Undergraduate Beliefs about Skills Developed During their Degree
In recent months, there has been much discussion in the media about the skills acquired by Canadian university graduates. Essentially, three issues have been raised. The first concerns the question of whether Canada is facing a “skills gap”. While the Conference Board of Canada has argued that we definitely are (and that the long-term economic consequences will be severe), other reports indicate that the skills gap is largely a myth.
A second and related issue concerns the process by which young people should acquire job-relevant skills. Though businesses often complain about the fact that new university graduates are not “job ready”, many in the postsecondary sector feel that job-specific training is not the domain of universities. Instead, universities are charged with developing a collection of generic or transferable skills (e.g., communication, critical thinking, and teamwork), and job-specific training needs to come from employers when new graduates are hired.
If universities are indeed responsible for fostering the development of transferable skills, then it makes sense to consider the third issue that is currently being debated; namely, whether university graduates are developing the transferable skills that university administrators and faculty claim that they are. This question has led to an ongoing discussion about whether and how best to measure such skills among university graduates.
While each of these three questions is important, I would argue that there is a fourth issue that can and should be addressed with regard to transferable skills. This issue has students squarely at its centre and is associated with questions such as: To what extent do university students understand what transferable skills are? How well are they able to connect their university learning experiences to the development of these skills?
Our Research
We have investigated students' beliefs about the skills that they develop during an undergraduate degree, as well as their ability to define key transferable skills such as critical thinking and leadership. Our participants have ranged from first to fourth year, and we have noted some very consistent patterns in student responses. First, students do seem to recognize the transferable skills that instructors are attempting to teach. When asked to name important skills developed during the degree, many will list key skills such as communication and teamwork. What's important to note, though, is that students' understanding of what those skills actually are -- that is, their ability to define the skills -- is very limited. While fourth year students tend to be better at defining skills that those who are in first year, we have found that even students who are approaching graduation struggle to clearly explain some of the key skills that employers are looking for.
If you are interested in reading further about this project, please click on the file below.
A second and related issue concerns the process by which young people should acquire job-relevant skills. Though businesses often complain about the fact that new university graduates are not “job ready”, many in the postsecondary sector feel that job-specific training is not the domain of universities. Instead, universities are charged with developing a collection of generic or transferable skills (e.g., communication, critical thinking, and teamwork), and job-specific training needs to come from employers when new graduates are hired.
If universities are indeed responsible for fostering the development of transferable skills, then it makes sense to consider the third issue that is currently being debated; namely, whether university graduates are developing the transferable skills that university administrators and faculty claim that they are. This question has led to an ongoing discussion about whether and how best to measure such skills among university graduates.
While each of these three questions is important, I would argue that there is a fourth issue that can and should be addressed with regard to transferable skills. This issue has students squarely at its centre and is associated with questions such as: To what extent do university students understand what transferable skills are? How well are they able to connect their university learning experiences to the development of these skills?
Our Research
We have investigated students' beliefs about the skills that they develop during an undergraduate degree, as well as their ability to define key transferable skills such as critical thinking and leadership. Our participants have ranged from first to fourth year, and we have noted some very consistent patterns in student responses. First, students do seem to recognize the transferable skills that instructors are attempting to teach. When asked to name important skills developed during the degree, many will list key skills such as communication and teamwork. What's important to note, though, is that students' understanding of what those skills actually are -- that is, their ability to define the skills -- is very limited. While fourth year students tend to be better at defining skills that those who are in first year, we have found that even students who are approaching graduation struggle to clearly explain some of the key skills that employers are looking for.
If you are interested in reading further about this project, please click on the file below.
| martini_judges_belicki.pdf |
