of the concept of «resource satisfaction» and interaction in its separate areas will help to identify reserves that can be used as a basis for optimizing relationships. The purpose of such modeling is to expand the directions and contacts of universities and industry enterprises, employees' participation in innovation, and improve the quality of university graduates that meets the needs of the industry. In this article, the author is limited to considering the interaction of the «industry University - Russian Railways divisions». In recent years, the university has developed links with many transport organizations that have specific market interaction.

Los valores humanos y su incidencia en la calidad del estudiante universitario

Referred to as human values to the set of virtues that possesses a person or organization, that determine the behavior and interaction with other individuals and the space. Human values include all those actions that are considered as correct, so they are also related to moral values, which are those that regulate the conduct of individuals. Moral values correspond with ethical values and societal values that, together, constitute the rules to achieve a healthy coexistence in society. Human values are important for their contribution to improve the society and bring dignity to the person. Due to the inescapable importance of values in general in the integral formation of the personality of the individual and its impact on the quality of university graduates, the authors of this work we have directed our attention in this article to the human values in specific.

Faktor-Faktor yang Berpengaruh dalam Mendapatkan Pekerjaan bagi Lulusan Statistika IPB dengan Menggunakan Metode CHAID

Unemployment is one of the economic problems in Indonesia. Judging from the level of education that was completed there were unemployment from the level of college graduates. This encourages the level of competition in getting jobs to be more stringent, so that college graduates (bachelor of Statistics in IPB) must have the preparation of various factors to maintain the quality of their graduates. The quality of college graduates can be seen from the length of time waiting to get a job. This study aims to determine the influential factors in getting a job for graduates of the IPB Statistics degree, so that the CHAID method can be used in this study. The results of CHAID's analysis in this study in the form of tree diagrams using α = 10% explained that the factors influencing the waiting period variables were sex, internship, and the ability to master statistical software, where the accuracy value generated by the classification model was 79.3 %.

EVALUATION OF THE IQA STRUCTURES AND MECHANISMS EMPLOYED BY UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA

Higher education institutions are today experiencing constant changes due to the rapid expansion of the institutions in student numbers which has not been matched by expansion of infrastructure, facilities and resources. This situation has raised concerns about the quality of higher education institutions (HEIs) and their programmes among stakeholders. While the quality of universities was unquestionable when they were serving a small elite, the institutions in today’s diversified and privatized higher education systems worldwide are under pressure to change and adapt. Quality and graduate employability has for quite a while attracted the debate among employers and other education stakeholders on the quality of university graduates. In response to the challenges, external quality assurance (EQA) mechanisms have been developed in higher education in various parts of the world in an effort to assure quality and standards. Governments have also seen the need to engage EQA bodies in the quality control of HEIs through periodic external assessments of the quality of the institutions through programme evaluation, accreditation and quality audit. While quality assurance was initially externally driven, individual HEIs have today set up internal quality assurance (IQA) mechanisms to help them monitor and manage the quality of education as they also align their IQA with external policies and frameworks governing education. This paper reviews literature on the IQA structures and mechanisms used by universities with a view to making recommendations on how the institutions can effectively employ IQA structures and mechanisms in order to offer quality education that is responsive to the needs of the industry. Article visualizations:

Employer perceptions and attitudes towards agricultural university training in Kenya

Agriculture is the backbone of most Sub-Saharan African economies accounting for 40 % of the GDP and 80% employment. Yet agricultural graduates have not been able to “hit the ground running” upon graduation. This study assessed the quality of agricultural graduates from Kenyan Universities in terms of relevance to job market demands. A mixed method approach was used to collect data through a personal interview survey and focus group discussions involving 54 public and private organizations. Descriptive statistics was used to generate means and frequencies to validate the study hypotheses. Results indicated that employers’ main concern on quality of graduates were poor interpersonal (> 90%), communication (53%), practical (>90%) and character (78%) skills. Further future agriculture will be impacted by competencies in practical skills (56%) and training in contemporary issues like climate change (17%). Success of agricultural production to a large degree depends on the human resources available within the sector. If the quality of university graduates is poor, it negatively affects the entire knowledge chain. This research also has an implication for university administrators and policy makers in training holistic graduates that meet employers’ and socio-economic development needs. Integrating job market requirements into university curricula can improve the quality of graduates that directly impact agricultural productivity for economic development and poverty reduction.

Russian Education for Innovative Economy: “the Pressure Points”

The paper is focused on the problems of continuous education in Russia that is playing a growing role while the country is moving towards innovative economy. The continuous education may be implemented in various forms, from university and online courses to companies-based supplementary post-graduate education. The study is based on the results of a survey conducted among 80 experts that represent stakeholders in the Russian innovation system. The interviews were conducted in 2016–2017 in 12 regions of Russia with experts, employed in federal and regional administrations, venture and investment funds, institutes for development, technology parks, incubators, paten offices, private companies, universities, and research institutes. The survey was centered on such questions as whether the current state of higher education satisfies the needs of innovative, science intensive industries; on the role of corporate education; on how the special professional education is evolving and what are the major barriers for its development. The survey has demonstrated that higher education institutes are rather passive in terms of initiating new educational techniques; the gap between needs of science-based industries and quality of university graduates is still big. Moreover, higher education institutes are losing in competition with new, mostly digital, forms of education that the open market is suggesting. Corporate education in its current form is mostly affordable for large state companies while small and medium-size enterprises are looking for intermediaries at the market that may help them to identify and train new workforce.

