Graduate skills gap
EMPLOYERS in the country generally feel there is a gap in graduate skills, suggesting that universities do not necessarily provide enough opportunities for students to develop abilities critical to the labour market.
Low proficiency in the English language and lack of soft skills including creativity, communication and critical thinking are among the reasons for unemployed graduates.
The skills gap among graduates, however, is not limited to Malaysia but is a global phenomenon across regions, countries and companies of various sizes.
The QS Global Skills Gap in the 21st Century report suggests that there are “sizable and consistent disparities” between employer expectations and student skills based on insights provided by 11,000 employers and 16,000 students across the world.
It also states that students misidentify the importance of key employability skills.
Jointly produced by QS World University Rankings compilers QS Quacquarelli Symonds and the Institute for Student Employers (ISE), the report examines these global skills gap and identifies specific skills that students over- and under-value.
QS Market Insights manager Dasha Karzunina said: “Conventional wisdom and previous independent research have suggested some mismatch between student and employer expectations, but this report does much to verify — and anatomise — the nature of this mismatch.
“It reveals that the gaps are sizeable and consistent across virtually all skills in all markets, and universities are wellpositioned to use this insight to equip their students for the labour market.”