The Employability Skills of Engineering Students': Assessment at the University

Abstract

Employability can be an alternative solution to increase individual chances of getting a job. The study aims to identify indicators that can measure students' employability skills and attributes. The research model, based on The Conference Board of Canada (Employability Skills 2000+), is divided into fundamental skills, personal management skills, and cooperative skills. The method used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with primary data obtained from surveys of students through a questionnaire will be analyzed using the AMOS program. These samples included 528 respondents who had done the work practices of the industry. The research respondents were students of the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Makassar, divided into several majors. The results of the study identified that the low value of communication indicators in the variable of fundamental skills compared to other indicators was due to the lack of foreign language communication activities in the learning process. Communication is a vital aspect possessed by students, especially in global level competition. The study results were used to measure educational institutions to develop and improve low work skills indicators so that new graduates will better be prepared for work.

Literature Review on the Factors Affecting Employability of Engineering Graduates

“…Researchers have identified that problem-solving skills are core to employability (Reid & Anderson, 2012;Yusoff et al, 2012;Asonitou, 2015;Ito & Kawazoe, 2015;Azmi et al, 2018;de Villiers Scheepers et al, 2018;Scott et al, 2019;de Campos et al, 2020;Fajaryati et al, 2020;Liew et al, 2020;Saleh & Lamsali, 2020;Zapalska et al, 2020;Idkhan et al, 2021). Similar to soft-skills, problem-solving skills are important across disciplines (e.g., engineering, marketing) and employer type (Wellman, 2010).…”

“…In summary, the literature review indicates that researchers have identified problem solving skills as an important factor influencing EM (Reid & Anderson, 2012;Yusoff et al, 2012;Asonitou, 2015;Ito & Kawazoe, 2015;Azmi et al, 2018;de Villiers Scheepers et al, 2018;Scott et al, 2019;de Campos et al, 2020;Fajaryati et al, 2020;Liew et al, 2020;Saleh & Lamsali, 2020;Zapalska et al, 2020;Idkhan et al, 2021).…”

“…In summary, the literature review indicates that researchers have identified functional (knowledge) skills as an important factor influencing EM (Laker & Powell, 2011;Low et al, 2016;Gowsalya & Kumar, 2017;Fajaryati et al, 2020;Idkhan et al, 2021;Uddin, 2021).…”

“…As an overall summary, the literature review indicates that researchers have identified soft skills (Finch et al, 2012;Lievens & Sackett, 2012;Nickson et al, 2012;Yusoff et al, 2012;de Villiers Scheepers et al, 2018;Teng et al, 2019;de Campos et al, 2020;Hirudayaraj et al, 2021;Sarker et al, 2021), problem solving skills (Reid & Anderson, 2012;Yusoff et al, 2012;Asonitou, 2015;Ito & Kawazoe, 2015;Azmi et al, 2018;;de Villiers Scheepers et al, 2018;Scott et al, 2019;de Campos et al, 2020;Fajaryati et al, 2020;Liew et al, 2020;Saleh & Lamsali, 2020;Zapalska et al, 2020;Idkhan et al, 2021), functional (knowledge) skills (Laker & Powell, 2011;Gowsalya & Kumar, 2017;Fajaryati et al, 2020;Idkhan et al, 2021;Uddin, 2021) and academic reputation (Mihut, 2015;Maclean, 2017;Strauss, 2017;Bano & Vasantha, 2019;Nogales et al, 2020;Shanmugam & Bano, 2020;Aviso et al, 2021) as factors influencing EM.…”

Information Technology Literacy Impact on Research Results Publication

“…A lecturer must also understand limitations and needs, such as learning how to use data and how to organize and communicate their data. It involves critical thinking processes, personal and professional ethical awareness, evaluating information, conceptualizing information needs, collecting data, interacting with professionals [15], and using existing knowledge to solve decision-making and research. This information-based process is also essential in shaping learning character that needs to be supported by an information technology infrastructure.…”