University Students’ Communication and Employability Skills: Mismatch Perspectives of Students, Lecturers, and Employers in Sarawak, Malaysia

In Malaysia, graduate unemployability is a problem that is often highlighted. Studies have shown that graduates lack soft skills, such as problem solving, English language proficiency, and communication skills, which contribute to the issue of unemployability. However, these studies have not investigated employability skills from all three perspectives of students, lecturers, and employers to understand whether students are developing the necessary skills to be more employable, and whether lecturers are getting it right when preparing their students for the job market. Therefore, this study fills in the gap by comparing university students’ communication and employability skills from the perspectives of students, lecturers, and employers. The study aimed to determine students’ ratings of communicative ability and employability skills, and how these ratings match those of the lecturers and employers, and to compare the ranking of the importance of these skills by lecturers and employers. The questionnaire data were collected from 123 students, 26 lectures, and 26 employers in Sarawak, Malaysia. The findings showed that the students rated themselves more highly on reading and writing, and employability skills than on listening and speaking skills. The lecturers and employers ranked employability skills as more important than communication skills. They were consistent in the ranking of interpersonal skills and presentation skills as the top communication skills. The top employability skills were time management skills, leadership qualities, managing personnel, managing resources, teamwork spirit, planning, organising, controlling and evaluation skills, and problem-solving aptitude. However, lecturers prioritised teamwork spirit while employers prioritised problem-solving aptitude. However, none of the reading and writing skills were among the top 10 skills expected of graduates entering the workplace. In concluding the study, the overall findings indicated that the students and lecturers overrated the students’ readiness for the workplace

University Students’ Communication and Employability Skills: Mismatch Perspectives of Students, Lecturers, and Employers in Sarawak, Malaysia

In Malaysia, graduate unemployability is a problem that is often highlighted. Studies have shown that graduates lack soft skills, such as problem solving, English language proficiency, and communication skills, which contribute to the issue of unemployability. However, these studies have not investigated employability skills from all three perspectives of students, lecturers, and employers to understand whether students are developing the necessary skills to be more employable, and whether lecturers are getting it right when preparing their students for the job market. Therefore, this study fills in the gap by comparing university students’ communication and employability skills from the perspectives of students, lecturers, and employers. The study aimed to determine students’ ratings of communicative ability and employability skills, and how these ratings match those of the lecturers and employers, and to compare the ranking of the importance of these skills by lecturers and employers. The questionnaire data were collected from 123 students, 26 lectures, and 26 employers in Sarawak, Malaysia. The findings showed that the students rated themselves more highly on reading and writing, and employability skills than on listening and speaking skills. The lecturers and employers ranked employability skills as more important than communication skills. They were consistent in the ranking of interpersonal skills and presentation skills as the top communication skills. The top employability skills were time management skills, leadership qualities, managing personnel, managing resources, teamwork spirit, planning, organising, controlling and evaluation skills, and problem-solving aptitude. However, lecturers prioritised teamwork spirit while employers prioritised problem-solving aptitude. However, none of the reading and writing skills were among the top 10 skills expected of graduates entering the workplace. In concluding the study, the overall findings indicated that the students and lecturers overrated the students’ readiness for the workplace

Employability and Communication Skills : Triangulating Views of Employers, Lecturers and Undergraduates

