From Creating Knowing to Knowing How to Do

Employability is one of the most debated topics in higher education, but it has been the target of quite different interventions, according to the national and organizational contexts in which they are developed and with the privileged approaches[i]. Employability is approached from two perspectives:

Employment rates of graduates. In this perspective, the link between teaching and professional practice and the involvement of employers in the design, implementation and assessment of curriculum structures and programs can play a central role in the employability of students. The realization of internships seems to be associated with a greater probability of finding a job, and there is even evidence that job placement in employers where students previously carried out their internships is frequent.

Development of skills that are relevant to the pursuit of the mission of higher education institutions, but also valued by employers, with the expectation, once again, of their involvement in decision-making processes, namely in the structuring and programming of the curriculum (European Commission, 2014).

The role of higher education institutions (HEIs)

 
Higher education is perceived primarily by students as a means of getting a job and not so much as a context for their own personal development. Therefore, HEIs harass students with the banners of excellence and employability[ii] for courses tailored to a particular sector of activity or a company.

However, given that the unpredictable and rapid changes in the world economy have an impact on the business fabric, the training of students in universities when they finish their courses runs the risk of being out of date.

Despite greater access to education, scientific and technological advances, transformations and restructuring in the world of work worry younger generations about the professional opportunities they may have in the near future, given the current uncertainties. This increasingly qualified human potential faces the prospect of being considered surplus by the new forces of automation[iii] and information (Rifkin, 1995).

On the other hand, the number of people with a regular and full-time job is decreasing, and even these are hardly able to have the degree of security that once existed. Today, casual, short-term work proliferates, with minimal contractual guarantees and compensatory rights for breaches of the employment relationship.

In a scenario where a diploma is no longer a guarantee of work, what is the role of higher education institutions?

HEIs should choose to promote the personal and social development of students, empowering them to be critical citizens of the world, allowing them to be better able to seek their own space for personal and professional fulfillment and enabling them to face the challenges of transitioning from higher education to work. Only through critical thinking, students will be better able to understand and find creative and adapted responses to the needs and challenges that social, political and technological changes provoke (Monteiro, Santos and Gonçalves, 2018).

Today, the university faces new challenges in a society in rapid and constant change, and it is still perceived, deceptively, as the main context capable of allowing the social ascension of those who attend it.

In this context, it is possible to find some frames of reference such as the model referred to by Cunha et al. (2004) who view relevant skills in a professional context based on four dimensions: professional motivation, social skills, task-centered skills and individual psychological structure.
 

• Professional Motivation: results orientation, motivation to undertake and leadership

 

• Social skills: social intelligence, relationship development, sociability, team orientation and power of influence

 

• Task-centered skills: meticulousness, flexibility and action orientation

 

• Individual psychological structure: emotional stability, work capacity and self-confidence

 

What are companies looking for?

 
With the intensification of the pace of change, the market's demand for professionals who are better adapted to new realities and contexts has also increased, and these are valued today, not only for their experience and technical skills, but also for their transversal[1] skills, which are revealed to be many determining times for your professional success.

Asking the question whether students should be specialists or generalists is a matter of the past, currently the question is to understand whether students, in addition to the necessary specialized knowledge and skills, have general skills that promote their ability to adapt to changes in society. Therefore, it is necessary that HEIs and companies work together to prepare students for the complexities they will encounter when they leave academia and enter the labor market. (Evers et al., 1998).

Conclusions

 
The academy must adjust to the rhythm of companies, but also invest more in modular training, in order to respond to companies, for example by creating a Council with the participation of companies and business associations.

HEIs should also bet on professors with business experience through contracts and partnerships with entrepreneurs and companies, even if the traditional academic career does not contemplate this possibility.

On the other hand, there is a need to increase the professionalization of structures supporting the promotion of employability and to strengthen mechanisms for monitoring the rates of employment (quality of employment and professional trajectory of graduates).
The current reality demands more hybrid and complex profiles, capable of providing strategic vision and global approaches, which is why resilience and adaptability are two key competences.

In order to guarantee companies a profile more suited to the needs of companies, HEIs must evaluate and develop, in a more surgical way, those that are the concrete tools that distinguish students who are best able to meet the functions required by companies and by current standards competitive market. These tools are personal competences, considered as being transversal competences to several functions and also filtering for the identification of talents for organizations.

Finally, bringing academia and companies closer together creates opportunities for companies to benefit from the knowledge center par excellence such as HEIs, which, in turn, have the chance to facilitate the integration of young people into the labor market, placing those in contact with real challenges, applying the acquired knowledge.


References
 

• Cunha, M. P. e., Rego, A., Cunha, R. C. e., & Cabral-Cardoso, C. (2004). Manual de Comportamento Organizacional e Gestão. Lisboa: RH Editora.
• European Commission (2014). Modernisation of higher education in Europe. Access, Retention and Employability. Eurydice Report. Brussels: European Commission.
• Evers, Rushe Berdrow. (1998). The Bases of Competence. Skills for Lifelong Learning and Employability: ERIC.
• Livro Verde sobre Responsabilidade social e Instituições de Ensino Superior (2018). ORSIES - Observatório sobre Responsabilidade Social e Instituições de Ensino Superior.
• Monteiro, A., Santos, P. J. e Gonçalves, C. M. (2018). Significados da Educação Superior, do trabalho e da transição para o trabalho. In Maria Céu Taveira, Ana Daniela Silva, Cátia Marques e Mara Leal (eds). Desenvolvimento de Carreira e Aconselhamento: Educação, Mobilidade e Emprego. APDC Edições.
• Rifkin, J. (1995). O Fim dos Empregos: O Declínio Inevitável dos Níveis dos Empregos e a Redução da Força Global de Trabalho. São Paulo: Makron Books.