The Significance Of Graduate Attributes In Business Education - An Australian Perspective

The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)

Question:

Discuss about the significance of graduate attributes.

The significance of graduate attributes is being more and more recognized and internationally in higher education and by industry, government, and accrediting bodies. Higher education is the first step towards the career goal that an individual set. This is the phase where people have to be in a mindset of setting specific target and moving towards developing skill set. The training and skills acquired by an individual further helps that person in choosing a befitting career for oneself. In Australia apart from universities there are several other options for a student to choose from in accordance to the skill set and the knowledge he or she wants to acquire in the long run. These options may be Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes and Registered Training Organizations (RTOs). These institutes are backed by the guidelines and policies of the department of education and training in the Australian government. There are specific norms and conditions about the requirements and the facilities that are available to the students according to the guidelines.

To back up the national qualification system in the country in the year 1995 Australia qualification framework (AQF) was set up. It specifies the guidelines and rules regarding higher education, vocational education etc.

According to Kavanagh and Drennan (2008), Business academics were defined as those directly involved in lecturing within university level business undergraduate programs. Universities have their own requirements to enroll students. Grades are one of the many requirements.

People who are enrolling for business graduate are expected to be smart, think at the top of the head, use common sense to understand analyze and find creative solution for complex problems. These are some of the usual characteristic that is required by a graduate to meet the requirements of any organization. This is of course apart from the skilled training that individuals acquire in business schools. When a student steps in to the higher education system it is taken that the student is capable of preparing oneself to garner knowledge and training to develop a flourishing career (John 2009)

Some of the common qualities of a business graduates are: being a good leader: An individual who is a business graduate and is looking for a job in the industry he or she should have the quality to lead a group of people who will be working under the person. Commitment is another common attribute that an organization looks for when hiring a business graduate. If there is a lack of commitment in the person towards the institution then that person will also not have his full heart in the job which will affect the business in the long run.

Requirements for Business Graduates in Australia

On the feet thinking ability: Apart from the academic knowledge that business education offers a student the person is also expected to have a good common sense and quick and creative in finding out solutions of the problems that are encountered. The management graduates are supposes to have a vision which will help in the development and policy making of the organization. A business graduate is expected to be far sighted to be able to at least work in a direction of the benefit of the organization. A management graduate is also expected to be respectful and have integrity in his or her nature so that the people who are working under him or her will be able to (Forbes.com, 2017).

According to Jackson and Chapman (2012), there is a huge requirement for skilled management graduates in Australia. These skills have to be technical as well as non technical so that these students are ready for the job they are going to undertake once they are out of the colleges and institutes. There authors recognize the skill gaps in the graduates by carrying out primary research.

They found that there are few disparities in between the academic curriculum and employer skill ratings of certain workplace behaviors. Some employers do believe that though there are certain non technical skill sets among the fresh graduates there are some vital elements of managerial skills that are missing.

On the other hand the report by Azevedo, Apfelthaler and Hurst (2012), suggest the growing importance of the quality of education in the last two decades. Because of some of the external factors like concrete global competition, dynamic nature of consumer needs; higher education institutes constantly face demand for accountability, transparency and comparability. This is also dependent often some of the internal factors like the quality management initiatives and internationalization efforts etc. the authors also go on to say that there is very little that has been researched or done about the undergraduate or the primary level of business education which further effects the quality in the higher education as elementary education is the fundaments of the knowledge acquired by an individual.

Graduate abilities and attributes need development and incorporation, attributes like critical thinking and critical reflection, has proved challenging in business education (Treleaven & Voola, 2008). In this report the authors have mentioned the significance of having a constructive and packed management course that is at par with the positive graduate attributes so that the students are “job-ready” in the industry they are hired in.

Skills gaps and challenges

According to the authors the required graduate attributes are academic knowledge and skills aligned with the selection requirements of the company, development of the aware mess among the students regarding the necessary attributes, the learning process should have the future prospect of the students in the education system and the curriculum should be based on realism, generic or non technical skill sets should be given importance and should be given opportunities to develop , the education process should be a two way communication where the students are given the opportunity to give feedbacks to the educators and the program. The duo also suggests that there should be a wide approach to enhance the popularity, develop and integrate graduate attributes. 

If graduate attributes were to be segmented they would be basically of two types technical or hard skill set and non-technical or soft skill set. Where most of the curriculum of the business schools revolve around developing the technical skill sets of the student very less attention has been paid to soft skill development, where as many entrepreneurs and employers believe that soft skills are equally important and are very rare quality to find in an individual.

Robles (2012), in his paper has stated about the importance of interpersonal or soft skills that are required in a graduate while working for a business organization. He emphasizes on the development and the training of these soft skills in the education system as well so that a business graduate is ready to join the job as soon as the completion of the course. He says these soft skills are important to imbibe by the curriculum of the business education system so as to increase the employability of the students after the course is over.  The mindset of fresh graduates are that of a student and that takes a lot of time to change and for them to think like a professional. In this report the author has identified the top 10 soft skills that are deemed to be most important by business executives: integrity, communication, courtesy, responsibility, social skills, positive attitude, professionalism, flexibility, teamwork, and work ethic.

