Graduate attributes and employability skills

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 814-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rakesh Belwal ◽  
Pushpendra Priyadarshi ◽  
Mariam Humaid Al Fazari
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Generic Skills ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Graduate Attributes ◽  
Online Mode ◽  
To Come

Purpose Supply and demand characteristics, influenced by the pre- and post-oil economy of Oman, have caused unemployment challenges to Omani graduates. The purpose of this paper is to explore the most common graduate attributes as they apply to graduates’ employability in Oman. Design/methodology/approach The study uses the principles of “hypotheticodeductive logic” and inferential analysis using a combination of focus group and survey approach. Using an online mode of data collection targeting the past three cohorts of graduates from a prominent University in Oman, the study analyses and presents several insights into graduate attributes and employability issues. Findings The research finds that the domain of educational institutions in Oman is mainly restricted to the basic generic skills in developing the graduate attributes. Students’ perspectives on employers’ selection criteria reveal that computing skills, the ability to work in teams, English language proficiency, prior training, and the graduate’s personality are the five most significant employability skills in Oman. Currently, there is little interaction among higher educational institutions, alumni, and industry in Oman for boosting the employability of graduates. Practical implications The study is highly relevant from the policy perspective in Oman. All the stakeholders in Oman need to come together to define employability skills prudently by expanding the domain beyond generic skills. Originality/value The study is important in the context of Oman due to a shortage of studies that look at the graduate attributes from the lens of employability besides addressing concerns about unemployment.

Framing Syllabi For Developing English Language Proficiency Bridging Gaps In English Teaching At The Tertiary Level

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 9-13
Author(s):  
C. MONSINGH DANIEL
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Career Advancement ◽  
English Language ◽  
Global Market ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Tertiary Level ◽  
English Teaching

The English Language holds primacy in several levels of employment. This has drawn appeal towards the language as a valuable tool towards having an edge in ones skill set. Capitalizing on the image that English builds for ones employability and career advancement has become a trend set by employer and employee alike. It does indeed have its appeal in a global market, but its demand is due to the inability of educational institutions to provide verifiable and considerable output in students who are proficient in the English Language. Therefore the search for candidates with quality English skills is rather sparse in number. Attempts are of course made by academicians to change this reality but not to the level of a massive turnabout.

The morphing assessment terrain for English learners in US schools

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-126
Author(s):  
Mary Hutchinson ◽  
Xenia Hadjioannou
Keyword(s):  
No Child Left Behind ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Proficiency Tests ◽  
Content Type ◽  
State Tests ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Key Policy ◽  
Every Student Succeeds Act

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the public policy reshaping the assessment terrain for English learners (ELs) across the USA and to consider the implications and impact of these practices on sustaining and supporting a diverse student population in today’s schools. Design/methodology/approach The authors review the literature and publicly available policy documents to trace key policy trends over the past 15 years that have shaped the current educational landscape and assessment practices for ELs in the USA. Findings In the USA, the 2015 Common Core State Standards (CCSSs) assessments generated worrisome results for ELs, as significant numbers had failing scores in English language arts and math. These results are juxtaposed to public policies that impact the educational experience of ELs, including No Child Left Behind and the CCSS, and which, despite their stated intentions to ameliorate the achievement gap, are found to be assimilationist in nature. Indeed, a review of the initiatives of developing common EL standards and English language proficiency tests and the recommendations for EL accommodations in state tests suggests several areas of concern. The recently passed Every Student Succeeds Act focuses on this vulnerable population, but there are concerns that the continued focus on accountability and testing will do little to facilitate academic progress for these students. Practical implications The paper recommends a need to reevaluate the support and testing process for ELs to stem widespread failure and ascertain the sustenance of democratic and diversified schools. Originality/value The study provides an overview of key policy trends, outlines and critiques recent changes in the assessment of ELs and draws implications for practice.

