Which aspects of engineering degrees do graduates most value in their working lives ?

The creation and revision of degree programmes aims to build degrees with the correct blend of technical skills and competencies to ensure graduates are equipped to enter industry. While there may be data on first destinations of graduates there is often little follow up on how useful they felt their degree was in equipping them with the skills needed in industry. This study looks at the views of 32 graduates who graduated from a mechanical engineering programme over the last decade. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods it asks them to explore the impact of common degree features including project based learning, engineering science, dissertations and internships on their subsequent working lives. The study shows that while core knowledge and skills are still valued, authentic learning enabled by project based learning and internships are often at the heart of working graduates’ daily lives

A Framework to Enhance the International Competitive Advantage of Information Technology Graduates

The main objective of any educational institution is to provide its students with the best educational knowledge and experience so, they can be employed to meet the labor market demands. Due to the rapidly changing technology industry and the expanding need for information technology (IT) professionals. The mismatch between IT graduates and the needs of the labor market leads to their inability to employ and job misplacement. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the most significant factors affecting IT graduates\u27 employability and their ability to compete in the local, regional, and international labor markets through a detailed literature review and by conducting two surveys, one for IT graduates and the other for IT employers. Then, data were collected and analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 28.0 to build our proposed framework which will integrate all factors and parties involved to enhance graduates’ employability to match the labor market demands. The proposed model will assist all parties in improving their plans for producing graduates who are skilled, knowledgeable, and meet the labor market demands

Confidence in education : Young Finns’ perceptions of the link between education and employability : development over time 1999-2013

