Engineering Graduates' Skill Acquisition and Employers Skill Need as applied to Science Education in Ethiopia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33830/ijrse.v5i2.1607Keywords:
Engineering graduates, Skill acquisition, Skill needed, Science educationAbstract
Demand for relevant skills and competences have increased with changing science and technology, globalization, and the intensity and complexity of the business environment across the world. This study investigated levels of engineering graduate skill acquisition and employers' skill needs as applied to science education. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study employed both primary and secondary sources of data. The study involved 275 participants recruited using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Data were analyzed using the mean, standard deviation, and one-way ANOVA. The study found a wider mismatch between levels of higher education supply and labor market needs for indicators of academic, technical, interpersonal, and generic skills. While higher education moderately equipped engineering graduates with the majority of indicators of these skill sets, labor market needs for the same skills remain high. The mismatches between the demand and supply of skills have several implications, it compromises firms' productivity, result in market losses, hamper economic growth, competitiveness, and innovative capacity at the macro-economic level, decrease quality human capital by discouraging investment in education and training, and challenge graduates in finding jobs suitable for their field of study. These require universities and employers to conduct real labor market skills' needs assessments before designing training curriculum; shifting curriculum delivery from theory-focused to practical-oriented modes of teaching and ensuring learners' acquisition of skills demanded by employers; and establishing strong and sustainable linkages between industries and training institutes. It is also good if future research focuses on skills employees acquire at work through experience and factors attributed to mismatches between higher education skill supply and employers' skill needs.
Downloads
References
Abate, T., Michael, K., Angell, C. (2021). Upper primary students’ views Vis-à-Vis scientific reasoning progress Levels in Physics. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2021, 17(5), 1958. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/10834.
Abdulbasit, K. & Seyoum, Y. (2021). Status of learning facilities for primary school physics curriculum implementation in Eastern Ethiopia. International Journal of Educational Research Review, 6 (3), 218-225.
Abeje Berhanu (2015). The social sciences at the crossroads: Challenges and opportunities at Addis Ababa University. JHEA/RESA 12 (1), 93-110. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/jhigheducafri.12.1.93.
Asai, Kentaro, Thomas Breda, Audrey Rain, Lucile Romanello, and Marc Sangnier. "Education, skills and skill mismatch. A review and some new evidence based on the PIAAC survey." (2020): 114-p. URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-02514746.
Azmi, Aini Najwa, Yusri Kamin, and Muhammad Khair Noordin. "Competencies of engineering graduates: what are the employer’s expectations." International Journal of Engineering & Technology 7, no. 2.29 (2018): 519-523. https://doi: 10.14419/ijet.v7i2.29.13811.
Berhe Mekonnen Beyene and Tsegaye Gebrekidan Teklesilassie. 2018. The State, Determinants, and Consequences of Skills Mismatch in the Ethiopian Labour Market. EDRI Working Paper 21. Addis Ababa: Ethiopian Development Research Institute.
Branine, Mohamed, and Alex Avramenko. "A comparative analysis of graduate employment prospects in European labour markets: A study of graduate recruitment in four countries." Higher Education Quarterly 69, no. 4 (2015): 342-365. https://doi: 10.1111/hequ.12076.
Collet, Christopher, and Damian Hine. "Employability skills for knowledge intensive industries: Employers' perspectives." In Proceedings of the 2015 International Conference on Learning and Teaching, pp. 1-11. Temasek Polytechnic, 2015.https://eprints.qut.edu.au/101516/
Creswell, John W., and Cheryl N. Poth. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage publications, 2016.
Fanta, Haile Mekonnen, Zeleke Siraye Asnakew, Petros Kibebew Debele, Sifelig Taye Nigatu, and Aragaw Mulu Muhaba. "Analysis of supply side factors influencing employability of new graduates: A tracer study of Bahir Dar University graduates." Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability 10, no. 2 (2019): 67-85.
Fitriani, Heni, and Saheed Ajayi. "Preparing Indonesian civil engineering graduates for the world of work." Industry and Higher Education 36, no. 4 (2022): 471-487. https:// DOI: 10.1177/09504222211046187.