Developing generic skills at an Islamic higher education institution curriculum in Aceh, Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-455
Author(s):  
Safrul Muluk ◽  
Habiburrahim Habiburrahim ◽  
Teuku Zulfikar ◽  
Janice Orrell ◽  
Mujiburrahman Mujiburrahman
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Education ◽  
Education Institution ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Generic Skills ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
English Language Teachers

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify skills and attributes that should be included in developing curricula, especially in the area of education. In this case, English Education Department of Ar-Raniry State Islamic University, Banda Aceh, is in charge of the preparation of English language teachers and English language professionals exceeding required standards and be competitive in the labour market.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research involved 38 research participants consisting of government authorities, academics and students. Interviews and focus group discussions were employed to collect the data. Both interview and FGD results were analysed through thematic analysis.FindingsThe findings indicate that among the generic skills that need to be incorporated into the department curriculum in order to improve graduates’ quality and meet the requirements of the labour market are: information and communication technology (ICT), leadership, religious competencies, entrepreneurship and communication skills.Originality/valueThe paper has been developed through research conducted by the authors. Therefore, the authors confirm that the paper has been written according to the academic standard and is free from plagiarism.

Frailty – from bedside to buzzword?

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 120-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Manthorpe ◽  
Steve Iliffe
Keyword(s):  
Policy Development ◽  
English Language ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
The Subject ◽  
To Come ◽  
Recent Policy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore common usage and understanding of the term “frailty”, which is increasingly used in health care debates in England. Design/methodology/approach – This is a commentary from the perspectives of health and social care researchers. Recent policy and research are drawn upon in the arguments presented. Findings – Most research on the subject of frailty comes from clinical practice although a parallel sociological or gerontological critique of the social construction is emerging. The public is likely to come across the term frailty through the media’s adoption of the term. Different definitions of frailty mean that estimates of the numbers of “frail people” will vary. Research limitations/implications – The commentary draws on material in the English language and on policy, commentary, and research material. Practical implications – The commentary may prompt reflection in practice and policy development on the usage of the term frailty and promote efforts to ensure that its meaning is clear and that it is acceptable to those to whom it is applied. Originality/value – The paper contributes to debates about frailty by considering the implications of using the term across health and social care and in integrated settings and encounters. It draws on medical presentations of the term frailty and on critiques of it as a powerful discourse.

scholarly journals Enhancing the Employability of Students Undertaking English Language and Linguistics Programs in Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huy Cuong Pham
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Academic Programs ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Curricular Integration ◽  
Generic Skills ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Hands On ◽  
English Major ◽  
And Linguistics ◽  
University Industry

This study addresses the development of employability skills among English-major graduates to facilitate their transition from university to the workplace. Contemporary research has pinpointed that universities fail to sufficiently prepare their students in terms of professional knowledge and work-related skills. There is also a mismatch between the focus of academic programs and the demands and requirements from potential employers regarding graduates’ performance. Drawing on the document analysis and simple descriptive statistics of the undergraduate English language/linguistics program descriptions of six distinct universities located across Vietnam, this study aims to explore the extent to which English-major students are empowered with employability skills and provide recommendations for promoting these skills. Findings show that there is a substantial shift in reconsidering the imbalance between theoretical and practical components in the program design. The programs also exhibit certain degrees of preparation for students’ employability through the curricular integration of generic skills such as critical thinking, public speaking, presentation skills, communication skills and research skills. This study reiterates the significance of promoting work-related skills and strengthening university-industry partnerships in designing academic programs and providing English-major students with hands-on experience.

scholarly journals Principals’ experiences in the implementation of the English Language Proficiency Programme in Namibia

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-95
Author(s):  
Haaveshe Ndeutalala Nekongo-Nielsen ◽  
Elizabeth Ndeukumwa Ngololo
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Transformational Leadership ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Content Type