On the other hand, Jackson and Chapman (2012), have interviewed and surveyed to gather information from two hundred and eleven Australian employers to come to a conclusion and build a set of business graduate attribute profiles which precisely mirror the present requirements of Australia employers. The authors suggest that there are three clusters graduates that they have put together through the samples gathered. The groups were ‘Manager’, ‘People Person’ and ‘Business Analyst’ and provide an insight of the Australian industry’s prime requirements of business graduates. In the studies the repeated importance of technical or hard skills were brought to the forefront. But he also states that a lot of people who have been surveyed have mentioned that for the ‘Manager’ and ‘People Person’ profiles an increasingly significant portion of undergraduate curriculum should be focused on developing emotional intelligence, leadership skills, creativity and social skills kind of soft skills.

Soft Skills for Business Graduates

The duo further mentions that it is just not any one part of the skill set that is important rather it is the balance of the two types of skills that are required for a job-ready graduate.

In the paper Harris (2009), points out the different types of ways in which knowledge that is acquired, levels of the knowledge process, assessment of the classes and standards are put together.  By analyzing various academic standards so that students are of the employers expectation levels, the authors has said that the  higher education systems are now more concentrated on the  nature, quality, and level of student learning.

The author in his report with the help of the corporate code of ethics developed 18 cases for evaluating business students’ for the employers while interviewing them for hiring. In the paper he has mentioned the 5 pressure point areas, which are (a) unethical behavior being failed to report, (b) misuse and improper delegation of company assets, (c) conflict of interest in between the employer and the employee or lack of company commitment, (d) inaccurate accounting records by way of channel stuffing (offering a deep discount to customers to overbuy), and (e) trading on inside information. He states that the main intention study was to make teachers and educators become aware of students’ mannerisms and objective, which may further violate the code (Persons, 2009).

According to Martin and Mahat (2017), there has been an observed rise in trend of Australian universities to show that their students have received knowledge and skills sets as specified by them in the form of graduate attributes or institutional learning outcomes. In this paper the authors have marked the general skill set that are suitable for undergraduate courses at the national level. The research has been conducted by the authors keeping in mind two perspectives one is from the institutions point of view about the graduate attributes and the other is from the perspective of the national guidelines or the framework that suggests some criterions.  The authors says that one of the determinants that has led to an considerable change on Australian higher education and the learning systems of students involve the shift from elite to mass education that has taken place over the last two decades. He also says that in Australia there is one of the main concern areas that has originated as a direct result of the mass education system is that the quality of education has dropped substantially.  Another determinant of the change in the education system is the financial burden on the students of the tuition fee. The point that this research needs to focus on from this paper is that the higher education has now become an investment from which graduates expect an employment and monetary return.

Business Graduate Attribute Profiles in Australia

As the previous literatures show that there is a constant reminder about the significance of the soft skills along with the hard skills in a graduate to successfully meet the requirements of the employers. Similarly, Boyatzis (2009) says to maximize the performance of the workplace several present and future manager models should be studies to develop effective management skills set.

In the report Yorke (2014), has analyzed the accountability and the standard policies regarding the learning standards of the assessment in the higher education. He states that there is a skill gap in between what the industry requires and what the education system has to offer. He says that there have been several reforms in the guidelines by the Australian government for the development of the skilled job ready managers

Reference List:

Azevedo, A., Apfelthaler, G., & Hurst, D. (2012). Competency development in business graduates: An industry-driven approach for examining the alignment of undergraduate business education with industry requirements. The International Journal of Management Education, 10(1), 12-28.

Boyatzis, R. E. (2009). Developing emotional, social, and cognitive intelligence competencies in managers and leaders. The SAGE handbook of management learning, education and development. Sage, 439-42.

Harris, K. L. (2009). International trends in establishing the standards of academic achievement in higher education. An independent report and analysis.

Jackson, D., & Chapman, E. (2012). Empirically derived competency profiles for Australian business graduates and their implications for industry and business schools. The International Journal of Management Education, 10(2), 112-128.

Jackson, D., & Chapman, E. (2012). Non-technical skill gaps in Australian business graduates. Education+ Training, 54(2/3), 95-113.

John, J. (2009). Study on the nature of impact of soft skills training programme on the soft skills development of management students. Pacific Business Review, 10(12), 09.

Kavanagh, M. H., & Drennan, L. (2008). What skills and attributes does an accounting graduate need? Evidence from student perceptions and employer expectations. Accounting & Finance, 48(2), 279-300.

Martin, L., & Mahat, M. (2017). The Assessment of Learning Outcomes in Australia: Finding the Holy Grail. AERA Open, 3(1), 2332858416688904.

Persons, O. (2009). Using a corporate code of ethics to assess students' ethicality: Implications for business education. Journal of Education for Business, 84(6), 357-366.

Robles, M. M. (2012). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), 453-465.

Forbes.com. (2017). The 10 Skills Employers Most Want In 2015 Graduates. Retrieved 21 August 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/11/12/the-10-skills-employers-most-want-in-2015-graduates/#77e5b9712511

Treleaven, L., & Voola, R. (2008). Integrating the development of graduate attributes through constructive alignment. Journal of marketing education, 30(2), 160-173.

Yorke, J. D. (2014). Accountability and quality policies relating to learning standards, and their implications for assessment in higher education.