Employer and academic staff perceptions of science and engineering graduate competencies

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on the findings from a study investigating science and engineering employers and university academic teaching staff perceptions of the competencies science and engineering recent graduates require in the workplace. Data were collected through surveys and focus group interviews of science and engineering employers and academic teaching staff. Participants rated 26 graduate competencies on how important they are for graduates entering the science and engineering workplace across three aspects: important today, important in 10 years’ time, and, the perceived competency performance level of recent graduates that have entered the workplace. The findings revealed that employers thought teamwork, written communication, problem solving, oral communication, and interpersonal relationships were particularly important for today while academic teaching staff, however, viewed problem solving, written communication, critical thinking, conceptual thinking, and oral communication to be important today. The findings offer insights into the extent current preparation of science and engineering students are meeting employer expectations and highlight shifts in perceived future competencies to enhance support for student learning and employability outcomes. Implications are offered for strengthening curriculum, pedagogy and assessment approaches for workplace preparation. Finally, we discuss the limitations of the present study and how future research might resolve those limitations.

KEYWORDS:

• Science and engineering graduate competencies
• employer perceptions
• academic staff perceptions
• graduate performance
• employability
• mixed-methods

Acknowledgments

The project team gratefully acknowledge funding support from the University of Waikato through the 2017 Strategic Investment Fund. We also acknowledge Professor Bronwen Cowie and Dr Mira Peter for their advice and guidance in contributing to this project. Components of the preliminary findings from this research have been presented at conferences (see Khoo, Zegwaard, and Adam 2018; Zegwaard, Khoo, and Adam 2018; Zegwaard et al. 2018).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Waikato [2017 Strategic Investment Fund - F741].

Notes on contributors

E. Khoo

Elaine is a senior educational researcher at the Wilf Malcom Institute of Educational Research, University of Waikato, New Zealand with research interests in digitally-supported learning environments across a range of educational levels with a particular interest in participatory learning cultures and collaborative teacher-researcher partnerships. She is also a member of the Waikato Engineering Education Research Unit (WEERU) and is actively involved in cross-disciplinary engineering education research collaborations. More details can be obtained from: https://www.waikato.ac.nz/staff-profiles/people/ekhoo.

K Zegwaard

Karsten is Director of Work-Integrated Learning Research at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Karsten is Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, co-editor of the International Handbook on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, vice-president of Work-Integrated Learning NZ (WILNZ), member of the UniversitiesNZ WIL Working Group, board member of the World Association of Cooperative Education (WACE), and Vice-Chair (Oceania) of the WACE International Research Committee. In 2013, Karsten was the recipient of the CEIA Ralph W. Tyler Award for Outstanding and Distinguished Research, in 2015 the recipient of the WACE Donald McLaren Academic Award for Professional Achievement in Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, in 2019 the recipient of the James W. Wilson Award for Outstanding Contribution to Research in the Field of Cooperative Education and Internships, and in 2020 the Fellow of Work-Integrated Learning New Zealand award.

A Adam

Aminath Shafiya Adam works as an assistant professor at The Maldives National University, Maldives. Her current role involves teacher education, supervising postgraduate students and managing research projects. She also works collaboratively in some global projects in Knowledge and innovation, Exchange programmes, UNDP, Maldives, and other ESPIG projects for the Maldives. She is also an experienced researcher with a strong desire to establish a research culture in the Maldives. Some of her current research work involves the scholarship of teaching and learning, graduate competencies, ICT integration in teaching, and continuous professional development in schools.