GRADUATE EMPLOYABILITY AS AN INDICATOR OF INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS: A Case Study of NMMU

1. GRADUATE EMPLOYABILITY AS AN INDICATOR OF INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS: A Case Study of NMMU Prof Heather Nel and Dr Annemarie Barnard Strategic and Institutional Planning Unit Centre for Planning and Institutional Development

2. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY • The purpose of this study was to analyse perceptions of NMMU graduates & employers with respect to: • Knowledge, attributes & skills contributing to graduate employability • Extent to which NMMU qualifications/programmes equip graduates with required knowledge, attributes & skills • The benefits of experiential learning • Aspects impacting on graduate employability

3. CONTEXT: Effectiveness of higher education • The growing number of unemployed graduates globally is challenging the effectiveness of HE institutions in providing the requisite education for national development & economic growth. • Graduate unemployment in SA increased by almost 50% between 1995 & 2005 – fastest growing unemployment rate among all education cohorts (MacGregor, 2007) • “Higher education has a responsibility to its principal stakeholders — students — to equip them with more than a profound knowledge of an academic subject area. Higher education has a responsibility to students that includes encouraging and enabling them to develop, through their academic study, a range of explicit attributes, which allow them to subsequently engage effectively in the world of work” (Stewart & Knowles, 2000: 2)

4. CONTEXT: Higher education efficiency & effectiveness • Efficiency: • Is higher education doing things right? • Examples of efficiency indicators (inputs – process – outputs): • Participation rates • Student: staff ratios • Expenditure per student • Graduation rates • Research outputs • Effectiveness: • Is higher education doing the right things right? What difference is it making? • Examples of effectiveness indicators (impact/outcomes): • Graduate employability & employment rates • HE participation/graduation rates compared to national GDP • Educational attainment levels of population

5. inputs outputs process outcomes On inputs and outputs/outcomes students efficiency graduates graduate employability student progress (credits) research outputs staff educational attainment of population funding (public & private) attrition service & outreach national & regional development/ economic growth student/ staff satisfaction services

6. CONCEPTUALISING GRADUATE EMPLOYABILITY • For the purposes of this study, graduate employability was conceptualised as: “a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy” (Higher Education Council, Australia, 1992) • Employability is taken as: “a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes – that makes graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy” (Higher Education Council, Australia, 1992)

7. LITERATURE REVIEW • Employability is not the same as employment • Capacity of the graduate to function effectively in a job & it should not be confused with the acquisition of a job – too many extraneous political, economic & social factors impacting on employment • Employability as a curricular process • Curricula design should support the development of intellectual & critical thinking skills that enable a graduate to fulfil a role – not merely possessing the task-related skills that enable a graduate to do a specific job (Cox & King, 2006) • “Increasingly complex” understandings by academics of generic graduate attributes & how these inform curricula (Barrie, 2006)

8. LITERATURE REVIEW (cont.) • Employability as achievement and potential • HEIs are not always successful in preparing learners for the complexity of advanced knowledge economies – “symbolic analysts” (Reich, 2002) • Undergraduate programmes should be concerned with: • Abstraction (theorising; relating empirical data to theory; using formulae, equations, models & metaphors); • Systems thinking (seeing the part in the context of the wider whole); • Experimentation (intuitively or analytically); • Collaboration(involving communication & teamwork skills).

9. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY • Data Collection and Sample • Quantitative & qualitative methodologies • Graduate survey • 2005-2008 NMMU graduates: 2841 in total • Non-probability convenience & snowball sampling methods • Sampling frame: NMMU alumni database • 2008 graduates were targeted at the graduation ceremonies in April • Employer interviews • Semi-structured, in-depth interviews with selected employers inE & S Cape • Sampling frame = all employers on the NMMU employer database • Purposive sampling - at least one representative per employment sector • 45 employer interviews conducted in total

10. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: GRADUATE SURVEY

11. INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS • Cut points calculated by dividing the range of 4 (5-1) into 4 equal intervals: • 4.2 and above • 3.4 – 4.2 • 2.6 – 3.4 • less than 2.6 • Percentages positive, negative & neutral • Analysed for whole sample & broken down further for relevant variables (e.g. year of graduation, faculty, qualification type, employment sector) • Open-ended responses • Recurring themes extracted from the interview data • Literature control & triangulation – enhance validity & reliability

12. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY: Employment Status

13. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY: Employment Status • More than 75% of all respondents in full-time employment • 76.9% of 2008 respondents in full-time employment • Only 3.3% unemployed • Most respondents (81%) employed in an occupation related to their qualification • 86.3% of respondents obtained their first jobs within six months after qualifying

14. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY: Employment status • Of the 3.3% who were unemployed at the time of the study, the reasons provided for unemployment included: • More than a third (34.3%) were studying further • The rest could not find employment due to the following reasons: • Lack of work experience (25.8%) • Lack of opportunities in field of study (14.3%) • Not seeking employment (13.5%) • Other common problems reported in finding employment included: • Employment equity policies • ‘Under-qualified’ • ‘Over-qualified’

15. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY: Recruitment and training • NMMU Graduate Recruitment Programme: “Graduate placement was amazing!” • Some concerns expressed by employers: • Graduates do not know how to prepare proper CVs when applying for a job • Employers feel that graduates should be better prepared for job interviews • Graduates do not seem to have sufficient career information and have very unrealistic expectations about the world of work • It takes graduates a long time to adapt and become fully functional in the workplace • Insufficient numbers of graduates in scarce skills areas (e.g. ICT)

16. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY: Experiential learning • Employers: • 17 of the 45 employers in the sample currently offer opportunities for students to be placed for experiential or work-integrated learning • Employers appreciated the fact that some academic departments encourage feedback from industry (e.g. Engineering, IT) • Lack of trained workplace mentors problematic – capacity constraints • Graduates: • 82.2% of respondents who did not take part in experiential or work-integrated learning felt that it would have enhanced their employability • 87.4% of respondents agreed that academic staff should consult employers when designing or updating academic programmes/ curricula

17. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY: Level and type of qualification • More than half (59.7%) of the respondents pursued further studies • 85.2% felt that their postgraduate studies enhanced their knowledge, skills & competencies for their current job • Graduates in Science (70.3%), Arts (68.4%), Business (61.2%), & Education (61.2%) most likely to study further • Graduates who obtained a four-year professional degree were the least likely to continue with further studies (34.4%) – e.g. Law • Emphasis placed by employers on employees engaging in continuing professional development & lifelong learning – obtaining a first qualification is no longer sufficient

18. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY: Graduate knowledge, skills & attributes • 22 skills & attributes rated according to (i) importance, & (ii) extent to which graduates were equipped with these skills & attributes at NMMU • All of the skills & attributes rated by graduates as very important, with the exception of entrepreneurship (3.98) • Top 6 ratings:professionalism (4.64); honesty (4.57); communication skills (4.53); problem solving (4.51); self-confidence (4.50); teamwork (4.49) • Best prepared through their studies: honesty (4.47); professionalism (4.42); working independently (4.35); interpersonal skills (4.30); teamwork (4.30) • Effect size: determine whether statistically significant differences are discrepancies of practical concern • Differences of moderate practical concern: communication skills (d = 0.56); presentation skills (d = 0.51)

19. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY: Graduate knowledge, skills & attributes • Employers expect graduates to be competent in the following skills: • Communication • Interpersonal relations • Teamwork • Problem-solving & analytical skills • “Soft” skills such as the ability to dress appropriately, basic good manners & the ability to present themselves well • Computer literacy • Management skills (especially financial & project management) • Administrative & organisational skills

20. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY: Graduate knowledge, skills & attributes • Employers seek out graduates with a range of personal attributes: • Honesty & integrity - professionalism & behaving in an ethical manner • Self-assurance, including self-confidence, -awareness, -belief, -sufficiency, -direction & -promotion; labelled “assertiveness” by some employers • Ambition, including the drive to succeed, commitment, willingness to go “the extra mile” & passion • Self-regulation, including time management, ability to work without supervision, being a self-starter & seeing things through to a conclusion • Resilience, i.e. ability to work under pressure & to cope with stress - “emotionally mature”, “emotionally intelligent”, “spiritually mature”

21. DISCUSSION OF THE RESULTS OF THE SURVEY: Enhancing the Employability of NMMU Graduates • Address unrealistic expectations of students regarding the world of work • More opportunities for experiential learning before graduation • Academic staff should work more closely with relevant employers to enhance the relevance of curricula & facilitate experiential learning/graduate placement • Relevant or market-related programmes • Improve communication skills of all students • Emphasise work ethics • Develop “soft” skills • Embed knowledge on basic business practice into all curricula

22. THE WAY FORWARD: Some considerations for “closing the loop” • Research-informed dialogue with academics & other stakeholders to enhance curriculum responsiveness – role of IR • Systematic impact studies: go beyond merely counting the number of employed graduates in SA – deeper analyses of graduate employability • Possibility of follow-up studies to inform analyses of HE impact: • At departmental or programme level (e.g. as part of programme review/ professional accreditation processes) • Atinstitutional level – constraints: financial & HR capacity; availability of accurate alumni data; comparability of research findings • Need to implement nationally commissioned graduate employability studies at sectoral level funded by DoHET/CHE – e.g. Australia, UK • Conduct comparative analyses of SA research findings with similar international studies

23. THANK YOU! Heather.Nel@nmmu.ac.za Annemarie.Barnard@nmmu.ac.za