Is graduate employability the prime role of universities?
Some universities are creative. Seen here is a drone developed by the Moratuwa University
“Whether graduate employability is a responsibility of universities or not” is being discussed in many forums of academia, civil society and politics. While contradictory views are coming out, this is important for universities and policymakers to know their call towards society.
One school of thought is that “universities are not job factories and they need not worry about graduates’ fitness for employment”. Ironically, academics speak of their career achievements, with a sense of gratitude to universities for making them what they are today. In Sri Lanka, the Government invests taxpayers’ money in free education while parents spend a sizable amount of money on their children’s higher education. Young people spend their prime years of life in universities. Thus, naturally, a question arises on the purpose of the existence of universities if they are not producing employable graduates. The other school of thought believes that “universities should equip graduates with skills to fit the job market”.
Graduate for employment or employable graduate?
Graduate employability is commonly defined as a “set of skills, understanding, and personal qualities that facilitate a graduate to acquire a profession and to be successful in it”. The Scottish Government in their Skills for Scotland defines employability as; “the combination of factors and processes which enable people to progress towards or get into employment, to stay in employment and move on in the workplace”.
Universities in developed countries go beyond producing graduates for the world of work to make graduates quality social beings. Universities’ role is identified as “equipping graduates as global citizens and effective members of modern-day society who can act as agents of social good”. This stance goes along with what American novelist Wendell Berry says that universities might foster four virtues; ‘memory, gratitude, fidelity, and love’, and “produce graduates who can begin the work of healing their places, graduates who have been educated for responsible membership in a family, a community, or a polity.” Nearly eight decades ago, Sir Ivor Jennings, in his inaugural speech during the opening of the University of Peradeniya, stressed that the role of a university is “to train young men and women who are capable of fulfilling any function in the world that may fall to their lot, citizens of high intelligence, complete moral integrity, and possessing energy, initiative, judgement, tact and qualities of leadership”. According to what literature says and what university actors perceive, Jennings’ articulation on the university’s role is valid for today, the era of artificial intelligence. As mentioned in “Higher Education in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution” graduates shall have the potential to move far beyond other professionals and make positive changes within their organisations, delivering a positive impact on the well-being of society and the environment while increasing the economic benefits. Taking a broader view, it can be said that the university’s role is to enrich the skills, attitudes and knowledge of undergraduates making them employable in any sector, to become an entrepreneur, to engage in self-employment, possess the capacity to face challenges and excel in the world of work and the ability to train and develop others. It is not that universities are obliged to find jobs for the graduates they produce but to prepare them to work in any environment in any capacity. The prime role of universities is to produce employable graduates, not graduates for employment.
Actions on Graduate Employability
To strengthen the employability of graduates the University Grants Commission (UGC) in Sri Lanka has introduced Career Guidance Units (CGUs) in every state university with the mandate to;
“Provide academic and career counselling services, learning opportunities to acquire employability skills, entrepreneurship skills, pursue personality development programmes, seek career-related information provision and provide graduate placement opportunities that will allow the undergraduates to acquire work experience that would be handy in their quest to find employment in the state and the private sector or to commence self-employment ventures” (UGC, 2012).
Components of career guidance education are included in the degree curriculums. Universities provide internship training to undergraduates and conduct seminars and workshops to enhance employability and employment skills. Improving communication skills (English) and IT skills of students are included in state reforms on higher education to enable graduates to succeed in the world of work. The Quality Assurance Framework in higher education insists on strong collaborations with industry and employers in developing degree curriculums and instilling employment skills in undergraduates to assure a job once they complete the degree. Quality Assurance Framework insists on “regular monitoring, revision and updating of the curriculum of study programme and courses, teaching and learning methods in response to stakeholder feedback, labour market projections and emerging global higher educational trends”. The framework expects the universities to have strategies to promote students’ ability to articulate their knowledge, skills, attitudes and values through working in partnership with external stakeholders such as employers, societies, and local communities.
The reforms and policies give freedom for universities to develop a holistic personality in graduates. However, the activities planned and executed are often restricted to the technical skills of graduates such as ICT skills, and language skills, and to conducting few workshops on personality development and leadership. The academia views that policies and reforms on higher education restrict their autonomy to produce a graduate expected by Jennings. A senior lecturer once said that;
“The number of credit hours given to complete within an academic year makes both lecturer and the student uncomfortable, students do not have time to visit the library and read books; the time is only left to cram what they were taught and prepare for exams”.
Lecturers from the Social Science discipline complain about making graduates less fit to be employable with current restricted teaching and learning methodologies. Lecturers of management disciplines, talk of internships, career fairs, and employee-university partnerships to make graduates ready for employment. Academia in the medical discipline feels that they do not have to bother about employability skills as the job is guaranteed after graduation. Nonetheless, some faculty members suggested enhancing the soft skills of undergraduates to make them more capable employees. One professor revealed that;
“Even a medical student has to be talented in soft skills when they go for higher studies and job opportunities”
Some lecturers feel that reforms like the Quality Assurance Framework push universities to produce graduates confined to book knowledge. Modern generations’ tendency on searching for information fast through online platforms such as Google, further narrows down cognitive capabilities. To make graduates fit into the world, the higher education reforms shall broaden their perspectives bringing basic life skills, critical thinking abilities and development of intellectual and moral maturation capacities in the graduates. There are instances where graduates who do well in their job, commit suicide failing to cope with work stress. Therefore, the role of universities is to make confident graduates who have an analytical mindset, empathy and enhanced moral capacities to succeed in the world facing any calamity. The focus on employment right after graduation, emphasis on technical skills like ICT and English, and the increasing number of academic disciplines an undergraduate have to follow during a four-year degree programme all contribute to producing a mechanical individual who would fit the job market in a short run but would fail to excel in the long-run as a competent individual.
It would be fitting to say that the universities’ prime role is to equip the graduates with the strongest weapon to fight all challenges of life, i.e. ‘knowledge’. A graduate full of knowledge and who is fostered in such a way to crave for knowledge is readily employable in any task they are given in any era. So the prime role of universities is to create graduates who possess a rich knowledge of their disciplines in particular and of other aspects of the world in general, who would never quench the quest for knowledge. Such graduates would be employable at any time in any context.
(The writer is a holder of a senior position in a state university with international experience and exposure. She can be reached at cv5imbulgoda@gmail.com)
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