Building up Undergraduate Skills: empirical evidence from a Portuguese University

Faculdade de Economia e GestãoUniversidade Católica Portuguesa FEG|UCP Building up Undergraduate Skills: empirical evidence from a Portuguese University Eva Dias de Oliveira Miguel Sottomayor Ana Meireles Ana Martins Salford – 14 September 2007

Undegraduate Students 3165 Post-Graduate Students 1451 Academic Staff 315 Non-Academic Staff 250 Undergrad Courses 14 Postgrad (Masters) 22 Other Postgrad Courses 14 Salford – 14 September 2007

Graduates | University Employers Salford – 14 September 2007

Graduates | University Employers Curricula Development Coaching Market-Valued Skills Savickas (2002) To think To communicate To act upon Students self-assessment Salford – 14 September 2007

Graduates | University CONGRUENCE individuals – environment feedback process Employers Curricula Development Coaching Market-Valued Skills Savickas (2002) Coaching Person-Environment Fit (Swanson & Fouad, 1999) To think To communicate To act upon To think To communicate To act upon Students self-assessment Salford – 14 September 2007

Graduates | University CONGRUENCE individuals - environment feedback process Cabral-Cardoso et al (2006) Employers Curricula Development Coaching Market-Valued Skills Savickas (2002) Coaching Person-Environment Fit (Swanson & Fouad, 1999) Starfish-Model (Evans et al, 2001) To think To communicate To act upon To think To communicate To act upon Students self-assessment Salford – 14 September 2007

Graduates | University CONGRUENCE individuals - environment feedback process Cabral-Cardoso et al (2006) Employers Curricula Development Coaching Market-Valued Skills Savickas (2002) Coaching Person-Environment Fit (Swanson & Fouad, 1999) Starfish-Model (Evans et al, 2001) To think To communicate To act upon To think To communicate To act upon Students self-assessment Study 2 Study 1 Salford – 14 September 2007

Study 1 Objective: to identify the Market-Valued Skills Profile of Economics and Business Graduates Salford – 14 September 2007

Study 1 Method: Interviews Individual Employers (SONAE, UNICER, AXA, Salvador Caetano,AENOR) Content analysis Alumni Management and Economics Focus Groups Salford – 14 September 2007

Study 1 Results: “Starfish-Model” JOB RELATED SKILLS Subject matter relevant to work tasks METHODOLOGICAL SKILLS Personal Management Problems Solving Creativity Systemic Thinking VALUES AND ATTITUDES Initiative and entrepreneurship Commitment and persistence Responsibility Integrity and ethics SOCIAL SKILLS Communication Assertiveness Interpersonal Relationship Team Work LEARNING SKILLS Motivation to Learn Flexibility / Openness to Change Pursuit of Quality / Excellence Knowledge Management Salford – 14 September 2007 (Evans, 2001) adaptation

Study 2 Objectives: to assess the resulting Market-Valued Skills Profile amongst students to assert how confident were the students regarding such skills, at the early stage of their studies to relate the skills’ development to both individual characteristics and to life experiences Salford – 14 September 2007

Study 2 Method: First-year students (N=100) Market-Valued Skills Profile Self-Report (Miles & Grummon, 2006; University of Salford, 2006) Student Career Concerns Inventory (Savickas, 2002; Ramos et al, 2002) Vocational Experiences (open-ended questions) Salford – 14 September 2007

Study 2 Results: students’ soft-skills development very positive self-perception Social Skills: Values & Attitudes: Methodological Skills: 4.09 (0.56) 3.79 (0.61) 3.78 (0.66) extra-curricular activities very limited experiences Mobility: Volunteer-work: Civic Engagement: 1.38 (0.79) 1.64 (1.01) 2.35 (1.45) Salford – 14 September 2007

Study 2 Results: students’ soft-skills development vocational development vocational experiences Correlational Analysis Salford – 14 September 2007

Study 2 Results: students’ soft-skills development vocational development vocational experiences 0.16* ns 0.39** 0.19* 0.26** students’ unrealistic self-perception Salford – 14 September 2007

Study 1 & 2 Final Remarks: Research findings draw attention to the need for developing new practices of teaching and assessing students’ progress, explicitly focused on: (1) the development of the soft skills most valued by employers and former students, and (2) the students’ self-perception of skills’ developmentand related job expectations. Salford – 14 September 2007

Integrated System of Skills Development process self-evaluation coaching peers view professors view presentation developmental aim Where did I start from? Evidences collected What can I say about my skills? Salford – 14 September 2007

Governo República Portuguesa Thank you! eoliveira@porto.ucp.pt Salford – 14 September 2007

Building up Undergraduate Skills: empirical evidence from a Portuguese University