Purpose
– While the global education debate remains focused on graduate skills and employability, the absence of a shared language between student, academic and industry stakeholder groups means that defining industry skills requirements is both essential and difficult. The purpose of this paper is to assess graduate skills requirements in a knowledge-intensive industry from a demand perspective as distinct from a curriculum (supply) viewpoint.
Design/methodology/approach
– Skills items were derived from a breadth of disciplines across academic, policy and industry literature. CEOs and senior managers in the innovation and commercialisation industry were surveyed regarding perceptions of skills in graduates and skills in demand by the firm. Two rounds of exploratory factor analyses were undertaken to examine employers’ perceptions of the skills gap.
Findings
– First-order analysis resolved ten broad constructs that represent cognitive, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills domains as applied in this industry. Knowledge, leadership and interprofessional collaboration feature as prominent skills. Second-order analysis revealed employers’ perceptions of graduate skills specifically centre on organisational fit and organisational success. An over-arching theme relates to performance of the individual in organisations.
Research limitations/implications
– The findings suggest that the discourse on employability and the design of curriculum need to shift from instilling lists of skills towards enabling graduates to perform in a diversity of workplace contexts and expectations centred on organisational purpose.
Originality/value
– In contrast to the heterogeneous nature of industry surveys, the authors targeted a homogenous sector that is representative of knowledge-intensive industries. This study contributes to the broader stakeholder dialogue of the value and application of graduate skills in this and other industry sectors.
Precision medicines can benefit patients by increasing the probability of a successful treatment response in selected patient populations. The potential for more immediate signals of efficacy during clinical trials suggests such medicines will reach the market more rapidly than traditional drugs will. Using data from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), we examined the regulatory review and pivotal trial characteristics of precision medicines. We found that in the period January 2013-June 2017, precision medicines were developed and reviewed almost two years faster than nonprecision medicines. In addition, approximately 48 percent of the precision medicines in our study qualified for the FDA's breakthrough therapy designation. Precision medicines were also approved based on fewer pivotal trials with fewer patients, and the trials were less likely to be randomized, blinded, or controlled with either an active or placebo comparator.
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