engleski

Is there a mismatch between employers’ and university teachers’ perceptions on graduate employability in Croatia

Employability in graduates is deemed outcome universities should strive for. At the same time, scholars rarely differentiate between “graduateness as a state after the completion of a course, and employability as an assessment of the economic worth of a student at that time” (Glover, Law and Youngman, 2002:293). The purpose of this paper is to explore employability in the context of higher education from the employers’ and university teachers’ perspective. It highlights the most highly valued employability competencies and attributes, and paints an interesting picture of perceptions university teachers and employers have of employability characteristics. The empirical research incorporates 134 responses from employers from Croatian companies of all sizes, and 124 from University teachers from two Croatian universities: University of Rijeka and Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek. The comparison of results recognizes that the university teachers and employers share some similarities regarding employability characteristics, but gain different points of view on knowledge, skills and attributes significant for employment and value the contribution of higher education to the improvement of these attributes in a different way. The results signal that Croatian universities need to cooperate and communicate more efficiently with employers and employer associations in developing courses, and delivering relevant subject content.

university teachers, employers, graduateness, employability, competencies, partnerships in higher education

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