EMPLOYER PERCEPTION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROJECT COMPETENCES IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT GRADUATES

In today's modern market the growth and development of any organisation are based on continuous project execution. For the successful execution of a project, it is essential to develop specific project competences in individuals participating at any stage of the project. Even though it is possible to develop project competences in a number of different ways, it is the higher education system, i.e. specialist study programmes focusing on the area of project management that should have the key role in this. Currently, the number of such higher education programmes in the Republic of Croatia is still insufficient but has an upward trend. The aim of this paper is to establish how much importance employers generally attach to individual elements of project competences and explore to what extent these competences are developed in project management graduates they are hiring. The research was conducted using a purposive and convenience sample of 30 organisations hiring project management graduates. Research results suggest a generally high level of significance that project competences have for such employers. The expected level of knowledge corresponds to the estimated level of the students' competence, while the expected level of experience is statistically much higher compared to the students' estimated level of competence. The results of this research can be used primarily as guidelines for further development of the given study programme and its alignment with the current needs of the labour market in the Republic of Croatia. Furthermore, this research may also serve as the basis for any future research in this field.