Creating Sustainable and Competitive Employees through the Design of Innovative Higher Education Curriculum

Abstract

The employability of graduates is dependent on their possession of relevant attributes needed in their respective industries. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the gap between the important elements of Higher Education Institutions' graduates' attributes and their actual performance when employed by industry. The dimensions of attributes and the performance of these graduates are considered in four broad areas, namely knowledge, skills, abilities and personality. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire distributed to Human Resource Managers or supervisors of the graduates in 1000 top companies in Malaysia. The results show that the graduates' performance failed to meet managers' perceptions of the importance attributes that should be possessed by these graduates. Therefore, the Higher Education Institutions should take prompt action to review the current curriculum in order to meet industry demands and market needs. The design of higher education curriculum should be directed towards incorporating attributes that are expected of the graduates and relevant to the specific industry in order to produce employable graduates. This approach will allow for effective corrective actions and the improvement of the perceived problem areas found in all four dimensions.

Study of emotional skills in a sample of students and workers

“…Organizational leaders recognize the need to incorporate training in EI in universities to ensure that students and future professionals are ready for the workforce and subsequent promotion (Abraham, 2006;Jordan & Lawrence, 2009;Daud, Abidin, Sapuan & Rajadurai, 2010;Duygulu, Hicdurmaz & Akyar, 2011;Kidwell, Hardesty, Murtha & Sheng, 2011;Mo & RJ, 2007). For example, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (Adams, 2014) considers intrapersonal, interpersonal, and leadership as well as teamwork and collaboration as essential competencies that employers seek when hiring graduates.…”

The effect of employee silence dimensions on affective commitment (study on employees of kpp pratama purwokerto)

“…According to Morrison and Milliken (2000) as well as Hozouri, Yaghmaei, and Bordbar (2018), employees often feel that they are enforced to be silent in facing with concerns or difficulties. The reason maybe because they are expected to adapt to the work environment with less complaints since they were recruited through highly competitive job market and so expected to be highly skilled, able to cope with uncertainty, able to work under pressure, demonstrate self-confidence, management skills, and a willingness to learn (Raybould and Sheedy, 2005;Daud et al, 2010).…”