Enhancing Employability of Graduates in Engineering

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a study on students' and employers' perceptions of the employability skills of new graduates in engineering. The main objectives of the research are: to explore the perception of Master's students concerning their own skills, knowledge and characteristics which help them to be employable; to explore the students' perception of the targeted job; to identify the employability skills followed by the employers in the recruitment process and in the next period, right after hiring; to assess whether there are differences in the perception regarding the motivating factors at the workplace, between employers and students. In order to explore issues pertinent to the research objectives, interviews with students, young graduates of technical degree programs provided by the University Politehnica of Bucharest, and employers were conducted. Students were asked to specify both subject-specific competences and the transversal competences owned. These data were complemented with the employers' views on graduates' employability. The focus was on exploring their opinions regarding the strengths and weaknesses of graduates/ probationers, during the interview/ or in the next period, right after hiring. The employers' opinion concerning the facilities offered to graduates and young employees revealed the nature of their partnership with the higher education institution, in order to promote employability. The research findings were used for identifying and choosing the best useful tools and developing specific materials that support the work of counseling to career planning for students in the target group.

Employability of Iranian Engineering graduates: Influential factors, consequences, and strategies

“…The results of the current study show that the employability of engineering graduates' is affected by a multitude of factors which can be classified into the three categories of personal skills, university internal plans, and university external factors. Most of the factors identified by the current study are in line with the results of other studies, for example, personal skills, attitudes and professional training (Nguyen, Yanagawa, & Miyazaki, 2005), soft skills and personal attitudes (Nillson, 2010), cultural backgrounds (Gribble, 2014), the collaboration of university and industry (Gabureanu & Serbanescu, 2017), necessities of the workplace (OECD, 2010), and employers' attitudes towards the engineering graduates' skills (Harun et al, 2017). One of the issues that have greatly affected the engineering graduates' employability is international sanctions.…”