Getahun, Mohammed, and Deresse Mersha. "Skill gap perceived between employers and accounting graduates in Ethiopia." Financial Studies 24, no. 2 (88) (2020): 65-90. ISSN 2066-6071.
Green, Francis. "Skills demand, training and skills mismatch: A review of key concepts, theory and evidence." Foresight, Government Office for Science (2016). http://hdl.voced.edu.au/10707/422302.
Humburg, M., van der Velden, R., & Verhagen, A. (2013). The Employability of Higher Education Graduates: The Employers’ Perspective, Final report. Brussels: European Union. https://DOI: 10.2766/54258.
Hunde, A., Tegegne, K. (2010). Qualitative Exploration on the Application of Student-centered Learning in Mathematics and Natural Sciences: The Case of Selected General Secondary Schools in Jimma. Ethiopian Journal of Education and Science, 6 (1), 41-58.
Jote, Tamiru. "Exploring employment status and education–job match among engineering graduates in Ethiopia: policy implications." International Journal of African Higher Education 4, no. 1 (2017). https://doi.org/10.6017/ijahe.v4i1.10249.
Karorsa, D. L., & Polka, W. S. (2015). The Equity-Quality Dilemma of Higher Education Expansion: A Goal-Oriented Planning Approach for Maintaining High-Quality Standards in Ethiopia. Educational Planning, 22(3), 19-35.
Kaushal, Urvashi. "Empowering engineering students through employability skills." Higher Learning Research Communications 6, no. 4 (2011): 4. https://doi.org/10.18870/hlrc.v6i4.358.
Keneley, Monica, and Beverley Jackling. "The acquisition of generic skills of culturally diverse student cohorts." Accounting Education 20, no. 6 (2011): 605 623.https://doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2011.611344.
Kusmawan, U. (2018). Online Microteaching: a Multifaceted Approach to Teacher Professional Development. Journal of Interactive Online Learning.
Kusmawan, U. (2022). A Virtual Lab As A Vehicle For Active Learning Through Distance Education. International Journal of Research in STEM Education (IJRSE), 4(2), 18–38.
Mocanu, Cristina, Ana Maria Zamfir, and Speranta Pirciog. "Matching curricula with labour market needs for higher education: state of art, obstacles and facilitating factors." Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 149 (2014): 602-606.https:// doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.08.234.
Monteiro, Silvia, Leandro Almeida, and Adela Garcia Aracil. "Graduates’ perceptions of competencies and preparation for labour market transition: The effect of gender and work experience during higher education." Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning 6, no. 2 (2016): 208-220. https://doi: 10.1108/HESWBL-09-2015-0048.
Negassa, O. (2014). Ethiopian students' achievement challenges in science education: Implications to policy formulation, AJCE, 2014, 4(1).
Olkaba, T., and E. Tamene. "Bologna Process and Reality on the Ground in Ethiopian Higher Education." Asian Journal of Educational Research 5, no. 4 (2017). ISSN 2311-6080.
Pang, Elvy, Michael Wong, Chi Hong Leung, and John Coombes. "Competencies for fresh graduates’ success at work: Perspectives of employers." Industry and Higher Education 33, no. 1 (2019): 55-65. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950422218792333.
Reda, Nigusse Weldemariam, and Mulugeta Tsegai Gebre-Eyesus. "Graduate unemployment in Ethiopia: the ‘red flag’and its implications." International Journal of African Higher Education 5, no. 1 (2018). https://doi.org/10.6017/ijahe.v5i1.10967.
Shukla, O. P., and Suresh Garg. "Skills requirements for engineering graduates: Industry perspective." IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM) 18, no. 10 (2016). https://dOI: 10.9790/487X-1810040110.
Siraye, Zeleke, Tiruneh Abebe, Mandefro Melese, and Teramaj Wale. "A tracer study on employability of business and economics graduates at Bahir Dar University." International Journal of Higher Education and Sustainability 2, no. 1 (2018): 45-63. https://doi: 10.1504/IJHES.2018.092406.
Strijbos, Jetske, Nadine Engels, and Katrien Struyven. "Criteria and standards of generic competences at bachelor degree level: A review study." Educational Research Review 14 (2015): 18-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2015.01.001.