Employability skills are known as soft skills and transferrable skills. Employability refers to skills, understandings, and personal attributes that increase graduates’ chances of employment and success in their chosen occupations (Yorke, 2004). Some of the skills listed under employability skills are resourcefulness, adaptability, and flexibility which are not only needed for adapting to work situations (Curtis & McKenzie, 2002). In a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) environment, there is a limit to what universities can equip graduates with, and they need to be able to continue learning to adjust to new situations and demands. According to the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) in the USA (1992), employability skills can be divided into four clusters of basic skills, thinking skills, personal qualities, and workplace competence. These skills would give them an edge during interviews and increase their chances of getting employed. Malaysia has been experiencing graduate unemployability. Approximately 60% of graduates remain unemployed for minimum of a year after graduation (“Graduate Employability”, 2020). There are many factors that contribute to graduate unemployability such as lack of experience, language proficiency, communication skills, problem-solving skills, and critical thinking skills (Hanapi & Nordin, 2014; Lim et al., 2016; Nooriah & Zakiah, 2017; Ooi & Ting, 2017). Employers often specify good communication skills and interpersonal skills as top requirements in job advertisements (Bakar et al., 2007; Ooi & Ting, 2017). However, graduates lack problem solving skills, communication skills (Hanapi & Nordin, 2014) and technical knowledge (Lim et al., 2016). In a knowledge-based economy, employees need to be independent and self-motivated (Menand, 2014) to acquire the necessary knowledge, information and high skill levels to cope with the fast pace of technological change. There is currently scarcity of findings on whether universities and students are preparing themselves appropriately to meet the expectations of employers. The study investigated importance of employability and communication skills based on the views of employers, lecturers and students. The research questions were: (1) how good are university students in their employability and communication skills? and (2) do employers and lecturers agree on the most important skills an effective employee should have? The descriptive study involved the use of a questionnaire on employability skills and language skills (listening and speaking, reading and writing). The items were formulated using a five-point rating scale of (1) not at all, (2) to some extent, (3) just enough, (4) to a reasonable extent, and (5) to a great extent. In addition, the questionnaire required lecturers and employers to select the top 10 skills out of the 25 skills listed. The data were collected from 123 students, 26 lecturers from a public university, and 26 employers in Sarawak, East Malaysia. The students were mostly female (74.80% female, 25.20% male) and had weak to moderate language proficiency, measured using the Malaysian University English Test (MUET). There were slightly more males among lecturers (12 female, 14 male) and employers (11 female, 15 male). The average years of work experience for lecturers was 8.7 (range: 1-25) and for employers, the average was 5.6 (range: 1-15). For the analysis, means and frequencies were calculated for comparison of the three perspectives on the importance of communication and employability skills. The results showed that there was a difference among employers, lecturers, and students in their ratings of how good university students are in their employability and communication skills. The students overrated themselves in all three set of skills. Based on the mean scores, the students rated themselves as having a moderate level of employability (M=3.74), reading and writing skills (M=3.75), and listening and speaking skills (M=3.61). The lecturers rated the university students as having a moderate level of skills as well, but the mean scores were slightly lower than the students’ (employability, M= 3.54; reading and writing skills, M=3.49; listening and speaking skills, M=3.29). To the employers, only the fresh graduates’ listening and speaking skills were moderate but on the weak side (M=3.15). The employers found the fresh graduates’ reading and writing skills (M=2.97) and listening and speaking skills (M=2.92) to be slightly weak. Interestingly, the students and lecturers rated the graduates’ employability skills to be moderate but the employers considered them to be weak. Another contrast was the students’ listening and speaking skills, which the students and lecturers considered to be the lowest level, compared to employability and reading and writing skills. However, the employers considered the fresh graduates’ listening and speaking skills to be better than the other two skills. This comparison shows that there is a mismatch in the ratings of university students’ employability and communication skills given by employers, lecturers, and students. The employers’ expectation was higher than the lecturers’. In other words, most employers expect students to be ready to handle the demands of the workforce upon graduation but sadly, most graduates fell short of their expectations. The employers may feel that they have to spoon feed the graduates on various matters upon graduation and they prefer employees who have a strong set of communication and employability skills. Next, the results on the ranking of the important skills an effective employee should have also showed a mismatch in the perspectives of employers and lecturers. To the employers, the top two skills were time management and problem-solving aptitude, both of which were employability skills. To the lecturers, the top two skills were leadership qualities and teamwork spirit, which were also employability skills. The employers prioritised skills for efficient handling of work situations to meet deadlines but the lecturers focussed on skills for the completion of group work. The mismatch shows that lecturers and universities may have overlooked the need to train students to be versatile to solve problems and complete projects on time. Indeed, students often submit work late and are not independent enough to resolve questions concerning their projects on their own, and constantly have to consult lecturers. To increase graduate employability, universities need to collaborate strategically with the industry to resolve the mismatch of expectations, as other Malaysian studies have also found a mismatch (Nadarajah, 2021; Nesaratnam et al., 2020). However, because of the fast-changing work environment, students need to develop lifelong learning skills so that they can develop their expertise, knowledge base, and a lifelong learning mindset to stay relevant. References Bakar, A. R., Mohamed, S., & Hanafi, I. (2007). Employability skills: Malaysian employers perspectives. The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 2(1), 263-274. Curtis, D. D., & McKenzie, P. (2002). Employability skills for Australian industry: Literature review and framework development. http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv33428 Graduate employability: A priority of the Education Ministry. (2020, February 18). News Straits Times. https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/02/566731/graduate-employability-priority-education-ministry Hanapi, Z., & Nordin, M. S. (2014). Unemployment among Malaysia graduates: Graduates’ attributes, lecturers’ competency and quality of education. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 112, 1056-1063. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.01.1269 Lim, Y. M, Teck, H. L., Ching, S. Y., & Chui, C. L. (2016). Employability skills, personal qualities, and early employment problems of entry-level auditors: Perspectives from employers, lecturers, auditors, and students. Journal of Education for Business, 91(4), 185-192. https://doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2016.1153998 Menand, H. (2014). Critical instruction, student achievement, and nurturing of global citizens: Global and comparative education in context. In S. A. Lawrence (Ed.), Critical practice in P-12 education (pp. 1-23). Hershey: Information Science Reference. Nadarajah, J. (2021). Measuring the gap in employability skills among Malaysian graduates. International Journal of Modern Trends in Social Sciences, 4(15), 81-87. https://doi.org/10.35631/IJMTSS.415007 Nesaratnam, S., Salleh, W. H. W., Foo, Y. V., Hisham, W. M. W. S. W. (2020). Enhancing English proficiency and communication skills among Malaysian graduates through training and coaching. International Journal of Learning and Development, 10(4), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.5296/ijld.v10i4.17875 Nooriah, Y., & Zakiah, J. (2017). Development of graduates employability: The role of university and challenges. Jurnal Personalia Pelajar, 20, 15-32. Ooi, K. B., & Ting, S. H. (2015). Employers’ emphasis on technical skills and soft skills in job advertisements. The English Teacher, 44(1), 1-12. Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) (1992). Learning a living: a blueprint for high performance. A SCANS report for America 2000. Washington: U.S. Department of Labour. Yorke, M. (2004). Employability in higher education: what it is – what it is not. York: The Higher Education Academy/ESECT

