DISCUSSING EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS IN ENGINEERING HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

The employability of graduates has become an issue that countries around the world have imposed on their national higher education systems to varying extents. Acquiring effective employability skills becomes increasingly important for both employers and employees in the field of engineering. Employers generally see a graduate’s achievements related to the subject discipline as necessary but not sufficient for them to be recruited. Achievements outside the boundaries of the discipline, the so-called soft skills, are generally considered to be relevant in the recruitment of graduates. A certain level of awareness among engineering undergraduates should be addressed regarding lacking or mismatching specific soft skills required in their potential workplace context. Therefore, the purpose of the article is to identify and discuss engineering students’ perception on the importance of employability skills such as: communication skills, problem solving and interpersonal skills so that they should overcome problems in getting suitable jobs in the future.

Keywords

• employability skills
• professional communication
• engineering higher education