| dc.description.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
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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,
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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
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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.
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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. | en_US |
