Competences for higher education graduates from three different perspectives: students, employers and academics

Abstract

The labour insertion of young university graduates is a crucial question within the European Space of Higher Education (ESHE). As a consequence, an increasing number of analyses centred on university students’ competences have been undertaken. These papers focus on the perception of the recently graduated students. The present work complements this approach with the perception of the rest of agents involved: employers and academicians. By means of a survey we have observed that the most valued competences are the capacity of analysis and synthesis, teamwork and learning ability. In spite of this, we have obtained significant differences in terms of the type of competence as well as among the different groups analysed.

Regarding the mismatch between the perception on the acquired competences level, and the required level to incorporate into the labour market, personal competencies as judged by professors and graduates accounted for the largest degree of discrepancy, whereas for employers professional or specific competencies were the ones with a higher gap between the required and the acquired levels. On the other hand, we obtained a consensus in the need to encourage the capacity of synthesis, organisation, teamwork as well as adaptation to new situations.

Additionally, we undertook a similar analysis for the most common teaching methodologies used in higher education, comparing the academicians’ vision with the students’ one. Problem solving was considered as being the most important method for both groups, in spite of the fact that its level of development in class was relatively low. Conversely final exams turned out to be, both for professors and graduates, the less valued method. These results show that the present teaching planning needs some revision, especially in the current context of degree reforms, where the continuous assessment is emphasized as one of its key points.