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1 – 10 of over 4000Moustafa Haj Youssef, Tarek El Masri, Ioannis Christodoulou and Lan Mai Thanh
This viewpoint aims to provide an overview of graduate employability in Lebanon from the perspective of the Dean of Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut…
Abstract
Purpose
This viewpoint aims to provide an overview of graduate employability in Lebanon from the perspective of the Dean of Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut, who is a reputable academic leader heading a world-ranked business school. The discussion also looks at the external factors that affect graduate employability in Lebanon with direct references to the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
Through conversation with the Dean of a prominent business school in Lebanon, this viewpoint discusses several topics pertaining to the concept of graduate employability.
Findings
To boost graduate employability the focus should be on developing the curriculum, engaging with the alumni network, exploiting the board of governors and building on the school’s reputation and legacy.
Originality/value
Crises do offer new opportunities. Covid-19 pandemic has prepared employers to accept the idea of remote working, which has helped in boosting graduate employability in Lebanon.
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Peter English, Margarietha Johanna de Villiers Scheepers, David Fleischman, Jacqueline Burgess and Gail Crimmins
Responding to increasing external pressure, universities are developing new strategies to illustrate the impact of their degrees on graduate employability. This paper investigates…
Abstract
Purpose
Responding to increasing external pressure, universities are developing new strategies to illustrate the impact of their degrees on graduate employability. This paper investigates how alumni regard the development of their professional networks during their tertiary education in relation to employability and the associated pedagogical implications.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with 18 business and arts alumni from a regional university.
Findings
The findings reveal the importance of developing a professional network by cultivating social capital while at university. Alumni identify all forms of work-integrated learning (WIL), connectedness through social media, the role of university staff and volunteering as concrete ways to develop a professional network and enhance employability.
Research limitations/implications
This paper has pedagogical implications to develop graduate employability and WIL. Universities should draw from alumni networks to help develop students' bridging capital through industry-facing WIL projects. Educators should design assessment tasks in which students develop contacts and networking capabilities with alumni and other professionals using various platforms (e.g. social media). In addition, educators should promote the benefits of voluntary work and invite alumni and other industry stakeholders to co-design and co-teach areas of curriculum.
Originality/value
Drawing from the experiences of alumni re-routes the channel of communication from institutions expressing the importance of professional networks in relation to employability, to credible industry alumni confirming this importance. Few previous studies have taken this “outside-in approach” to emphasise and validate the importance of developing professional networks in relation to employability, particularly at regional universities.
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Md Sajjad Hosain, Mohitul Ameen Ahmed Mustafi and Tania Parvin
This paper aims to identify the factors that can affect the overall graduate employability (OGE) of the private university graduates of Bangladesh. The authors carefully selected…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to identify the factors that can affect the overall graduate employability (OGE) of the private university graduates of Bangladesh. The authors carefully selected six such employable factors after searching the existing literature. Those six factors: academic performance (AP), technical skills (TS), communication skills (CS), personality (PE), leadership & motivational skills (LMS); and teamwork and problem solving skills (TPSS), had been considered as the independent variables while OGE had been considered as the single dependent variable.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected the primary data from a valid sample of 360 employers through a structured questionnaire working as the hiring managers. Those respondents were selected on a random basis. The authors used exploratory factor analysis to validate the items under those independent variables and structural equation modeling with AMOS (24) to test the hypothesized relationship between each independent variable and the dependent one.
Findings
After proper statistical analysis, the results revealed that AP, PE, CS and TPSS can positively and significantly influence the OGE of Bangladeshi graduates while LMS and TS have positive but insignificant influence over OGE.
Research limitations/implications
Based on the findings, this paper can help scholars in further investigating the employability factors.
Practical implications
This explorative study will guide the fresh graduates in developing their required employability skills while assisting the employers in recruiting suitable candidates with the required skills and performance.
Originality/value
This is one of the few attempts that focused on the employability factors of private university graduates in Bangladesh. The authors are well confident that this empirical paper can shed some light on the fresh graduates’ employability and conducting further investigations on it.
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Esther Asiedu, Ebenezer Malcalm, Afia Nyarko Boakye and Cornelius Kwarkoh Kwarkoh Amoah
The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of the reflective practice of business students on how it helps to develop their employability skills through various…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of the reflective practice of business students on how it helps to develop their employability skills through various university strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed a simple random sample to select undergraduate level 400 students from the Universities under study (the University of Ghana, University of Professional Studies Ghana, Lancaster University Ghana and Webster University Ghana). Only final-year students with an informed judgement on the reflective practice and various institutional practices to acquire graduate employability skills were participated. The independent variables of the study are institutional strategies (curriculum design, extra curriculum, work-integrated learning, career development centre, university collaboration with the industry, student engagement, internship job placement), the moderator is the reflective practice and the dependent variable of the study is graduate employability.