Purpose Namibian principals are usually placed in leadership positions without orientation and are found to lack skills to supervise teachers in delivering instruction using the English language. Studies conducted elsewhere in the world found that effective school leadership is needed for the success of professional development programmes. The purpose of this paper is to explore principals’ lived experiences with regard to their roles in the implementation of the English Language Proficiency Programme (ELPP). Design/methodology/approach This paper followed a qualitative inquiry with multiple case study designs to explore principals’ lived experiences during the implementation of the ELPP. Ten schools were selected for the analysis, two from each of the five regions. The schools were selected on the basis of remoteness, the total number of teachers who participated in the ELPP, school phases (i.e. primary and combined) and pre-test scores. Principals were interviewed using exploratory open-ended questions, and data analysis produced five categories under which the results were presented. Findings The findings indicate that principals applied their individual logic to accommodate and implement the programme. They applied their individual productive leadership habitus to contextualise ELPP activities to ease their workload and appear corporative. Principals had significant influence on teacher learning and ensured successful implementation of a ministerial programme. Moreover, their leadership skills influenced the ways in which teachers received instruction and created a conducive learning environment. Owing to principals’ administrative, instructional and transformational leadership, many teachers participated and transcended upward and some were declared proficient in English. Research limitations/implications This study research the effectiveness of leadership regarding English professional development programmes in achieving goals, explore power relations between school principals and education officials when developing and implementing professional development programmes and establish more efficient ways of providing a better leadership model for professional development programmes to achieve goals. Practical implications This paper was limited to a few principals at rural schools in selected regions, therefore findings could not be generalised. Social implications There is a need for creating opportunities for interactions among all stakeholders who are involved in the development and implementation of English proficiency programmes and to build power relations and work as a team to benefit schools. In order to enhance programme implementation and improve learning outcomes, there is also a need to provide feedback at intervals and find solutions to challenges as a team. Originality/value Placing principals in situations without orientation triggered the need for specific leadership logic and particularities to be applied in a context for the success of the programme, which resulted in participation of more teachers in the ELPP. They applied their particularities and productive habitus through administrative, instructional and transformational leadership to enhance learning. Principals appointed English language teachers to instruct and mentor others, and consequently enabled some principals and teachers to exit the programme. Principals achieved these short wins upon realising that one has to cooperate with the authority to ensure achieving desired outcomes.

The effect of social media use on customer qualification skills and adaptive selling behaviors of export salespeople in China

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jihong Zhou ◽  
Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
Media Use ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Adaptive Selling ◽  
Chinese Export

Purpose This study aims to draw on the categorization theory to explore the mediating role of customer qualification skills in explaining how social media use in sales contributes to salespeople’s adaptive selling behaviors to achieve high sales performance in export selling. The study also integrates network effect theory and social linguistics theory to identify the specific social media platform (Facebook versus non-Facebook) and the characteristics of salespeople in terms of English language proficiency, which play a facilitating role in promoting the effectiveness of social media use in export sales. Design/methodology/approach The sampling frame of the research is a list of Chinese export salespersons obtained on the FOB Business Forum website. Survey data were obtained from 873 Chinese export salespeople. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was performed to analyze the data. Findings Social media use in sales is associated positively with customer qualification skills and adaptive selling behaviors. Moreover, the results revealed a partial mediating effect of customer qualification skills on the positive impact of social media use in sales on adaptive selling behaviors. The moderating effect analysis found that the positive association between social media use in sales and customer qualification skills was stronger in export salespeople who used Facebook and had mastered a high level of English language proficiency. Originality/value This study provides new findings, based on data collected from salespeople in Mainland China, that support the effectiveness of social media use in an export sales context. Moreover, the study advances prior research by showing that the effectiveness of social media use still depends on the type of social media used and the English language proficiency of the salespeople.

