Transversal Skills for University Students Entering the Workforce
Keywords:
Competences, Higher education, Training, Career guidance, Transition to work
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
This research focus on the analysis of the soft skill mismatch that occurs between its development during the university training and the relevance that students give to this type of competences for entering the workforce. Based on quantitative research with a survey as a methodology type, 1,610 final year undergraduated from five universities in three countries (Spain, Italy and USA) have participated. They have completed the Questionnaire About Career Guidance and Entering the Workforce (COIL, in Spanish). The main results show levels of relevance given to these skills higher than the work developed during their university training. The competences related to the initiative of the students (innovation, leadership, or entrepreneurship) show a higher skill deficit, while teamwork or responsibility and perseverance are the competences where the difference between development and relevance are scarcer. These results also show statistical differences when the competencies are analyzed according to the university, the gender of the students, or whether they have carried out extracurricular internships. In conclusion, the debate on the aims and objectives of training in transversal skills in higher education must be amplified as well as the role that career guidance should play to accompany the process of entering future graduates.
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References
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