2nd December 1998

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Universities and institutes of further education, and students and employers in Northern Ireland will have to work together much more closely if there is not to be a gap between the skills business and industry wants and those which are taught.

This is just one of the findings from a two-year initiative funded through the Department of Education, the results of which will be presented at a special conference in Belfast on Thursday, 3 December, chaired by Sir Kenneth Bloomfield.

The initiative, entitled Personal Development and Graduate Skills for Employment, also revealed that most people at university here would prefer to work for a small or medium sized firm.

The initiative surveyed the business community, staff in the higher education sector and students and graduates. It included input from almost 300 employers across the private sector and more than 600 academic staff from the University of Ulster, Queen's University and the Open University.

Among the report's recommendations is the establishment of a joint industrial and educational approach to educational and career guidance in higher education. In particular, it suggests the establishment of a Northern Ireland-wide forum for guidance services and a special working group incorporating employers and those working in higher education.

The initiative also reports what it calls a 'skills gap': a difference between those skills which employers think are most important and those which academics and students consider the most essential. It found that students tend to overrate the importance of their potential leadership skills and the role that Information Technology will play in their future career. "Students underestimated the importance of things such as teamwork, a willingness to learn, and the self-management skills of time management and establishing priorities.

"Focus group discussion highlighted some of the reasons for the difference in perception. Employers' activities tend to be driven by economic imperatives, making them more task orientated and concerned with process and economic outcomes," it said.

While there was a large amount of agreement between employers about the top five skills needed in the workplace, the order of those qualities depended on the size of the firm:

"Around half the employers in small organizations consider that negotiation and initiative are the most important skills which graduates need to develop when entering the workplace.

"Employers in large organizations perceive that business acumen and decisiveness are the most critical areas for improvement."

Most students surveyed expressed a preference to work in small and medium sized enterprises.

"This could bode well for our type of economy, particularly if more students stay at home. However, graduates in such firms have generally to perform a wider range of tasks often in environments of low technology.

"We need to ensure that post-recruitment support is there, particularly for those firms which have no tradition of employing graduates," reported the initiative.

Most students, particularly women, felt that for a job to be attractive to them it had to be interesting and challenging (81%); a competitive salary was the second biggest attraction in a job (73%) while a lot of students (59%) valued long-term security in a post.

The survey revealed that 48 % of students hoped to get work in Northern Ireland after their studies and 15% were determined to leave the province. (The remainder did not show a preference.)

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk