The employability skills of business graduates in Syria

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the desired employability skills of business graduates in Syria from the perspective of both higher education policymakers and employers in the private sector. Design/methodology/approach Interviews were conducted with 12 higher education policymakers and managers from the business sector. Content analysis was utilized to analyse the content of the interviews and the strategic priorities of the higher education sector in Syria. Findings Results revealed that although higher education policymakers focus more on societal, public and thinking skills for business graduates, the business sector focusses more on individual, private and practical skills. Accordingly, a comparative tool that aligns the two perspectives was developed in the study. The tool, based on the contradicting employability skills, identified four types of business graduates: leader, collective, technical and trainee. Research limitations/implications The study is limited by data collected before the current political instability in Syria in 2012. The data were collected only from official documents and interviews with policymakers and employers. Students were not part of the study. Practical implications The managerial tool developed at the end of the study will help both policymakers and the private sector to statistically allocate business graduates for better planning. The study provides recommendations to the different stakeholders in the higher education sector in Syria. Originality/value Although the majority of the previous literature raises the voices of the business sector, this study is one of the first studies that aligns the discrepant perspectives of the higher education and business sectors. The managerial tool developed in the study is original and usable by policymakers and the business sector, and it is subject to further development.

Addressing employability challenges of business graduates in Bangladesh: Evidence from an emerging economy perspective

“…First, the findings suggest that students should be provided with a deeper understanding of skill requirements to proactively complement their academic qualifications, which would resemble a skills development process. Moreover, the findings imply that universities should steadily and consistently teach appropriate skills in cooperation with employers by opening career and job centres to facilitate placement for graduating students (Ayoubi et al., 2017). Besides, universities must improve course curricula regularly by incorporating graduate employability skills and labour market dynamics in collaboration with industries, managers, and faculties to improve outcomes (Pheko & Molefhe, 2016).…”

“…University graduate employability is an important challenge for many countries, including developing countries like Bangladesh (Asonitou, 2015). To address these challenges, it is essential to identify critical graduate skills and the challenges faced by graduates (Abbasi et al., 2018; Ayoubi et al., 2017). However, there is a widespread gap between the skills of graduates and those demanded by employers, which raises concerns about students’ capacity to smoothly transition to the workforce (World Economic Forum, 2014).…”

“…Recent studies have investigated employability skills based on the opinions of employers (Institute for Employment Studies, 2015), accounting graduates (Jackling & Natoli, 2015), business graduates (Abbasi et al., 2018; Ayoubi et al., 2017), students (Sin et al., 2016), government, employers, and industry (Verma et al., 2018). Some studies have examined employability challenges in Botswana (Pheko & Molefhe, 2016), in Malaysia (Mohd Salleh et al., 2019), and in Indonesia (Priyono & Nankervis, 2018).…”

Employability and skill gap among MBA graduates in India: a literature review

“…Several studies suggest that enhancing the employability skills of recent MBA graduates will help to bridge the skill gap that exists in the industry and academia (Hughes et al, 2011;Taylor and Hooley, 2014;Abrahamson et al, 2016;Agarwal et al, 2019). Some researchers have identified essential skills required by the industry for MBA graduates (Benson et al, 2014;Ayoubi et al, 2017). Several studies have also examined the cause of the skill gap in MBA education programmes of B-schools in India (Pandiyan, 2011;Bansal and Agarwal, 2019;Bhatia and Panneer, 2019).…”

An exploration of global employability skills: a systematic research review

“…The reason for these required skills is that employees in these countries generally stay in their job for a long period because job security is regarded as very important, whereas employers from developed economies expect their employees to have a global mindset, accept diversity, work with people from various backgrounds (Andrews and Higson, 2008;Mitchell et al, 2010;Zaharim et al, 2009) and be socially responsible (Jackson, 2013a;Robles, 2012), because global mobility among workers is observed more in developed than in emerging economies. Ayoubi et al (2017) studied the views of business executives on employability skills requirements in Syria and concluded that employers in Syria are less likely to regard social skills as important in comparison with employers from developed countries like Australia and the UK.…”