Perceptions of desirable graduate workplace skills for commerce students

Abstract

Background and Aim: South Africa is currently experiencing serious challenges relating to youth and graduate unemployment. Some of the reasons cited for t his problem are the inability of Higher Education to produce graduates that meet employer needs. As a result there is a great need for higher education institutions (HEIs) to develop approaches to address the issue of graduate employability skills. The main aim of this study is to investigate the perceptions of desirable graduate workplace skills for commerce graduates. Method: A cross-sectional research design was followed with data collected by means of surveys. The survey drew responses regarding the topic from a broad cross-section of respondents at one point in time, making the approach practical and reasonable for pursuing the exploratory and descriptive aims of the study. A sample of 244 final year students, 94 postgraduates and 21 academics participated in this study. Results: The research findings indicated that graduate employability is significantly dependent on the soft and technical skills required in the workplace and that the university does provide some of the skills as part of its commerce programmes. The following specific results were obtained: • The results showed that in general all three groups of respondents perceived that the higher education institutions equipped them to a large extent with the soft skills needed in the workplace. The findings indicated that the skills which final year students perceive to be the most important are not as the same at the one rated most important by academics and postgraduates. • The findings reflected a significant gap between current soft skills training and the desirable soft skills • Based on the study findings, the three stakeholders mentioned one common technical skill (computer literacy) which they gained throughout their studies • Generally, results showed that undergraduates, postgraduates and academics perceive that students have gained some technical skills during their studies which will prepare them to a large extend for employability • The respondent's results from chapter 5 indicated that there is a great need for HEis to provide technical skills training relevant to one's career that will help graduates to be prepared for the workplace • Based on the study find ings from chapter 5, the results showed a high need for WIL programme to be part of the undergraduate student's curriculum Practice Relevance: Studies in the related field of graduate employability skills have been previously conducted by different researchers globally. Despite the previous studies, the topic "perceptions of desirable graduate workplace skills for commerce graduates" have not been researched before. The study attempts to identify if Higher Education Institutions provide graduates with the necessary soft and technical skills required to enhance their employability. This study contributes to the literature where the benefits of conducting it can be experienced by students, HEis, employers and the country in general through determining what skills are required for being employable.