A recent report in the ‘Monitor’ section of Industry and Higher Education, which referred to the disagreement between industry and academic leaders on key issues in education as a ‘cultural gulf’, prompted reflection on the widespread perception of the inadequacy of educational systems to develop in their graduates skills appropriate for the workforce. It is argued in this paper, from the perspective of an academic teaching accounting and communications, that these perceptions are based, in part, on the language commonly used to describe competency-based education. Language issues plus the distinct cultural differences between education and work, contribute to a disparity between educational objectives on the one hand and employer expectations on the other.
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