Wolves in the Wolds: Late Capitalism, the English Eerie, and the Wyrd Case of ‘Old Stinker’ the Hull Werewolf

In this article, I depart from the earlier opinions of Emily Gerard, Sabine Baring-Gould, and others, who explained the disappearance of the werewolf in folklore as following the extinction of the wolf. I argue instead that British literature is distinctive in representing a history of werewolf sightings in places in Britain where there were once wolves. I draw on the idea of absence, manifestations of the English eerie, and the turbulence of England in the era of late capitalism to illuminate my analysis of the representation of contemporary werewolf sightingsPeer reviewe

Instrumentation and measurement strategy for the NOAA SENEX aircraft campaign as part of the Southeast Atmosphere Study 2013

Natural emissions of ozone-and-aerosol-precursor gases such as isoprene and monoterpenes are high in the southeastern US. In addition, anthropogenic emissions are significant in the southeastern US and summertime photochemistry is rapid. The NOAA-led SENEX (Southeast Nexus) aircraft campaign was one of the major components of the Southeast Atmosphere Study (SAS) and was focused on studying the interactions between biogenic and anthropogenic emissions to form secondary pollutants. During SENEX, the NOAA WP-3D aircraft conducted 20 research flights between 27 May and 10 July 2013 based out of Smyrna, TN. Here we describe the experimental approach, the science goals and early results of the NOAA SENEX campaign. The aircraft, its capabilities and standard measurements are described. The instrument payload is summarized including detection limits, accuracy, precision and time resolutions for all gas-and-aerosol phase instruments. The inter-comparisons of compounds measured with multiple instruments on the NOAA WP-3D are presented and were all within the stated uncertainties, except two of the three NO2 measurements. The SENEX flights included day- and nighttime flights in the southeastern US as well as flights over areas with intense shale gas extraction (Marcellus, Fayetteville and Haynesville shale). We present one example flight on 16 June 2013, which was a daytime flight over the Atlanta region, where several crosswind transects of plumes from the city and nearby point sources, such as power plants, paper mills and landfills, were flown. The area around Atlanta has large biogenic isoprene emissions, which provided an excellent case for studying the interactions between biogenic and anthropogenic emissions. In this example flight, chemistry in and outside the Atlanta plumes was observed for several hours after emission. The analysis of this flight showcases the strategies implemented to answer some of the main SENEX science questions.</p