Identifying Graduate Employability Skills: A Case of IT Graduates in India

Abstract

Purpose: Empirical evidences on employability reiterate that learners graduating from higher education are do not possess employability skills. This is due to mismatch between desired and available employability skills among the learners. This skill gap is more intense in the graduates of technical and professional programs. Considering this scenario, it becomes prime responsibility of the higher education system to identify the relevant graduate employability skills to enrich their learners with relevant employability skills so as to make them job-ready. This study aims to identify the key employability skills of IT graduates and relevant constructs of these skills.

Research Design/ Methodology: A qualitative study was conducted to identify employability skills required by IT graduates followed developing key constructs of each skills to be demonstrated by the learners. This qualitative research falls under descriptive research by analyzing the current market demand of skills for IT graduates.

Findings: The study identified eight key employability skills for IT graduates followed by the key constructs for these employability skills. The skills and their constructs identified in this research are contemporary in nature and represent the latest trend in the IT industry in India.

Originality/ Value: This study will help the HE institutes to identify programme relevant employability skills and their constructs. This will help them to deploy these skills in the curriculum delivery components so that learners graduating from these programs are employable. This study will also helpful for the IT graduates to develop these skills among them to become job ready.

Paper Type: Case Based Study