Determinants of Graduate Employability : A Study of UUM's Graduates

This study was conducted as a consequence of Malaysian society’s growing concern over the issue of graduate employability recently. As a group of institutions which is responsible for producing human resource for the competitive labour market, the higher education institutions (HEls) need to ensure that they produce graduates with employability skills that fulfill employers’ requirements. After reviewing Bandura’s (1986) Social Learning Theory, and Nonaka’s (1!291) four modes of knowledge conversion, this study had decided to focus on graduates’ perception towards campus climate as a learning and development medium. It involved the perception among University Utara Malaysia’s (UUM) graduates. The study emphasized on work experience and transferable skill development through the environment provided by the university. This was linked to the recent labour market scenario where employers were inclined to recruit graduates with transferable skills and experiences. The assessment of courses or programmes offered was also included. This study focused on the relationship between campus climate and the development of transferable skills. This was based on the social learning theory which argued that most of the learning process occurs through social context. In addition, this study also viewed the graduates’ perceptions towards how tacit knowledge or work experience were disseminated in the university environment. It was found that the UUM’s environment had a significant relationship with transferable skill development among their students. Although some significant relationship existed, the university could still improve the environment further as the relationships between both variables (university’s environment and transferalble skill development) were found to be low. The improvement of the university’s environment could assure that university could produce quality and competitive graduates in the future. These characteristics could serve as important assets for the graduates in a challenging labour market