What skills does the labour market expect recent graduates to have? How can target competence development be integrated into the training of business and economics majors? The University of Pannonia is developing a complex program of solutions that will benefit all stakeholders – the university, the student and the prospective employer.
The primary aim of the program is to develop a competency map for graduates in business and economics, which will make transparent what competencies the training program has contributed to develop to students in internship, entrants and their prospective employers. The so-called Competency Mirror, which is the result of the research, reveals the competences required by the education-outcome requirements of the degree program, international educational accreditation expectations and the competences expected by local employers. The research project has been running since 2020 within the framework of the National Laboratory for Social Innovation at the University of Pannonia.
A unique methodology for improving university-business relations
The researchers from Veszprém assessed the different determinations of competences based on the OECD definition of competences and analyzed nearly a thousand job advertisements – thus identifying a total of 40 competences relevant for graduates of business and economic sciences per programme.
In the next phase of the project, workshops and focus group interviews were organized, with the participation of around 130 professionals from companies and academia. In selecting the groups, an important viewpoint was to include participants from multinational companies, large, small and medium-sized enterprises and local authorities. Focus group interviews were used to identify the range of competences related to the bachelor programmes of the university that employers considered important and necessary. The continuously available questionnaire survey has so far been completed by nearly 150 professionals.
A guide for entrants
According to the analysis of company feedback from the research shows that, in addition to professional and IT skills, soft skills are becoming increasingly important: employers expect open-mindedness, autonomy, good time management, assertive communication skills and empathy from job starters – but these skills and attitudes cannot be developed necessarily through a ‘traditional’ university curriculum.
As a result of the project, students enrolled in the University of Pannonia Business and Economics degree programme will therefore meet employers’ expectations twice, integrated into the university curriculum, and the results of the Competency Mirror will serve as a kind of orientation for them. First-year students receive general information on the importance of competences and opportunities for development, as well as on the competence expectations in their field of study. Students who are about to graduate are given a more specific assessment of employers’ tangible expectations, their competences and where they need to develop. The sessions also help students to set their own goals and prepare more consciously for employment.
The programme is a win-win for employers
By using the results of the Competences Mirror, university education will also equip students with high-quality, practical knowledge and encourage higher education institutions to adapt extra-curricular activities to the needs of prospective employers. Based on the experience of the employer workshops, the Faculty of Business and Economics University of Pannonia has developed a standardized scoring framework for oral presentations, reflecting market expectations, and has also revised the assessment of internships, focusing on the individual development of the student.
The university’s up-to-date responses are also appreciated by companies: employers are very supportive, as they can sense and see that the project is addressing important social issues. Employers are motivated to recognize what they can do to support more effective learning processes for young people at organizational level.
More information on the Skills Panorama (in Hungarian) is available here.
The original publication of the text is növekedés.hu, in accordance with the cooperation agreement with the portal.