Exploring business graduates employability skills and teaching/learning techniques

The purpose of this study is to identify a set of employability skills required for business graduates. The study also sets to determine teaching/learning techniques that are effective in acquiring these employability skills. Data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of 5-point Likert-scale questions. Respondents are from 43 industry professionals, including human resource managers, 44 faculty members working in higher educational institutions, and 450 graduates working in various organisations. Findings indicated that, although ranked differently, overall graduates and industry professionals are on the same page in terms of required employability skills. The respondents also regard organisational skills, entry-level digital skills, problem-solving skills, teamwork, subject-related skills, goal-oriented characteristics, communication capabilities, decision-making abilities and creativity as highly required employability skills. In contrast, graduates and faculty members have different views about teaching/learning techniques required to gain the targeted employability skills. The findings of this study would be useful to policy makers in understanding the required employability skills for business graduates and also, the teaching/learning techniques that are suitable in achieving these employability skills.