LEARNING APPROACH AND COMPETENCY IN RELATION TO EMPLOYABILITY IN HIGH TUITION FEE ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

The employability of university graduates has long been an irritating problem in higher education while university tuition fees have been sharply on the rise. The problem could pose a more severe threat to any high-tuition fee environment. Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other Capabilities are determining factors used by employers in recruitment and selection. Knowledge and skills can be learned/acquired through training, but abilities and others are genetically transferred or obtained through socialization. In other words, universities’ curricula can cover desired knowledge and skills, but usually not abilities and others. The focus of this dissertation is to study the influence of learning approaches and competency on business graduates’ employability in high-tuition fee environments. This dissertation addresses the graduates’ employability problem with a series of four studies using quantitative methods which are summarized as below. • Study 1 verifies Approach and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) is a reliable and valid instrument to measure learning approaches. Learning approaches and competencies are two factors which were identified as directly related to knowledge and skills. If these two factors can be measured and manipulated, it is expected that knowledge and skills can be managed to the better employability for graduates. In order to provide a reliable and valid scale to measure iv students’ learning approach, in Study 1, the abbreviated version of ASSIST was tested to be invariant throughout various languages and educational contexts. 430 Argentinean, 292 Australian, 403 Italian, 350 Turkish, and 260 Vietnamese students studying basic statistics subjects participated in this study. We used factor analysis to check whether the three-factor model remains unchanged throughout the five samples and the configural and measurement invariance are verified, and ASSIST is an appropriate measurement scale for multinational studies, and the result supports this. • Next, there are two studies (Study 2 and Study 3) about the influence of learning approaches, demographic factors on academic outcome. In Study 2, demographic factors consist of gender, parental education, admission score, mathematics preference in high school, whereas academic outcome is limited in mathematics and mathematics-related subjects. Six hundred and sixteen students participated. ASSIST is used to measure learning approach. A multiple regression analysis is performed to assess the relationship. Study 2 finds that surface learning approach is negatively related to academic outcome that is commonly known worldwide. However, strategic and deep learning approaches are discovered not to have any relationship with academic outcome. • In Study 3, demographic factors include admission score, family income, High School Grade Point Average (HSGPA), and personality, v whereas academic outcome is taken from mathematics (calculus) only. Seven hundred and ninety-five students from six universities in Ho Chi Minh city participate in this study. The multiple regression technique is used to conduct data analysis. Deep and strategic approaches are found to be positively linked to academic performance. However, surface approach is negatively linked to academic performance. The discrepancy between results in Study 2 and Study 3 indicates the assessment method of mathematics (calculus) subject is fairly good but assessment methods of mathematics and mathematics related subjects are not. When asked, instructors always want their students to devote, commit, and exert much energy into learning. In other words, instructors expect students to apply deep learning approach while studying the subjects. This raises the assessment problem of instructors in subjects in this study. Put differently, universities’ subjects and teaching methods should be designed to promote deep learning approach among students and reward them correspondingly. • In the final study (Study 4) in this dissertation, skills needed for graduates are comprehensively identified and measured using the Behavioural Competency Dictionary (BCD) of Organizational Readiness Office (ORO) as the instrumentation. Three skills from the list of 24 skills in this dictionary are removed, and the English skill is added to take the local context into account. In the 2011 survey, 70 vi International University (IU – a good representation of high-tuition fee environments in 2011) senior business students, 44 IU business graduates, and 80 employers/managers in numerous organizations participated. In the 2017 survey, 98, 79, and 209 responses were collected, respectively. In addition, the author also collected 108 responses from senior students in Hoa Sen University, University of Finance and Marketing, and University of Technical Education. The author compares the means of employability scores among various groups to decide which one is better. IU’s students have made some progress during the last six years (2011-2017) with the help of various skills clubs. However, it seems that IU graduates have still fallen short of employers’ expectation. IU students (2017) only exceed employers’ requirements at English. That is to say, the improving of IU graduates could not keep pace with the increasing requirements in the skilled labor market. Other universities’ graduates have been facing the same problems. Universities are expected to improve students’ awareness of dictionaries of competency and be more creative in developing other approaches which can close the skills gap between employers’ expectation and graduates’ possession. Numerous employability skills are better attained in practice rather than in classroom settings. Furthermore, the impacts of learned skills are quite powerful at the initial start of graduates’ career but fading fast as graduates acquire more job-specific or occupation-related skills working in practice. vii Recommended solutions include setting up centers to connect students, alumni, and employers; establishing triangle partnerships among universities, students, and employers to equip students with employability skills during their course of university schooling. The Vietnam education has been dynamic and labor market has become more and more demanding. Hence, future studies about graduate employability in high-tuition fee environments should be implemented on a regular basis to ensure universities’ graduates match the skilled-labor market’s requirements, in particular, and to assist Vietnam’s economic development needs in general.