Employability Skill Development in Higher Education: Students’ and Faculty Members’ Perspectives

• Author / Creator

  Gregory, Emily Margaret

• Employability is one’s ability to obtain and maintain employment, and employability skills are the skills that support this goal, such as working with others and communication. Government, employers, and students expect higher education institutions to prepare graduates for the world of work. However, there is a limited research on students’ perspectives about their employability development through their academic programs. This mixed methods study embedded employability skills in three academic courses in order to gain insight into both undergraduate students’ and faculty members’ perspectives on employability skill development in academic courses. Results demonstrate that employability is important to these students and that they expect it to be addressed in their academic programs. Students were aware of developing employability skills, but were less aware of the specific skills they possess and need to work on. The faculty members involved in the study addressed employability to differing degrees in their courses, yet each of them recognizes its importance to students. This study supports the development of employability initiatives in higher education and highlights that both students and faculty members can benefit from support in identifying and assessing the employability skills practiced in academic courses.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Employability
  • Student Affairs
  • Higher Education

• Graduation date

  Fall 2020

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Education

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-21g7-fm68

• License

  Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.