No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Graduate skills and employability discussions have continued to be a contentious issue for both international and local employers. The concerns of industry employers stem from their inability to acquire graduates with the requisite skills and competencies to effectively solve arising industry problems. This concern has led employers to cast blames on higher education institutions (HEIs), who they feel are responsible for the development of these skills which employers continuously seek from fresh graduates. Subsequently, present-day employers have sought innovative ways to train and re-train new employees to help ease their transition into the world of work. This paper identifies the various approaches and ways by which industry employers develop the required skills of graduates. An extant review of literature was conducted from databases such as Academic Search Complete, ASCE conference proceedings, EBSCOhost, Emerald, ERIC, Science Direct, Scopus, Springer, Taylor and Francis online, amongst others. One of the primary findings stemming from this study revealed that in-house training, job rotation, coaching and mentoring, and cross-functional teams are some of the key approaches by which industry employers can develop skills and competencies among fresh graduates. This study concludes that HEIs are not solely responsible for the development of employability skills among graduates, but reckons that both the employers of labour and graduates themselves have a crucial role to play in the construction education discourse.

More than ever, the Nigerian construction industry requires construction professionals who are responsive to economic, technical, social and environmental change and can fit into the world of work. Apart from possessing the requisite non-academic skills, construction graduates need to be abreast with the dynamics of the construction industry to contribute meaningfully to its activities. Thus, the roles of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have become more critical in skill creation and impartation as students of today are to be adequately prepared to take up industry responsibilities in various roles. In building a knowledge-based society, the level of construction pedagogy in HEIs is key in the economic development of any nation. This paper identifies the various roles HEIs play in improving the level of construction pedagogy delivered to future construction professionals. An extant review of literatures was conducted from databases such as Springer, Scopus, ASC conference proceedings amongst others. Findings from this study revealed that that government alone cannot provide the resources needed to provide qualitative higher education, and advocates for other sources of dealing with these challenges. Hence, the findings of this paper provide a basis for HEIs in Nigeria to get involved in improved teaching, training and research as these actions are key in contributing to the success of the construction industry as well as transforming Nigeria into a knowledge-based society.