Discussions

Your Name and Title:
Dr. Thi Tuyet Tran
School or Organization Name:
Institute for Employment Research, Federal Employment Agency, Germany
Co-Presenter Name(s):
Area of the World from Which You Will Present:
Nuremberg, Germany
Language in Which You Will Present:
English
Target Audience(s):
Policy makers, students, graduates
Short Session Description (one line):
Students’ misconception of their employability assets: the case in Vietnam
Full Session Description (as long as you would like):
Students’ misconception of their employability assets: the case in Vietnam
Due to the mass higher education and the call for the responsiveness of higher education institutions in the competitive knowledge economy, employability has become in vogue in the higher education context. Universities have tried to enhance knowledge and skills for their students with the expectation that the students will satisfy the needs of the employers and will be work-ready at the point of graduation. Nonetheless, the effort is not always work and the term ‘employability’ sometimes means differently in different eyes of the stakeholders.
This study investigates and compares the perspectives of employers and students/graduates on the issues of employability. The research findings were drawn from a mix method (interview and questionnaire) research project. The quantitative data from this project, which compare the perspective of 109 employers and 979 university students on a range of employability assets possessed by Vietnamese university students, reveal interesting findings. While both employers and students share a common perception of the important assets of employability in the Vietnamese workplace, their evaluation of these assets offered by university students/graduates differ significantly. While students seem to be rather confident with the knowledge and skills acquired, employers appear critical about, and not satisfy with the employability assets students/graduates possess at the point of recruitment after graduation. There is a call for more practical lessons in the university curriculum; students need to understand and prepare for the world of work better in order to develop their assets to better satisfy employers’ demand.