THE ROLE OF EDUCATION SIGNALING IN EXPLAINING THE GROWTH OF THE COLLEGE WAGE PREMIUM

This paper incorporates an education signaling mechanism into a dynamic model of production and asks if “higher education as a signal” helps explain the simultaneous increase in the supply and price of skilled relative to unskilled labor in the United States since 1980. The key mechanism is that if college degrees serve as a signal of unobservable talent and talent is productive at the workplace, then improved access to college will enable a higher fraction of the population to signal talent by completing college, resulting in degrees being a better signal about talent and a widening skill premium. When I assess the contribution of signaling in the model calibrated to the US economy from 1980 to 2003, I find that about 10% of the increase in the skill premium can be attributed to the signaling mechanism, after adjusting for the potential decline in the quality of college graduates.

Reason Analysis and Solution Proposing for the Lack of Motivation among College Students

Some students of our colleges and universities at this stage are not enthusiastic about learning and their learning attitude is not correct, which has aroused due attention among higher education institutes, families and the society. With the problem getting worse, a direct impact on the overall quality of college graduates has been resulted. Therefore, it is of much value to analyze the reasons for the weariness of students toward their study and to explore practical measures to foster interest on student learning so that their learning interest and ability could be fostered and their awareness of innovation could be improved.

A decade of study on employer feedback on the quality of university graduates

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to outline four separate studies undertaken in two Australian universities between 2003 and 2012 on employer feedback on the quality of university graduates. Higher education has expanded significantly in the past decade. The expansion has been in student enrolments with a focus on increasing the participation of disadvantaged students; the emergence of new kinds of providers other than universities; new modes of education delivery; and the internationalisation of higher education. The diversity of higher education institutions and quality issues require the assessment of graduate quality based on feedback from employers. The lack of such assessment on graduate quality based on employer voice risks the production of graduates with focus on success (quantity) rather than excellence (quality). It also disconnects the engagement between higher education institutions and employers to assess trends and changes in various industries and professions that require employer input in course development and renewal to meet the changing needs of the industries. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative method using online survey to gather feedback from employers of university graduates was used. The survey tool has been previously used in other studies. Findings – A decade of study using quantitative and qualitative methods with different employers in two different geographic locations clearly shows that employer views on the quality of university graduates in a range of capabilities have remained consistent. The study also outlines the challenges in gathering feedback from employers and how data are used in curriculum reviews and enhancements. Research limitations/implications – The study has a number of limitations, including gathering up-to-date employer data, and engagement of employers in the survey. Practical implications – Practical implications could include the use of survey data in new course developments, review of courses and further enhancement to ensure course relevance. Originality/value – This is the first longitudinal study undertaken using the same survey instrument in two universities. The study engaged 485 employers.

School, department, and instructor determinants of teaching methods in undergraduate economics courses

The choice of teaching methods and materials is affected by key school, departmental, and faculty characteristics. We investigate the effects of such characteristics and estimate how much changes in some school and departmental policies affect the probability that economics instructors will use particular teaching methods and materials in four different types of courses. As schools and departments change policies, often in response to changes in resource bases, they may not take into account how that affects faculty teaching and student time investments in coursework. That raises concerns about the relationship between these constraints, policies, and possible decreases in the quality of college graduates.

School, department, and instructor determinants of teaching methods in undergraduate economics courses

The choice of teaching methods and materials is affected by key school, departmental, and faculty characteristics. We investigate the effects of such characteristics and estimate how much changes in some school and departmental policies affect the probability that economics instructors will use particular teaching methods and materials in four different types of courses. As schools and departments change policies, often in response to changes in resource bases, they may not take into account how that affects faculty teaching and student time investments in coursework. That raises concerns about the relationship between these constraints, policies, and possible decreases in the quality of college graduates.

Analysis of Employment Quality of Chinese Vocational and Technical College Graduates

: The employment quality of college graduates is a recent topic of heated discussion in China. Given the differences in the talent development goals of academic and vocational institutions and in individual job search approaches, this research compares the differences between the job search approaches and actual employment outcomes of graduates of undergraduate and vocational institutions, and analyzes the correspondence of vocational graduates’ job search approaches with their job search outcomes to identify the effect of higher vocational education on employment. Using the proposed methods, this study finds a significant gap in job search approaches between the two types of graduates and that higher vocational education significantly affects employment approaches and outcomes. The job search approaches of vocational graduates also influence their employment outcomes. The study concludes that the employment quality of vocational graduates is not necessarily worse than that of four-year undergraduates.

Quality of University Graduates and Human Resources Development in Nigeria

The quality of graduates from Nigerian universities is reported to be on the decline, especially in critical and valuable skills, to the extent that companies hardly recruit but rather adopt employment protection strategies because, to them, these graduates do not meet the demands of the industry. The study therefore sought to ascertain the factors influencing the quality of graduates, using final year undergraduates of the University of Calabar. The expo-post facto design was utilized, two hypothesis were generated and through simple random sampling techniques, 200 respondents were drawn. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire and the analysis was done using one-way ANOVA. Results indicated that selection criteria had significant influence on academic performance but a non-significant influence on students' conduct. The recommendation was that, for Nigeria to meet its millennium developmental goal, only competent, high quality candidates with the right ability, interest, aptitude and motivation should be selected for admission based purely on merit.