期刊名称：Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education
电子版ISSN：1175-2882
出版年度：2002
卷号：3
期号：2
页码：19-28
出版社：New Zealand Association for Cooperative Edcuation
摘要：In this paper we report the views of science and technology sector employers about the importance of a variety of workplace competencies. Employers of students from the University of Waikato’s cooperative education program completed a questionnaire (n=172) in which they rated the relative importance of a list of 24 workplace competencies (using a 7-point Likert scale) for new graduates entering the workforce now, and for new graduates who will do so in 10 years time. The survey instrument, taken from the literature, was that used to investigate the views of business sector stakeholders (employers, graduates and students) and science and technology students. According to science and technology employers, the top competencies required for new science and technology graduates are; ability and willingness to learn, teamwork and cooperation, initiative, and analytical thinking with concern for order, quality and accuracy, computer literacy, and written communication skills rated next most important. As with employers of business students, the science and technology employers considered all competencies to be important but the latter saw little change in the importance of these competencies in 10 years time. The results of the present work show that the science and technology employers rated both ‘hard’ skills and ‘soft’ skills as important, but they placed more emphasis on hard skills than science and technology students or business sector stakeholders.
