employers’ viewpoint in setting the competency agenda in higher education

Babeş-Bolyai UniversityRomania

Employers’ viewpoint in setting the Employers’ viewpoint in setting the competency agenda in higher competency agenda in higher

educationeducation

Liviu IliesLiviu Ilies

Monica ZaharieMonica Zaharie

Centre for Quality ManagementCentre for Quality ManagementBabeBabeş-Bolyai University, Romaniaş-Bolyai University, Romania


HE accountability and employers’ opinionHE accountability and employers’ opinion

Investments in HE

(individual and society level),

HE expansion

Stakeholders’ satisfaction - target of education quality management systems (Sallis, 2002)

growing concern for HE accountability and graduates’ transition to employment (EC, 2005)

Identify ST (students, parents, firms)

Acknowledge ST’s needs


Factors influencing employers’ satisfactionFactors influencing employers’ satisfaction

previous experiences, expectations, needs (implicit or explicitly presented), other socio-economical factors (financial resources,

organizational culture, and interpersonal relations)

• the way the education service is promoted

International surveys concerning International surveys concerning employers’ perspectiveemployers’ perspective

CHEERS survey, de Weert, Egbert (2007) in Teichler (ed),REFLEX survey project,National and institutional surveys


International results concerning International results concerning employers’ viewemployers’ view

Relevant criteria in evaluating the quality of education (Lagrosen, Seyyed-Hashemi , Leitner, 2004):

collaboration with the economic context, other institutions,

information and responsiveness, curricula, teaching methods, campus facilities, IT facilities, library resources internal evaluation, post-graduation opportunities.

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Bowles and Gintis (2002): the higher education seemed to be valued by employers for developing non-cognitive factors (responsibility, reliability, self discipline)


Education quality dimensions - hierarchyEducation quality dimensions - hierarchy

leit-motif – need for a more ‘realistic’, ‘practical’ educational system (Porter, McKibbin, 1988)

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Students Academics Employers

1.The values of the qualification for the career

1.The involvement of the academics in the learning process



2.The involvement of the students in the learning process

1.The values of the qualification for the career

3.Library resources 3.The institution involvement in the learning process

3.Mutual respect between teachers and students

Telford and Masson (2005) - comparative analysis of the quality dimensions for 3 categories of the stakeholders of the HE system


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Paper objective and research questionsPaper objective and research questions

Focusing on graduates’ outcomes on the labor market, the paper is focused on the employers’ opinion regarding the quality of HE graduates.

What competencies do employers need from the graduate job candidate?

What criteria do employers use in selecting graduates?

How are the university’s graduates perceived on the labor market?

The research questions are:


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Methodological designMethodological design

57 questionnaires filled in by HR personnel and management from Romanian companies

34% rate of response sample:

various sizes (50% of the companies were of small micro size),

private and state owned companies, service and manufacturing

9 in-depth interviews with employers from the companies surveyed (managers)

Quantitative online survey:

Qualitative interviews:


Empirical resultsEmpirical results

Main criteria in selecting graduates are: efficient use of the working time (mean 4.80) honesty and candidate’s reliability (mean 4.63) proactive attitude and solution finding (mean 4.60) consciousness, trustworthiness (mean 4.57) motivation and attitude towards work (mean 4.54)

Least important criteria: Experience on unskilled jobs (mean 2.27) Grades and results during studies (mean 2.58) Physical aspect of the candidate (2.67) Teacher recommendations (mean 2.80) Courses attended during faculty (mean 2.82)

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Employers’ hiring criteria and value of academic degrees


Job selection-undergoes two stages: screening phase (degree plays a crucial role) hiring stage (educational results play a less important role, being outbalanced by other traits)

Interviews: diplomas offer information about the year of graduation, graduates’ major and subject knowledge; grades are not important

The companies more satisfied with the quality of the higher education system appreciate more all the educational information about the candidates (r = 0.45, p<0.05);21 April 2023

Empirical resultsEmpirical results


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Empirical resultsEmpirical results With private university graduates employers place more

emphasis on the selection process

general satisfaction level regarding the quality of the graduates compared to their expectations – mean 3.2

young graduates’ advantages in job finding are: enthusiasm and motivation (30%)openness to new (22%)

Disadvantages: unrealistic expectations (32%): salary, favoring treatment.

10% do not see any disadvantage

Satisfaction with graduates’ competencies


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Empirical results Empirical results


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Concluding remarksConcluding remarksFor graduate entry level jobs, in the first screening stage, most of the employers require higher education degrees.

Non-cognitive traits, general skills are considered fundamental for employers

Employers perspective:Strength: the graduates’ theoretical knowledge and language skills

- Contrary to common assumptions, employers value the theoretical knowledge to a higher degree than expected.

Weakness: graduates‘ field specific practical knowledge

Universities should focus on: - rising the admittance standards - developing students’ practical knowledge - enforcing the connections with economical agencies


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Thank you for your attention!Thank you for your attention!

[email protected]@econ.ubbcluj.ro

employers’ viewpoint in setting the competency agenda in higher education

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