All hands on deck to bridge the graduate skill gap

A 2018 Bloomberg survey that featured and assessed 200 senior-level workers on four primary themes – preparedness, skills, collaboration and planning – found that 65% of corporations and 56% of academic institutions viewed graduates as ill-prepared in some way.

Soft skills were a particular area of concern, with 34% of corporations and 44% of academic institutions reporting that graduates possessed hard skills but lacked the necessary soft skills to perform at a high level in the workplace.

The data gathered in the “Global Skills Gap in the 21st Century” report by QS Intelligence Unit (2018) shows similar results. This report presents that there are two defining measures of skills: the weight of importance employers place on a particular skill; and the perceived employer satisfaction with this skill in the graduates they hire. The gap exists when there is a mismatch between the two factors.

For almost all skills, the number of employers satisfied with a particular skill does not match the number of those who regard that skill as important. The report went further to reveal that the graduate skills gap is a global and widespread issue. These skill gaps exist across regions, countries and firms of varying sizes, though there are divergences between regions and countries.

Overall, across the globe, problem solving, the ability to work in a team and communication are considered to be the most important skills. There is a large skills gap in relation to problem solving, with employers giving it an importance factor score of 96, but a satisfaction factor score of just 67. The most pronounced skills gap across the board emerges in resilience/dealing with conflict. This ranked as the seventh most important skill yet achieved a satisfaction factor score of just 58.

In the context of Asia Pacific, problem-solving, teamwork and communication are regarded as the most important skills, with teamwork as the skills with the narrowest gap between importance and satisfaction. The narrowest gap of all assessed skills in Asia Pacific, it turns out, is subject knowledge.

That indicates that while new graduates may have the expected subject knowledge of their jobs of choice, there are other skills that are not transferred well from educational institutions to the workplace. This is a real problem that our government is aware of, which led Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology Nadiem Makarim to push for project-based learning, which interestingly focuses on problem-solving, teamwork and communication.

Yet how did we end up here? And what can we do to bridge the gap? Let us assess this, as we need to find the roots to find the solutions.

A study by Ejiwale (2014) offered several factors, including lack of employers’ involvement in curriculum development. This particular factor, fortunately, is something we can do something about, and better now rather than later. The industry should have a say in how the upcoming graduates are educated.

The Finery Report had the opportunity to interview Head of Visual Communication Design (New Media) Study Program of Sampoerna University Tombak Matahari to learn more about how an academic institution these days is responding to such a challenge.

“In Sampoerna University, to be a lecturer, one must be an expert in his or her field. For example, if somebody is teaching mechanical engineering, then he or she must at least hold a doctoral degree. That is from the academic side, but the learning methods these days are different. In Sampoerna University, lecturers should not only have the required academic background, but the relevant professional background as well,” he shared.

He finds the lecturers’ professional experience to be essential, as lecturers must understand how things operate in their respective industries to effectively transfer the knowledge to students. Updating the curriculum to ensure they respond to the ever-changing world is crucial as well.

According to Tombak, the academic curriculum must stay organic and dynamic, in line with the changing times. “We understand the need to remain dynamic. In fact, Education, Culture, Research and Technology Minister Nadiem Makarim encourages us to continue updating the curriculum. The curriculum should be reviewed every year, by internal and external parties, such as associations and industry representatives,” he continued.

For example, he will soon meet with an Indonesian e-commerce giant to gain input about the curriculum and learning process. The industry will provide feedback and insights that will prove valuable to prepare students for real jobs.

The industry influence does not end there, the university is also equipped with industry standard facilities; the Visual Communication Design (New Media) program in particular, has motion capture facilities and a creative lab to encourage the development of skills relevant to industry needs.

Sampoerna University holds the Bright Future Festival (BFF) every year as its way to better prepare its graduates for the world of work. The festival featured webinars, a job fair that allowed students to meet recruiters from various companies, a CV review session by experts, as well as mock interview simulations hosted by top industry practitioners.

Having said that, efforts from educational institutions such as Sampoerna University are not enough to answer this challenge.

Beyond the lack of employers’ involvement in curriculum development, Ejiwale (2014) also listed poor preparation of students in elementary and high schools, lack of STEM education and diversity in STEM industry, poor communication skills by college graduates, lack of learning how to learn skills by students, poor marketing of available jobs, lack of company investments in training, poor estimation of STEM worker demands, lack of clarity on the skills needed and lack of job training by lecturers.

As such, all hands must be on deck to solve this problem once and for all. Industries, students, educators, employers and the government must join hands to close the skills gap.

An environment that cultivates growth of all the skills needed must be created together, from the right curriculums to the mindset, the opportunities presented for graduates, as well as adequate training by schools and employers. It is on all of us, not only students and educators.