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Employability Skills of Public University Students: A Mismatch between Importance and Competence

This article is based on a cross-sectional study conducted towards 150 third-year undergraduate students in a local public university. The study was conducted mainly to investigate the students’ perceptions of the importance of a set of employability skill and their perceived level of competence at performing these skills. The skills are categorized into five groups, namely: (1) problem-solving and analytic skills; (2) time management skills; (3) creativity, innovation, and change skills; (4) learning skills; and (5) personal strength. Data was collected using questionnaires. The findings revealed a mismatch between the students’ perception of the importance of the skills and their level of competency for these skills. In specific, they perceived that this set of employability skills is highly important, however, their level of competency is at a moderate level. This finding signifies the need for the university to embed these skills into the curriculum, as well as to conduct more programmes in order to prepare these future graduates for the job market.