I’Ve Just Graduated. Do You Want To Be My Employer? Skills Mismatches For Tertiary Graduates

This paper addresses the issue of educational contents and learning outcomes in higher education. This is an up-to-date subject, if we take into account the development of education systems and the European and national contexts in which this massification of education occurs. Europe 2020 strategy speaks of a smart economic development, which is only possible with efficient investments in education, research and innovation. Therefore, strategic objectives suppose the increase of the employment rate and the share of university graduates in the population aged 30-34 years. So far, Romania has a lot to recover in order to achieve these objectives. One of the main issues raised by the European Union aims the weak relationship between business and academia and the inconsistency between the professional training and the requirements found on the labour market. All are expressed by high unemployment rate recorded for higher education graduates. Our paper takes into account three essential pillars in training of human resources: universities as educational service providers, students, as main beneficiaries of these services and employers, who are able to assess the match between the skills acquired by graduates and those required in the socio-economic environment. Research objectives aim the descriptions of occupational standards available for two fields of study: Sociology and Social work, identification of the academic and professional careers of students who graduated the study programs from the two fields and the opinion of employers regarding their employees. Our research has three data sources. First of all it involves an analysis of the contents found in official descriptions of occupational standards, then we use the data obtained in an online survey with BA and MA graduates (N=113) and the data from a survey among employers of graduates from these study programs (N= 69 organizations, 113 graduates). This paper focuses on the analysis of competences transmitted within study programs, their correspondence in terms of occupational standards and employment of graduates. The main conclusion of our research indicate that it is recommended a closer and stronger relationship between the three entities involved in the organization of study programs (universities, students, employers), structuring the curriculum and establishing performance standards to assess the skills acquired during years of study. Educational contents and the descriptors of structural elements of professional skills must be constantly updated in this sense. Only in this way, there will be a real correspondence between university training and the demands of the labour market. Our research was conducted within SocioPlus project, Training, documentation and access services for students in BA and MA programs in sociology and social work, funded by the European Union - POSDRU/156/1.2/G/139751.