Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

A survey of business people, Victoria University business studies alumni and business academics revealed a strong preference for curricula, learning activities and assessments that develop professional skills and personal attributes, adding value to the student learning experience and developing graduate capabilities beyond discipline and technical knowledge. This research underscores evidence on the importance of both the cognitive and dispositional dimensions of critical thinking and the skills and attributes of effective problem solvers. Employers are increasingly looking for balanced graduates: capable, motivated, self-aware, effective communicators with a sense of a future in which work and business will be dynamic and ever-changing.

Keywords

business curriculum graduate capabilities graduate skills skills needs

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

ACNeilsen Research Services (2000), Employer Satisfaction with Graduate Skills: Research Report, Departmentof Education, Training, and Youth Affairs, Canberra.

Anon (2003), ‘Employers prefer students with ethics’, Chartered Accountants Journal, Vol 82, December, p 63.

Anon (2003), ‘Give me ethics – that's what I want …’, New Zealand Management, Vol 50, 4 December.

Barkley

(1992), ‘Earnings of Kansas State University agriculture graduates: 1978–88’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol 74, pp 215–222.

Bennis

O'Toole

(2005), ‘How business schools lost their way’, Harvard Business Review, Vol 83, No 5, pp 96–104.

Caitlin

(2006), ‘The lessons I didn't learn in college’, Newsweek, 13 November.

Dawson

Jackson

(2006), Graduate Skills and Recruitment in the City, City of London Corporation, London.

Gammie

Cargill

(2002), ‘Personal skills development in the accounting curriculum’, Accounting Education, Vol 11, No 1, pp 63–78.

Gustafsson

U.A.

(2002), ‘School-arranged or market-governed workplace training? A labour market perspective’, Journal of Education & Work, Vol 15, pp 219–236.

10.

Gwyther

Stern

(2005), ‘What future for business schools?’, Management Today, November, pp 42–52.

11.

HEA (2006), Student Employability Profiles: A guide for Higher Education Practitioners, Higher Education Academy, York.

12.

Hyman

(2005), ‘Assessing faculty beliefs about the importance of various marketing job skills’, Journal of Education for Business, Vol 81, No 2, pp 105–110.

13.

Mintzberg

(2004), Managers Not MBAs: A Hard Look at the Soft Practice of Managing and Management Development, Berret-Koehler, San Francisco, CA.

14.

Norwood

Henneberry

(2006), ‘Show me the money! The value of college graduate attributes as expressed by employers and perceived by students’, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol 88, No 2, pp 484–498.

15.

O'Brien

Clark

(1997), ‘Graduates – their entrepreneurial role in the small firm’, Marketing Education Review, Vol 7, No 3, pp 29–37.

16.

Powell

(2005), ‘Practical makes perfect’, Director, Vol 59, November.

17.

Raybould

Wilkins

(2005), ‘Over qualified and under experienced: Turning graduates into hospitality managers’, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol 17, No 3, pp 203–216.

18.

Schmidt

(1991), ‘Marketing alumni perspectives on the educational challenges for the 1990s’, Marketing Education Review, Vol 1, No 2, pp 24–33.

19.

Stevens

(2005), ‘What communication skills do employers want? Silicon Valley recruiters respond’, Journal of Employment Counseling, Vol 42, No 1, pp 2–9.

Beyond Discipline and Technical Knowledge: Industry Perspectives on the Business Curriculum

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References