This thesis looks at the development of young Finns’ confidence in education between 1999 and 2013. The purpose of the thesis is to explore how economic turbulence in the form of booms and busts affects young people’s perceptions of the link between education and employability. The starting point of this research is the rapid expansion of education in Finland and its effects on the labour market. The average educational level of Finns has increased dramatically in a short period of time. Educational expansion has not only resulted in a better educated population, but has also had its effects on unemployment levels of the highly educated, as well as the number of individuals who are over-educated for their jobs. When the supply of educated labour has come to exceed the demand for it, education no longer guarantees a job, but is increasingly necessary to better position oneself on the labour market. Previous research in the field has largely focused on the link between educational credentials and employability, as well as youth transitions from education to the labour market. Such transitions from education to employment are often aided by work experience acquired during one’s studies. Furthermore, while education alone may no longer be enough for a smooth transition, those young people with higher levels of education are still better off than their less educated counterparts. This thesis will focus more on young people’s own perceptions of the relationship between education and employability rather than observing their school to work transitions. While youth expectations of the labour market are increasingly researched, this thesis offers a new perspective by introducing the concept of ’confidence in education’. Young people’s confidence in education is still very much under researched in the sociology of education as well as sociology of work. The data utilised in this study is a collection of Finnish Youth Barometers from 1999 (N=1251), 2007 (N=1903), and 2013 (N=1903). The Finnish Youth Barometer is an annual survey that collects data on young people’s attitudes and values. This research will utilise two survey questions regarding young people’s confidence in education. The aim of this thesis is to see if there are differences in how young people have responded to these questions in 1999, 2007, and 2013. In addition to the development of young people’s confidence in education over time, this thesis will also look at how one’s confidence level in education may depend on their age or primary activity. The methods include descriptive statistics for the chosen variables as well as the Kruskal-Wallis test, which is used to analyse between group differences. Results show that young Finns’ confidence in education follows the development of the Finnish economy. While confidence in education has remained at a high level between 1999 and 2013, there seem to be clear differences in the level of confidence when comparing times reflecting economic busts (1999 and 2013) with a time of economic prosperity (2007). Furthermore, there are also observable differences between young people in education and those who are in employment. Confidence in education is higher among young people who are still in education when compared to those in employment. This is reinforced by the result that confidence in education is higher among the younger age groups than the older ones; the younger age groups are more likely to still be in education, while the individuals in the older age groups are more likely to have already acquired some work experience. These results show that confidence in education is linked to developments in the economy: young Finns had higher confidence in education during the economic busts of the 1990s and the most recent economic and financial crisis that started in 2008. The fact that confidence in education is higher in times of economic turmoil signals that the value of education has not decreased as the average educational level has increased. In fact, education seems to maintain its value, especially during bad times. Educational credentials give an individual a competitive advantage in an overcrowded labour market where supply of labour exceeds demand. In addition, the fact that confidence levels are lower among those young people who are either already in employment, or have more likely already had work experience, signals that experienced realities of the labour market may not match with previous beliefs that education better’s one’s employability. More research is needed to better examine the reasons why confidence in education diminishes as a young person ages.Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan suomalaisten nuorten koulutususkon kehitystä 1999–2013. Tarkoituksena on pohtia, kuinka talouden nousu- ja laskukaudet vaikuttavat nuorten käsityksiin koulutuksen ja työllistymisen suhteesta. Tutkimuksen lähtökohtina toimivat Suomen koulutustason kehitys viimeisen 20 vuoden aikana ja sen seuraukset työelämässä. Suomalaisten koulutustaso on noussut dramaattisesti lyhyessä ajassa. Samaan aikaan koulutustason nousu on johtanut tilanteeseen jossa korkeakoulutettujen työttömyys on nousussa ja moni työntekijä on ylikoulutettu työtehtäviinsä nähden. Koulutus yksin ei enää takaa työpaikkaa, mutta työllistyminen ilman sitä on vaikeaa. Aikaisempi tutkimus on keskittynyt lähinnä koulutuksen ja työllistymisen väliseen suhteeseen sekä nuorten elämän siirtymiin. Nuorten siirtymistä koulutuksesta työelämään helpottaa koulutuksen aikana kerätty työkokemus. Tämän lisäksi korkeasti koulutetut nuoret ovat paremmassa asemassa kuin heidän vähemmän koulutetut toverinsa, siitä huolimatta että koulutus yksin ei ole enää kilpailuvaltti työmarkkinoilla. Tässä tutkimuksessa keskitytään enemmän nuorten omiin käsityksiin koulutuksen ja työelämän suhteesta kuin heidän varsinaisiin siirtymiin. Vaikka nuorten työelämäodotuksia tutkitaan entistä enemmän, tämä tutkimus käsittelee aihetta uudesta näkökulmasta. Nuorten koulutususko on vielä vähän tutkittu aihe työelämän sosiologiassa ja koulutussosiologiassa. Aineistona toimivat vuosien 1999 (N=1251), 2007 (N=1903) ja 2013 (N=1903) Nuorisobarometrit. Nuorisobarometri on noin vuoden välein suoritettava kysely, jonka tarkoitus on selvittää 15–29 vuotiaiden suomalaisnuorten arvoja ja asenteita. Tässä tutkimuksessa katsotaan tarkemmin kahta koulutususkoon liittyvää kysymystä ja kuinka nuorten vastaukset näihin kysymyksiin eroavat vuosina 1999, 2007 ja 2013. Koulutususkon kehityksen lisäksi tämä tutkimus tarkastelee myös miten eri-ikäiset ja eri elämäntilanteissa olevat nuoret kokevat koulutuksen ja työllistymisen suhteen. Menetelminä toimivat kuvaavat tilastomenetelmät sekä ryhmäeroja avaava kvantitatiivinen Kruskal-Wallis testi. Nuorten koulutususkon kehitys seuraa talouden nousu- ja laskukausia, vaikka koulutususko onkin pysynyt suhteellisen korkeana 1999–2013. Nuorten koulutususko nousee talouden laskukausina, ja laskee nousukausina. Tämän lisäksi myös nuoren elämäntilanne vaikuttaa hänen koulutususkonsa asteeseen: vanhemmat ikäryhmät – eli nuoret joilla on jo todennäköisemmin työkokemusta – eivät usko yhtä lujasti koulutuksen arvoon työllistymisen kannalta. Samaan tulokseen päästään myös katsomalla nuoren pääasiallista toimea: koulutususko on voimakkaampaa opiskelijoiden kuin työelämässä jo olevien keskuudessa. Tulokset kertovat että nuorten työhön ja koulutukseen liittyvät asenteet ovat kytköksissä Suomen työ- ja taloustilanteeseen. Laskukausien korkeampi koulutususko kielii siitä, että koulutuksen arvo ei ole kärsinyt suomalaisten koulutustason noustessa. Sen sijaan koulutus säilyttää merkityksensä, varsinkin huonossa taloustilanteessa. Koulutus tarjoaa kilpailuvaltin työmarkkinoilla erityisesti laskukausina, jolloin työnhakijoista ei ole pulaa. Toisaalta opiskelijoiden ja työelämässä jo olevien, sekä nuorempien ja vanhempien ikäryhmien, koulutususkon erot kertovat koulutuksen arvostuksen olevan korkeimmillaan silloin, kun nuori on vielä koulutuksessa. Tarkempaa tutkimusta kaivataan selvittämään miksi nuorten koulutususko hupenee heidän vanhetessaan

The Employer Perspective on Employability

Employability is a term used for describing the skills, knowledge and personal qualities a graduate should possess to get a job. In this paper we suggest what these skills and qualities are for IT undergraduates specializing in network administration. We have interviewed 10 recruitment managers from 9 different companies who have employed candidates from an IT network administration study program. They suggest that personal qualities are the most important aspect they look for in the graduates. We found that several of the recruiters want the graduates to have an interest in technology also outside of the curricular activities or work setting. This type of interest is taken as a sign that the graduate/job seeker is able to employ their knowledge in practice and engage in continuous self-development and lifelong learning, validating their employability. We discuss how the university can cater for curricular as well as extra-curricular activities, thus leveraging as well as developing the interest in the field valued by employers