Mismatch in Supply and Demand of Building Surveying Graduates’ Skills: A Triangulation Perspective

Abstract

Themismatch in the supply and demand of graduates is fast becoming a central issue for employee performance nowadays. A primary concern of this issue is a result of a higher competence demanded by employers, the change in the industry, competition among graduates, and new global economic practices. Enabling industries to lead curriculum development is one of the initiatives in enhancing the quality of the programme to improve graduate employability and producing quality technical and vocational education and training (TVET) graduates. Despite the various models that have been employed towards individual career development, there are problems of job skills mismatch and the lack of qualified graduates with technical and non-technical skills. Thus, this study attempts to clarify a mismatch in the supply and demand of building surveying graduates' skills from the perspectives of employers, lecturers, and the students. This study investigates building surveying academicians and the industry’s perspective regarding building surveying graduates’ performance, as well as to identify students’ awareness towardsthe current industry demand. Data for this study was collected using a qualitative method approach that involved a semi-structured interview with 10 building surveying students, 5 lecturers, and 5 building surveyor practitioners; the non-probability sampling design that was used in this study was based on the snowball sampling technique, and acontent analysis approach had been employed in the analysis of the data using NVivo 11 software. The findings indicate that there is a mismatch in the supply and demand of building surveying graduates’ skills. This study offers an important insight into the building surveying programme towards the improvement of the programme’s syllabus and its learning outcomes. The study suggests that building surveying graduates should acquire and demonstrate both technical and non-technical skills that are demanded by the industry. Further research is suggested to identify the competency level among entry-level building surveyor graduates in real working practices.

Demand-supply Mismatch in TVET Academic Programmes: What Is It and What Should It Be?

“…To further exacerbate this situation, higher learning institutions have made minimal effort to determine whether the programmes offered comply with the current needs or industry demands; and whether the training provided aligns with the rapidly developing technology. Therefore, the students' acquired skills were not equivalent, compatible, or relevant to the current industry needs (Husain et al, 2020;Pankhuri, 2019;Sehgal & Nasim, 2020;Teixeira et al, 2016;Vladimirovna & Nikolaevna, 2016;Yamada, Otchia, and Taniguchi 2018).…”

“…Nonetheless, this strategic partnership must enhance cooperation between industries and potential industries to ensure the availability of highly skilled, knowledgeable graduates with excellent social skills that can enhance labour productivity. Strategic partnerships must develop competent graduates that can adapt to the fast-paced work environment (Husain et al, 2020;Remington, 2017) and a strong synergy is needed between TVET institutions and industries. Through this synergy, graduate competence can be maintained and aligned with industry needs.…”

“…Industries prefer to train their new employees through short courses within their facilities rather than collaborate with TVET institutions (Valiente, Zancajo, & Jacovkis, 2020). Additionally, this lack of alignment is contributed to by the misalignment between TVET providers and company needs (ElObeidy, 2016;Valiente, Zancajo, & Jacovkis, 2020;Vladimirovna & Nikolaevna, 2016;Yamada, Otchia, & Taniguchi, 2018), companies' lack of confidence in TVET graduate qualifications (Valiente, Zancajo, & Jacovkis, 2020), market failure in matching skills to employment opportunities (Cobo, 2013;Ngcwangu, 2015); the changing productive sector requirements (Cobo, 2013;Husain et al, 2020), and rapid technological advancement and globalisation (ElObeidy, 2016;Kaboski, 2009;Kranz, 2006;Remington, 2017). The location of businesses and their future needs must be considered when reorganising TVET programmes in order to improve education quality and lessen the chance of geographical mismatch (Suna et al, 2020).…”

The Influence of Internship Experience and Work Motivation on Work Readiness in Vocational Students: PLS-SEM Analysis

“…One of the reasons for the high contribution of VE graduates to the number of unemployed is the quality of vocational education that is carried out unevenly so that graduates do not have adequate skills and abilities as needed in the world of work (Heru et al, 2021;Hoidn & Šťastný, 2021). In addition, schools that are passive in terms of looking for links/cooperation with industry cause apprenticeship programs only for small and medium industries (Hoidn & Šťastný, 2021;Husain, 2020). The number of unemployed VE graduates is influenced by the work readiness of VE students who are still lacking (Daryono et al, 2020;Setyadi et al, 2021).…”

“…Revitalization in VE that in order to improve the quality and competitiveness of Indonesian human resources, the curriculum should be aligned with industrial competence (Gunadi et al, 2020;Hoidn & Šťastný, 2021;Husain, 2020). Internship practice is an external factor that affects students' work readiness, where internships will be a place for students to try to enter the field according to their field (Setyadi et al, 2021).…”