Graduates' emotional competency: aligning academic programs, firms' requirements and students' profiles

This study explores the still under-investigated phenomenon of the development of behavioral competencies in higher education settings. We carried out a study on a sample of graduate students enrolled in different disciplinary academic programs in a public University located in northern Italy. We analyzed their emotional, social and cognitive competencies (by adopting a research method that includes a multi-rater approach), comparing them with those expected by a sample of recruiting companies and with those developed by the teachers. Moreover, this study provides preliminary evidence on the impact of a set of characteristics related to the academic learning environment (such as the method of study and the teaching methods), and of a set of non-academic activities (such as participation in cultural associations) on the students’ competency profile, correlating these variables with single competencies and clusters, and controlling for the background characteristics of graduates. The results show a significant possession of emotional and social competencies by the students. They also show that the teachers consider behavioral competencies only partially as educational targets, and that the students’ and firms’ perspectives present a higher alignment. Findings show that some learning activities, such as learning by absorbing, experiencing individually and in groups are associated to the emotional and social competency profile of the students. Moreover, we found positive associations between competencies and students’ involvement in non-academic activities. Implications about the alignment between the academic curricula and the firms’ requirements are discussed, as are the students’ competency development opportunities in the higher education context