Skills for the Future: Stakeholders’ Satisfaction on Trainee Undergraduates

Abstract

Graduate unemployment is considered as an important social problem within the country. The current changing business environment emphasized the importance of education for employability, focusing on the development of key skills and work experience. Development of undergraduates from theoretical background to the practice is a contemporary need, because the practice will enhance the employability of graduates. The participation of the undergraduates in the training process and obtaining the feedback from the stakeholders are more important for understanding the trainee undergraduates’ future skills development areas. This study was conducted with the objectives of identifying stakeholders’ satisfaction on competencies and identified skills of their trainee undergraduates. The Data for the study were gathered from a selected sample of employers from different organizations through a survey using a structured questionnaire. A questionnaire was administered to obtain information on employer satisfaction with their newly-trained undergraduate’s skills identified from the literature review. Findings reveal that the employers were highly satisfied with the punctuality, responsibility, commitment and attitudes towards work of their undergraduate trainees. Also they were fairly satisfied with oral, written communication skills and decision making abilities. However, they have emphasized the number of areas needing improvement, such as writing skills, ability to use of e-mail and internet facilities, decision making and analytical skills. This study concludes that undergraduates should clearly identify and improve their skills to enhance their employability to compete with the changing environment and to fulfil the future market needs. Also universities should identify skill sets that will best serve the future labour market and align programs to meet those needs.