Review of literature on Graduate Employability

Abstract

There is increasing pressure from governments, funding organizations, students and parents on universities around the world since graduate employability has been clearly recognized as one of the main objectives of university education. Accreditation bodies also appear to measure quality of education through the contributions made towards employability. In such a context one would assume that employability of university graduates to be clearly understood and extensively researched area. However, the real situation appears to be one which requires the urgent attention of all stakeholders of university education. A review of literature on graduate employability is a clear need today and current paper achieves this by summarizing the major articles on university graduate employability theoretical frameworks and empirical studies. Despite the large number of studies, graduate employability appears to be suffering from the problems of lack of theoretical control and politicization which appear to have become major obstacles for future developments of the concept.

Assessing Communication Apprehension And Implication For Employability Among Mass Communication Students

“…"It is the ability of individuals to find and remain employed" (Sumanasiri, Yajid & Khatibi, 2015).employability skills development is suppose to be not only the responsibility of individual graduates, but including the tertiary institutions and employers. However, individual graduates perception, time investment in developing employability is very crucial (Nilsson, 2010).…”

Investigating Undergraduates’ Perceptions on Employability Skills in the UAE: an Analytic hierarchy Process Model in Engineering and Business Students

“…Thus, it should be measured separately to ensure potential employees would be able to deal with real-world issues. A recent study by [12] suggested engineering college should give more emphasized on interpersonal skills and communication as a value-added to the engineering undergraduates" competencies set. These competencies set has gained demands in the loosely-coupled and egalitarian structure matrix of organizations because interpersonal skills and communication are perceived as the competitive value that has significant investment value towards business sustainability…”

“…Different studies indicated that engineering undergraduates should focus on hard skills and engineering related skills set. Unlike business-related students, engineering sector requires more technical knowledge, skills and abilities [12]. The study conducted on engineering undergraduates has proven differently.…”

“…The awareness between the expectation of employers and perception of students offers a platform for skills development opportunities at the university level to meet the expectation of the current job market. It is proven that the need to display the capacity to work in groups, demonstrate leadership, commitment, and initiation, supported by perceived verbal expression, presentation skills, listening and keen on instructions to be paramount competencies desired by employers [12].…”

Which skills, competencies and attitudes are employers looking for in recruitment process in Latvia?

“…The model explains the way in which five factors, namely, career development learning, experience, degree subject knowledge understanding, and skills, generic skills, and emotional intelligence can lead towards employability through a complex interaction with social concepts such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-confidence. CareerEDGE model signifies an attempt to operationalize the concept of employability, unlike most previous studies which were either qualitative or case-study based which limited the application of findings (Sumanasiri, Yajid, & Khatibi, 2015). The operationalization of the CareerEDGE model was performed by Pool, Qualter and Sewell in 2014 by exploring the factor structure of the model's employability development profile with the help of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.…”