Self-Assessment of Skills Gap by University Graduates, or What Is Not Taught in Higher Education

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to analyse the perceptions of recent university graduates about skills gap; to identify the factors that determine the evaluation of the skill as insufficient. The empirical basis of the study is the microdata of the All-Russian survey of graduates who received secondary professional and higher education, conducted by Rosstat in April-September 2021. In order to solve the tasks, a subsample was formed, including employed respondents with higher education (9684 people). Methods of data analysis are descriptive, cluster and regression analysis. It has been established that at the beginning of careers graduates almost equally experience a lack of hard and soft skills. Among the leaders in scarcity there were both hard (professional (technical) skills and the ability to use professional documentation) and soft skills (stress resistance, the ability to take responsibility and multitasking). It is shown that the lack of professional (hard) skills and knowledge is more likely to be reported by graduates working in “technological” sectors (industry, construction, transport), as well as educated in mass areas of training (engineering and technology, economics and management, pedagogy). Working in a specialty increases the likelihood of assessing the majority of hard skills as scarce. The perception of many soft skills (communication, the ability to teamwork, take responsibility, self-management) as insufficient decreases with age. A universal factor that is significant for assessing hard and soft skills as scarce is recognition of knowledge and skills as important for the satisfactory performance of job duties. The obtained results can be used to improve the subject content of training programs in universities, in the development of areas of work with young professionals in companies.

Keywords

• skills
• skill gap
• skill mismatch
• university graduates
• higher education