ABSTRACT
An important objective of any degree programme is to prepare students for the workplace. Professional studies students have what can be regarded as an additional benefit or hurdle—they expect to join a particular profession and have a clearly identified career path. In return, employers often expect graduates of such courses to be instantly able to fee-earn. Academics involved with such courses have to balance these expectations of employers with broader educational aims that will prepare graduates to be adaptable to changing work practices and future market skills needs. This paper discusses the design and results of a paired sample survey of graduates and their employers in a department offering four degree programmes in construction and real estate, exempting graduates from professional examinations. The questionnaire survey results are a quantitative and qualitative analysis which compares a) important skills required of any graduate employee and b) assessment of skills achievement of a particular graduate. Graduates were asked to rate a list of 22 general skills for their importance and their estimation of their personal achievement of those skills. Their employers were asked to rate the importance of those same skills and their estimation of the achievement of those skills by a named graduate that they supervised.
The results are presented graphically and can be seen as both an indication of current estimation of importance and achievement of skills by graduates and employers and those areas where course provision needs improvement. The survey is therefore a useful tool for both quality assurance (as a course-management feedback mechanism) and curriculum design that could have applicability to a wide range of professional programmes.