Graduate employability skills: Words and phrases used in job interviews

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-32
Author(s):  
Isai Amutan Krishnan ◽  
Selvajothi Ramalingam ◽  
Narentheren Kaliappen ◽  
Sathiswaran Uthamaputhran ◽  
Puspalata C Suppiah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Employability Skills ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
High Level Language ◽  
Job Interviews ◽  
Graduate Employability ◽  
High Level

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the words and phrases used by student graduates in job interviews. Twenty-Seven Malaysian graduates participated in the study. “How to face challenges” was the focal theme chosen for analysis of the data. The findings indicated that successful interviewees covered six out of seven important employability skills, while interviewees on the reserve list covered only four of the employability skills, and the unsuccessful interviewees covered only three of the seven skills. Successful interviewees were deemed able to portray high level proficiency by using the most salient words and phrases to express their employability skills in the interviews. It is expected that this study will encourage current undergraduates to develop high level language proficiency regarding their employability and foster training in this area by educational institutions so as to benefit their students.

scholarly journals Red neuronal artificial de predicción de situación de dominio del estudiante ante el examen TOEFL

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-23
Author(s):  
Silvia Soledad Moreno Gutiérrez ◽  
Jesús Francisco Álvarez Cornejo ◽  
Mónica García Munguía
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Artificial Neural Network ◽  
Software Engineering ◽  
University Students ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
English Language ◽  
English Language Proficiency ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Engineering Degree ◽  
Estudiantes Universitarios

El examen TOEFL es una prueba orientada a identificar el nivel de dominio del idioma inglés en estudiantes universitarios, por ello, diferentes instituciones educativas del país solicitan este resultado incluso como requisito de titulación, la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo es una de ellas, el 100% de sus alumnos de la licenciatura en ingeniería de software presentan el examen, asumiendo que están preparados, no obstante, en más del 50% de los casos el puntaje obtenido es no satisfactorio. Por ello, se propone una red neuronal artificial de tipo Backpropagation basada en la trayectoria escolar del alumno, que predice con un 95% de precisión la situación de dominio del estudiante, y sugiere presentar el examen o participar en el curso de preparación respectivo, de esta forma, la propuesta contribuye a incrementar el porcentaje de alumnos con resultados satisfactorios desde la primera aplicación y reducir el número de intentos. The TOEFL test is a test aimed at identifying the level of English language proficiency in university students, therefore, different educational institutions in the country request this result even as a qualification requirement, the Autonomous University of the State of Hidalgo is one of them, the 100% of its students in the software engineering degree present the exam, however, in more than 50% of the cases the score obtained is unsatisfactory, so the student must present it again. For this reason, an artificial neural network of Backpropagation type is proposed that predicts with 95% accuracy the situation of the student's domain and suggests presenting the exam or participating in the respective preparation course, in this way, the proposal contributes to reduce the number of attempts and increase the percentage of students with satisfactory results from the first application.

Brand co-creation through triadic stakeholder participation

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 585-609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanmitra Sarkar ◽  
Saikat Banerjee
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Brand Development ◽  
Stakeholder Perspective ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to find prior research work on brand co-creation and the role of different stakeholders in brand co-creation and to come up with a conceptual model that can be empirically validated. Design/methodology/approach A keyword approach has been used to find earlier published papers on co-creation and the role of different stakeholders in co-creation. The focus was more on brand co-creation. The inclusion criteria are empirical or conceptual research papers, books, conference papers, peer reviewed and published in English language journals. As the topic is encompassing various themes, a wide variety of academic resources were reviewed. Findings The history of literature brings forth the two major stakeholders consumers and organizations. The importance of third important stakeholder, i.e. suppliers has been mostly overlooked. However, previous studies show that appropriately managed supplier involvement can diminish product and brand development time and cost and it may provide access to newer technologies and better quality. Hence, for a successful brand co-creation one must not forget the importance of suppliers. Along with the motives and outcomes of brand co-creation from consumer and organization perspective this research aims to look into the supplier perspective of the brand co-creation framework. Originality/value This is the first academic literature review on brand co-creation from a triadic stakeholder perspective of consumers, organizations and suppliers. Also there is no comprehensive model that exists for brand co-creation looking at its input and its overall outcome. This review provides a bibliography of academic literature from 1959 to 2018 covering 150 journals.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document