The benefits of providing contact with practitioners in round table forums: Undergraduate student perception of the experience

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe aim of this paper is to analyse university students' perceptions about the role of auditors presenting some 'hot topics' as a part of an extra-curricular activity at the university. In particular, we want to test (1) the perception undergraduate students have of those auditing real-life focused activities and (2) the factors that affect this perception in undergraduates. This paper evidences, through a survey with 388 students, the validity of professional experience activities in order to encourage undergraduates' employability in auditing and accounting firms from the beginning of their studies. Implications for stakeholders are also presented.

About Extra-Curricular Activities of The University Graduate – Student’s Viewpoint

“…But employability is a complex and vague concept, that goes from identifying personal and academic students skills to other educational outcomes as demographic data affecting graduate employment. [2] These kinds of skills are more likely to be developed in non-formal education in youth organisations. [3] In particular, the professional competence formation in a future specialist during practical training is interconnected with the educational projects system introduction, which includes: integration of personal, professional, financial, technical and educational resources; competent specialists innovative training in the specific environment; the scientific projects adaptation to the specifics of practical and innovative learning processes.…”

Understanding pedagogical essentials of employability embedded curricula for business school undergraduates: a multi-generational cohort perspective

“…The research was explained to students via email, and the purpose and the voluntary nature of the research, as well as anonymity issues, were made explicit on the first page of the survey instrument. The portion of the study instrument relevant for this study dealt with participant satisfaction under learning experience, which utilized a set of nine items on participants' perceptions adapted from Del Campo et al (2016). In addition, there were items on gender, programme time, student status, work experience, and age groups categorized into the generations.…”

“…The study adopted the use of single global formative items (Bergkvist & Rossiter, 2007;Ellwart & Konradt, 2011) adapted from the literature (Del Campo et al, 2016). Therefore, as with all single-item measures, no calculations of internal consistency could be computed.…”

“…Content validity in this research was achieved by making sure all the research objectives were reflected in the questionnaire (Babbie & Mouton., 2007). Construct validity and criterion validity were guided by the literature review informing the understanding of the adapted variables, which are included in the instrument and which were used to formulate single global statements from the literature (Del Campo et al, 2016) for each concrete construct (Onwuegbuzie et al, 2007;Rossiter, 2002). The literature (Bergkvist & Rossiter, 2007;Nagy, 2002) also shows that single-item scales can perform just as well as multi-item scales without the added cost of respondent fatigue and response bias.…”

“…The descriptive characteristics of the quantitative variables were assessed since these variables were adapted from the literature (Del Campo et al, 2016); they are formative variables measured on a scale of 1 to 7. The variable Satisfaction with Course Content had a mean of 5.63 (1.34) and a median of 6.00; Personal Opinion about the Course had a mean of 6.07 (1.08) and a median of 6.00; Usefulness of the Course to Study (Utility) had a mean of 5.91(1.11) and a median of 6.00; Difficulty of the Course Content (Difficulty) had a mean of 4.24 (1.31) and a median of 4.00; and Rating of Total Satisfaction (Overall Satisfaction) a mean of 5.61(1.21) and a median of 6.00.…”