An Assessment of Skill Mismatch Between What the Industry Desires and What NBS & S3H Graduates Offer

Abstract

Over the past few years it has been witnessed that even with an increase in the number of graduates there is lack of job satisfaction as they are finding it difficult to outperform at their workplaces. This paper aims to find the extent of mismatch between the skills demanded by the employers that were divided into eight different sectors and the skills that NUST School of Social Sciences and Humanities (NS3H) and NUST Business School (NBS) inculcate in its graduates. Nineteen skills were grouped into four different sections; knowledge, interpersonal skills, communication skills and work skills. By using descriptive statistics and t- test we found the extent of mismatch for each of the skills. Two hypotheses were tested: NBS & S3H inculcate the relevant skills desired by the market in its undergraduate students and NBS & S3H university graduates provide a better skill set to the market as compared to other universities‟ undergraduate students. The results showed that the greatest mismatch existed for skills such as judgment, ability to take initiative, ability to link theory to practice, ability to design system component and motivation. This paper also recommends some policies that the institutions and employers can implement for the future.