Graduates unequipped to handle economic change
Peak employer bodies have backed Julia Gillard’s call for universities and vocational providers to better prepare graduates for the workforce so they can cope with economic change and rapid structural adjustments.
The Australian Industry Group, the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Chamber of Commerce have told Higher Education Services that while employers are generally satisfied with the quality of graduates, universities still need to do more work on developing student job skills such as communication, teamwork and problem-solving.
Ai Group education and training director Megan Lilly has expressed her concern that current graduates are unequipped to handle the financial crisis.
“They (universities and vocational providers) need to develop students with transferable skills able to cope with structural adjustment; they need more transferable technical skills so people aren’t stuck when the economy shifts on them.”
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Transferable technical skills is kinda like an oxymoron. What you need is the opposite: core skills. This is unfortunately now old-fashioned and unsexy, but liberal arts degrees or equivalent focus on reading, thinking, analysis has significant more lifetime value than any specific technical skills. these skills are necessary to execute tasks in jobs (by definition) and have a built-in redundancy as technology evolves.