While many universities have implemented various initiatives and teaching and learning methods to embed the most indemand skills into their degree programmes, there is little evidence in the literature of students’ opinions and awareness of these skills. The purpose of this article is to assess, through an empirical study, students’ perceptions of the skills commonly identified in the literature as important for the field of accounting and finance. A total of 462 surveys were collected and analysed using the SAS statistical analysis tool. According to the findings, the most important graduate skills are communication skills, followed by analytical skills and self-management. The findings also reveal that the language of instruction is statistically significant for a few graduate skills, including interpersonal, planning and organization, communication, self-management and analytical skills. Age is statistically significant for critical thinking skills and gender is statistically significant for leadership, technological and communication skills. / NPRP under grant 7-1534-5-231 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of the Qatar Foundation)

The main purpose of this study was to examine and describe college students&rsquo / and graduates&rsquo / perceptions of the received and expected levels of employability skills and qualities clustered into the domains of communication, mathematics, quantitative, foreign language, technology, teamworking, learning, problem-solving, adaptability, and personal qualities during college training, and also to assess college educators&rsquo / and employers&rsquo / perceptions regarding the importance level of identified employability skills and qualities for graduates&rsquo / entry, success and productivity in workplaces. In this study, data were gathered through three distinct questionnaires whose frame and content were developed by utilizing a survey with 218 students, 54 graduates, 26 educators and 16 employers. The setting was Cappadocia Vocational College campus and several towns in Nevsehir where workplaces of external partners of the college are located. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to analyze the results of this study. Frequencies were tabulated to determine significant associations and mean scores were calculated to assess the identified variables. Paired and independent samples t-tests were utilized to explore the differences between the perceptions of students, graduates and educators. The responses of employers were tabulated within itself due to low number of participants. The findings of indicated that students and graduates perceived college training to have little or moderate impact on employability skill acquisition / however, besides student population, employers and educators perceived employability skills to be of medium or high importance for graduates&rsquo / effective job performance and productivity of workplaces.

An estimated 1.5 million underemployed or unemployed college graduates have one or more college degrees, and many have high loan debt. Policy makers, students, and institutions of higher education are all concerned with the question of how prepared students are to enter the workforce upon graduation, yet little is known about whether internships are a strategy to improve career preparedness and gainful employment after graduation. Guided by Dewey and Kolb's experiential learning theory, the purpose of this nonexperimental study was to evaluate the impact of internships on career preparation from the perspective of graduates, specifically to evaluate whether graduates perceive participation in an internship improved their level of career preparedness in human services related fields. Post-internship survey data were acquired from a group of 21 graduates using the Career Benefits of CO-OP/Internship Experience instrument who were enrolled in a degree program at various colleges and universities in southeastern Virginia. These data were analyzed using a paired t test to compare pre and post internship perceptions of career preparedness. Results indicate a statistically significant improvement between the pre-internship and post-internship perceptions (p = .05). Furthermore, the study offers support to the notion that experiential learning may impact career success. This result indicates that internships may have a positive impact on career progression and gainful employment after graduation. The positive social change implications of this study includes recommendations to policy makers and university leaders to construct academic programs that incorporate internship opportunities, particularly to promote overall student success and future gainful employment.

Brain drain and brain circulation are forms of skilled labour migration which have a significant impact on New Zealand’s economic growth. Based on their importance, it is suggested that economies rethink how they compete for skilled labour in an international labour market. This research study reviews economic and non-economic factors that influence an individual’s decisions to stay or leave New Zealand. Data is collected from a survey sample of Lincoln University final year undergraduate and postgraduate students, who represent New Zealand’s future skilled labour. The research study employs a data reduction technique called factor analysis to collate large sets of variables into small sets for econometric analysis. The key econometric tool, logit analysis, provides probabilities of graduates leaving New Zealand and marginal effects of changes in key economic and non-economic variables. These key findings, providing new knowledge, are used to engage in a policy discussion in the last chapter. The research study importantly maintains focus on three key stakeholders, the government, the business community and the individual/student when addressing and analysing New Zealand’s brain drain and brain circulation issues.