A Study on The Connection Between the UOW Graduate Attributes and Graduate Employability Graduate Attributes Challenge 2004 Sali El-Torgoman Tony Larchez Lianne Moller

Outline Objective Objective Strategy Strategy Companies Companies Results Results Conclusion Conclusion

UOW Graduate Electrical Engineers Objective & Challenge To understand and quantify the link between:  The attributes UOW electrical engineering graduate students have  The needs and selection criteria of the companies hiring electrical engineers Employers 9 Attributes list

Strategy – Survey design Clarity Clarity Brief & focused Brief & focused Consistency Consistency Yielding pertinent & quantifiable results Yielding pertinent & quantifiable results Company context The concept of an ideal engineer Ideas for Improvements The 9 UOW attributes relevance

Strategy – Survey structure Engineers hired/year Type of engineers Training type … Company context The concept of an ideal engineer Ideas for Improvements The 9 UOW attributes relevance Understand the relevance of graduate engineer to the company

The 9 UOW attributes relevance The concept of an ideal engineer Build your ideal engineer! Unbiased results Spontaneous answer Strategy – Survey structure Analytical & Technical Core Commonsense Self Confidence Curious Sense of Improvement Ethical Interpersonal Skills Team Work Time Management Innovative Practical Company context Ideas for Improvements

Strategy – Survey structure Company context The concept of an ideal engineer Ideas for Improvements The 9 UOW attributes relevance

Strategy – Survey structure Company context The concept of an ideal engineer Ideas for Improvements The 9 UOW attributes relevance How can graduate engineers be improved for you? Could you suggest another attribute? In your opinion how relevant are the UOW graduate attributes to your organization? Employers particularly appreciated this initiative

Companies Diverse engineering fields Consultant, power engineers… Local & International Related to UOW- Illawarra

Companies

Results Analytical Skills Communication skills Time Management Innovation Customer Service Literacy Leadership Interpersonal Skills Knowledge Initiative

Results  Communication Skills  Analytical Skills  Interpersonal Skills  Time Management  Team Work  Innovation  Literacy  Independence  Ethics  Curiosity  Confidence  Sense of Improvement

Results Teamwork Research and computer literacy skills Self confidence in communication

Conclusions Being more proactive Being more proactive Customer oriented Customer oriented Stress management Stress management Time management Time management Improvements Hands on experience The 10th attribute!