Problem of Tyumen state University graduates’ competitiveness on the global labour market

The Russian Federation is an important member of the international labor market. That is why the Russian system of education should meet the criteria of world labour demand. But our system of education and Western one are not similar, which leads to the difference in students’ knowledge and skills acquired. The article deals with the question if our students can be competitive on the global labor market.

To be able to answer this question I conducted a survey among 300 students from 6 countries: Russia, Argentina, France, Hungary, Italy, Belgium. Students had to prioritize skills and abilities relying on their expectations of requirements on the labour market. The results were compared with the research of National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).

In 2015 the NACE, non-profit group that links college career placement offices with employers, ran a survey from mid-August through early October in which it asked hiring managers what skills and abilities they plan to prioritize when they recruit from the class of 2015 at colleges and graduate schools. NACE collected respondents from just 260 employers. NACE gave each skill a rating on a 5-point scale, where 5 was extremely important, 4 was very important, 3 was somewhat important, etc. The results in order from the most important to the less important are presented in Table 1.

Table 1

The results of NACE’s research [1]

 

	Ability to work in a team structure
	Ability to make decisions and solve problems
	Ability to communicate verbally with people inside and outside an organization
	Ability to plan, organize and prioritize work
	Ability to obtain and process information
	Ability to analyze quantitative data
	Technical knowledge related to the job
	Proficiency with computer software programs
	Ability to create and/or edit written reports
	Ability to sell and influence others

 

Employers’ expectations can be based on the results of NACE research. But do students know what skills are they expected to have? Our questionnaire was made to compare 3 points: 1) employers’ point of view and Tyumen State University (TSU) students’ predictions of skills that are needed, 2) TSU students’ predictions of required skills and what TSU graduates learnt, 3) how students of foreign universities and colleges prioritize those hard and soft skills, where hard skills are specific, teachable abilities that can be defined and measured, whereas soft skills are character traits and interpersonal skills that characterize a person's relationships with other people.

The comparison of NACE’s results and the survey conducted among TSU students has shown that students mostly rely on technical knowledge that University is supposed to give. Though students quite clearly understand what they need to know and be able to do to be successful candidates. [Table 2]

Table 2

Results of the survey conducted among current TSU students

	Skills and abilities	%
	Technical knowledge related to the job	67,4
	Making decisions and problem solving	64,6
	Communication skills
	Obtaining and processing information
	Planning and organizing work process	47,8
	Working in a team	42,4
	Proficiency with computer software programs
	Analyzing quantitative data	32,6
	Ability to sell and influence others
	Writing reports

 

Table 3 contains ranked results of the survey among TSU graduates about what skills and abilities they got during studying in TSU. One of the most important differences is that hard skills prevail over soft skills. Among them is an “ability to make decisions and solve problems” that is marked as one of the most important skills.

Table 3

Skills that TSU develops

	Skills and abilities	%
	Technical knowledge related to the job	47,9
	Working in a team	46,7
	Communication skills	42,4
	Analyzing quantitative data	40,2
	Obtaining and processing information
	Making decisions and problem solving	30,4
	Planning and organizing work process	29,3
	Writing reports	21,7
	Proficiency with computer software programs	19,6
	Ability to sell and influence others	14,1

 

As we can see, less than a half of graduates (47,9%) are not even satisfied with technical knowledgethat University is supposed to give. At the moment, graduates blame TSU for poor knowledge. To prevent such problems, Universities have to teach not only some educational material but also how to study beyond the curriculum. Then graduates should be more responsible for their educational process.

In addition, the Russian system of education is more theoretical than practical. Students learn much more than they could ever use in practice [4]. That is why students expect their knowledge to be required on the labour market.

At the same time, students of western universities could be more demanded because the skills they developed mostly meet employers’ requirements. As students understand what they should be able to do so they manage their education and self-education in order to be competitive on the global labour market. [Table 4]

Table 4

Expectations of foreign universities students of labour market requirements

	Skills	%
	Making decisions and problem-solving
	Obtaining and processing information	81,3
	Communication skills	80,4
	Working in a team	78,1
	Planning and organizing work process	76,7
	Analyzing quantitative data
	Technical knowledge related to the job	74,9
	Ability to sell and influence others	54,2
	Proficiency with computer software programs	53,4
	Writing reports

Expectations of foreign universities students of labour market requirements

According to the results of comparison Russian universities’ curriculum is aimed at students’ acquiring technical knowledge rather than developing an ability to make decisions and solve problems, which is mostly required from graduates.

In conclusion, the problem of discrepancy may be overcome by integrating new educational methods into the existing system. Organizing special courses for developing professional competences, using different kinds of knowledge testing, applying case-study method in educational process can result in developing problem solving skills as most important for current graduates of Russia’s universities, thus increasing their competitiveness on the international labour market.

 

References:

1. Forbes magazine [Web source]: URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2014/11/12/the-10-skills-employers-most-want-in-2015-graduates/#48acd1b219f6 (reference date of 13.04.16)

2. Investopedia Online Dictionary [Web source]: URL: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hard-skills.asp (reference date of 13.04.16)

3. Investopedia Online Dictionary [Web source]: URL: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/soft-skills.asp (reference date of 13.04.16)

4. Yusmanov I. Problems of the Russian system of education [Web source]: URL: http://www.epochtimes.ru/problemy-sovremennoj-rossijskoj-sistemy-obrazovaniya-98913405/ (reference date of 13.04.16)

 

Filyushina Maria

Savina Kristina

Students of the TSU

Economic faculty

Group 36E142

N.N. Kazantseva

Senior lecturer

Tyumen State University