Findings
The study found that the moderation role of reflective practice had a significant effect on institutional strategies (extracurriculum, career development centre, university collaboration with the industry, student engagement and internship job placement) and graduate employability.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to only undergraduate business students from four universities ignoring other disciplines and postgraduate students.
Practical implications
The practical implication is that reflective practice must be an integral tool for various universities if they want students to use their strategies to sharpen their employability skills.
Social implications
The social implications of the study emphasise the reflective practice of graduate students in universities. This implies that firms and other institutions must consider reflective practice for the maximum output of their employees.
Originality/value
The concept of employability is a bit complex as it concerns many stakeholders of the educational process; the students, academic staff, employers, policymakers and higher education; the private sector; and the government. Although examining students' employability development skills is of great importance, students' reflective practice tends to be overlooked in most studies. Therefore, the focus of this study examines how the reflective practice of graduate students promotes employability through the various university strategies, which had not been considered.
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Shikha Agnihotri, Atul Shiva and Farha Naz Khan
The study aims to assess the relationship between cultural capital, human capital, psychological capital, social capital and perceived employability of management graduates.
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to assess the relationship between cultural capital, human capital, psychological capital, social capital and perceived employability of management graduates.
Design/methodology/approach
The data was analysed through variance based partial least square (PLS) structural equation modelling on 505 management students by an online questionnaire. The predictive relevance of perceived employability was investigated with PLS predict approach. Further, importance-performance map analysis (IPMA) was applied to assess important and performing dimensions of perceived employability.
Findings
The results indicate that social capital was found to be the strongest predictor of graduates' perceived employability. The proposed conceptual model was found to have a moderate to high predictive relevance. IPMA results suggested that investment in psychological capital leads to higher return in perceived employability of management graduates.
Research limitations/implications
Data was collected using purposive sampling and confined to university students only.
Practical implications
Findings of the study provide empirical inferences in support of human capital, social capital and social cognitive theory. Practical implications offer important inputs to policy makers, higher educational institutes, career counsellors and universities.
Originality/value
This study provides novel inputs by a comprehensive model of graduate capital to determine and predict perceived employability of graduates in emerging economy like India.
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The purpose of this paper is to report further on research funded by the Centre for Education in the Built Environment (CEBE) into real estate programmes of study in UK…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report further on research funded by the Centre for Education in the Built Environment (CEBE) into real estate programmes of study in UK universities (Poon and Hoxley). The aim of this paper is to identify human resource managers’ view on the employability skills of real estate graduates. It also compares the views on the employability skills of real estate graduates between human resource managers, a large sample of real estate employers and real estate course directors.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents the research findings of eight interviews with human resource managers who work in different types of surveying firms. The approach for collecting their view of the employability skills required by real estate graduates was through gathering their opinions on three charts. These charts compare what employers feel graduates require and what they feel graduates demonstrate in 31 knowledge areas, 20 skills and 21 attributes, alongside a list of additional competencies made by graduates and employers which was developed as part of an earlier study.
Findings
The human resource managers identified the key employability skills for real estate graduates as soft skills, in particular report writing skills, communication skills, presentation skills, client care and professional standards. The human resource managers of real estate consultancy firms also voiced their concern regarding graduates’ lack of commercial awareness, which echoed the same view from real estate employers and real estate course directors mentioned in the previous research (Poon, Hoxley and Fuchs). Therefore, it is necessary for universities to embed these soft skills, such as commercial awareness in the curriculum in order to enhance the employability of graduates.
Originality/value
This paper makes an original contribution to existing literature on the identification and discussion of employability skills for real estate graduates. It describes pioneering research focusing on the human resource managers’ perspective of the real estate graduate employability skills.
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David J. Finch, Leah K. Hamilton, Riley Baldwin and Mark Zehner
The current study was conducted to increase our understanding of factors that influence the employability of university graduates. Through the use of both qualitative and…
Abstract
Purpose
The current study was conducted to increase our understanding of factors that influence the employability of university graduates. Through the use of both qualitative and quantitative approaches, the paper explores the relative importance of 17 factors that influence new graduate employability.
Design/methodology/approach
An extensive review of the existing literature was used to identify 17 factors that affect new graduate employability. A two‐phase, mixed‐methods study was conducted to examine: Phase One, whether these 17 factors could be combined into five categories; and Phase Two, the relative importance that employers place on these factors. Phase One involved interviewing 30 employers, and Phase Two consisted of an empirical examination with an additional 115 employers.