Suleman, Fátima. "The employability skills of higher education graduates: insights into conceptual frameworks and methodological options." Higher Education 76 (2018): 263-278. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-017-0207-0.
Tesfaye, T., Yitbarek, S., & Tesfaye, A. ( 2010). Status of science education in primary schools of Addis Ababa. City Government of Addis Ababa Education Bureau.
Wongnaa, Camillus Abawiera, and Williams Kwasi Boachie. "Perception and adoption of competency-based training by academics in Ghana." International journal of STEM education 5, no. 1 (2018): 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-018-0148-x.
Yibeltal, Jerusalem. "Higher education and labor market in Ethiopia: A tracer study of graduate employment in engineering from addis ababa and Bahir Dar universities." Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2016). URI: http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/3799.
Zaharim, Azami, Y. Yusoff, Mohd Zaidi Omar, Azah Mohamed, and Norhamidi Muhamad. "Engineering employability skills required by employers in Asia." In Proceedings of the 6th WSEAS international conference on Engineering education, vol. 1, pp. 194-201. 2009. ISSN: 1790-2769.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Asmera Teshome, Jeilu Oumar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Content Licensing, Copyright, and Permissions
1. License
International Journal of Research in STEM Education has CC-BY NC or an equivalent license as the optimal license for the publication, distribution, use, and reuse of scholarly work for non-commercial purposes. The non-commercial use of the article will be governed by the Creative Commons Attribution license as currently displayed on Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Creative Commons License
2. Author’s Warranties
The author warrants that the article is original, written by the stated author(s), has not been published before, contains no unlawful statements, does not infringe the rights of others, is subject to copyright that is vested exclusively in the author and free of any third party rights, and that any necessary written permissions to quote from other sources have been obtained by the author(s).
3. User Rights
The International Journal of Research in STEM Education's objective is to disseminate articles published as free as possible. Under the Creative Commons license, this journal permits users to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work for non-commercial purposes only. Users will also need to attribute authors and this journal on distributing works in the journal.
4. Rights of Authors
Authors retain the following rights:
Copyright, and proprietary rights relating to the article, such as patent rights,
The right to use the substance of the article in future own works, including lectures and books, The right to reproduce the article for own purposes, The right to self-archive the article, the right to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the article's published version (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal (International Journal of Research in STEM Education).
The author has a non-exclusive publishing contract with a publisher, and the work is published with a more restrictive license, the author retains all the rights to publish the work elsewhere, including commercially, because she/he is not subject to the conditions of her / his own license, regardless of the type of CC license chosen.
5. Co-Authorship
If the article was jointly prepared by other authors, the signatory of this form warrants that he/she has been authorized by all co-authors to sign this agreement on their behalf and agrees to inform his/her co-authors of the terms of this agreement.
6. Termination
This agreement can be terminated by the author or International Journal of Research in STEM Education at two months’ notice where the other party has materially breached this agreement and failed to remedy such breach within a month of being given the terminating party’s notice requesting such breach to be remedied. No breach or violation of this agreement will cause this agreement or any license granted in it to terminate automatically or affect the definition of the International Journal of Research in STEM Education.
7. Royalties
This agreement entitles the author to no royalties or other fees. To such extent as legally permissible, the author waives his or her right to collect royalties relative to the article in respect of any use of the article by This agreement can be terminated by the author or International Journal of Research in STEM Education upon two months’ notice where the other party has materially breached this agreement and failed to remedy such breach within a month of being given the terminating party’s notice requesting such breach to be remedied. No breach or violation of this agreement will cause this agreement or any license granted in it to terminate automatically or affect the definition of the International Journal of Research in STEM Education or its sublicensee.
8. Miscellaneous
International Journal of Research in STEM Education will publish the article (or have it published) in the journal if the article’s editorial process is successfully completed and the International Journal of Research in STEM Education or its sublicensee has become obligated to have the article published. International Journal of Research in STEM Education may conform the article to a style of punctuation, spelling, capitalization, referencing, and usage that it deems appropriate. The author acknowledges that the article may be published so that it will be publicly accessible, and such access will be free of charge for the readers.