Findings
Results from both the qualitative and quantitative phases of the current study demonstrated that 17 employability factors can be clustered into five higher‐order composite categories. In addition, findings illustrate that, when hiring new graduates, employers place the highest importance on soft‐skills and the lowest importance on academic reputation.
Research limitations/implications
The sectors in which employers operated were not completely representative of their geographical region.
Practical implications
The findings suggest that, in order to increase new graduates’ employability, university programmes and courses should focus on learning outcomes linked to the development of soft‐skills. In addition, when applying for jobs, university graduates should highlight their soft‐skills and problem‐solving skills.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the body of knowledge on the employability of university graduates by empirically examining the relative importance of five categories of employability factors that recruiters evaluate when selecting new graduates.
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Md Moazzem Hossain, Manzurul Alam, Mohammed Alamgir and Amirus Salat
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between skills and employability of business graduates. The study also examines the moderating effect of ‘social mobility…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between skills and employability of business graduates. The study also examines the moderating effect of ‘social mobility factors’ in the ‘skills–employability’ relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative positivist approach was undertaken to test the hypotheses. Business graduates from two universities in a developing country responded to a questionnaire about their perceptions of different sets of employability factors. Partial least squares (PLS)-based structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to examine the relationships between skills and employability of business graduates.
Findings
The findings show that both soft skills and technical skills are positively related to employability, which is consistent with prior studies. The findings also indicate that social mobility factors play a significant role in employability.
Research limitations/implications
The study is based on data from two public universities, and its findings need to be interpreted with care as universities differ in their size, area of concentration and ownership structure.
Practical implications
The findings advance the evidence of graduate employability of business students. Based on these results, university authorities, policymakers, teachers and business graduates will benefit from the findings related to students preparedness for the competitive global job market.
Originality/value
The study's findings contribute to business graduates' skill set development in the developing countries that share a similar education system, culture and values.
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Rakesh Belwal, Pushpendra Priyadarshi and Mariam Humaid Al Fazari
Supply and demand characteristics, influenced by the pre- and post-oil economy of Oman, have caused unemployment challenges to Omani graduates. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
Supply and demand characteristics, influenced by the pre- and post-oil economy of Oman, have caused unemployment challenges to Omani graduates. The purpose of this paper is to explore the most common graduate attributes as they apply to graduates’ employability in Oman.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses the principles of “hypotheticodeductive logic” and inferential analysis using a combination of focus group and survey approach. Using an online mode of data collection targeting the past three cohorts of graduates from a prominent University in Oman, the study analyses and presents several insights into graduate attributes and employability issues.
Findings
The research finds that the domain of educational institutions in Oman is mainly restricted to the basic generic skills in developing the graduate attributes. Students’ perspectives on employers’ selection criteria reveal that computing skills, the ability to work in teams, English language proficiency, prior training, and the graduate’s personality are the five most significant employability skills in Oman. Currently, there is little interaction among higher educational institutions, alumni, and industry in Oman for boosting the employability of graduates.
Practical implications
The study is highly relevant from the policy perspective in Oman. All the stakeholders in Oman need to come together to define employability skills prudently by expanding the domain beyond generic skills.
Originality/value
The study is important in the context of Oman due to a shortage of studies that look at the graduate attributes from the lens of employability besides addressing concerns about unemployment.
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Rachel Maxwell and Alejandro Armellini
The purpose of this paper is to introduce an evidence-based, transferable framework of graduate attributes and associated university toolkit to support the writing of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce an evidence-based, transferable framework of graduate attributes and associated university toolkit to support the writing of level-appropriate learning outcomes that enable the university to achieve its mission to Transform Lives + Inspire Change.
Design/methodology/approach
An iterative process of co-design and co-development was employed to produce both the framework and the associated learning outcomes toolkit.
Findings
There is tangible benefit in adopting an integrated framework that enables students to develop personal literacy and graduate identity. The toolkit enables staff to write assessable learning outcomes that support student progression and enable achievement of the framework objective.
Research limitations/implications
While the framework has been in use for two years, institutional use of the toolkit is still in its early stages. Phase 2 of the project will explore how effectively the toolkit achieves the framework objective.
Practical implications
The introduction of a consistent, integrated framework enables students to develop and actively increase personal literacy through the deliberate construction of their unique graduate identity.
Social implications
Embedding the institutional Changemaker attributes alongside the agreed employability skills enables students to develop and articulate specifically what it means to be a “Northampton graduate”.
Originality/value
The uniqueness of this project is the student-centred framework and the combination of curricular, extra- and co-curricular initiatives that provide a consistent language around employability across disciplines. This is achieved through use of the learning outcomes toolkit to scaffold student progression.
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