Strong and weak points of study programme

When asked for three strong points of their study programme, graduates from all countries/regions very consistently mentioned analytical thinking, mastery of one’s own field or discipline and the ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge (see Table 4.4). Interestingly, none of these were mentioned in the top three of competences for which they had a surplus. One might also think that competences that are rarely in

MASTERY PERF. UNDER PRESSURE

USE TIME NEGOTIATE ASSERT AUTHORITY PRESENT TO AUDIENCE FOREIGN LANGUAGE MOBILIZE OTHERS

MAKE MEANING CLEAR OTHER FIELDS ALERTNESS NEW IDEAS WRITING COORDINATE ANALYTICAL THINKING WORK WITH OTHERS

QUESTION IDEAS ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE COMPUTERS/INTERNET 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20 s u rp lu s ( % ) shortage (%)

shortage in graduates’ work might be evaluated rather highly, but this also does not seem to be the case: mastery of one’s own field or discipline was the number one shortage in the NCMS, but is nonetheless rated as one of the main strong points of higher education in these countries.

Table 4.4:

Top 3 strong points and top 3 weak points of study programme, by country and European region*

NCMS REFLEX

Total EE LT PL CZ HU SI TR All NE SE

Strong points

mastery of own field or discipline 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

analytical thinking 1 2 1 3 1 2 2 2 2

ability to rapidly acquire new knowl. 3 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 ability to work prod. with others 3

ability to use computers/internet 3 3

knowledge of other fields/disciplines 3

Weak points

ability to write/speak in foreign lang. 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1

ability to assert your authority 3 2 3 2 2 3

ability to negotiate effectively 2 2 1 3 3 3 2

ability to present to an audience 2 2 3 2

ability to use computers/internet 2

knowledge of other fields/disciplines 3 ability to write reports, etc. 3

ability to come up w. ideas/solutions 3

ability to perform well under pressure 3

* Hungarian data for strong points wrongly coded, and therefore omitted from the table, and excluded from totals.

With regard to the top 3 weak points, there is a little more variance between countries. However, answers mainly center on four competences: the ability to write and speak in a foreign language, the ability to negotiate effectively, the ability to present products, ideas or reports to an audience, and the ability to assert authority. It may appear as strange that the ability to write and speak in a foreign language, which is the number one weak point of higher education in all but one country, appeared as one of the top three surpluses in most countries. However this competence was also often rated as being in shortage (see Figure 4.3). It seems that graduates either end up in jobs for which they need a foreign language proficiency and for which higher education apparently did not prepare them well enough, or they end up in jobs for which foreign language proficiency is not needed at all, in which case it is regarded as a surplus.

The top 3 strong points of higher education is remarkably similar across levels and fields of education, with again analytical thinking, mastery of one’s own field or discipline and the ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge being mentioned in as the top three in almost all fields at both first and second levels (see Table 4.5). There are however some interesting differences in the order of these three. Whereas mastery of one’s own field or discipline is the strongest point in most fields at the first level, analytical thinking is generally the strongest point of second level programmes. There are some exceptions, for example that analytical thinking is the top strong point of first level Social sciences, Business and Law, Science, Mathematics and Computing and Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction programmes, and that mastery of one’s own field or discipline is the strongest point of second level Education, Humanities and Arts, Agriculture and Veterinary and Health and Welfare programmes.

Table 4.5:

Top 3 strong points of study programme, by level and field of study, all countries*

Field of study**:

EDU HUM SOC SCI ENG AGR HEA SER Total

First level programmes

mastery of your own field or discipline 1 1 2 3 2 1 1 1 1

analytical thinking 1 1 1 3 3 2

ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge 3 2 3 2 3 2 3

ability to work productively with others 2 2 2

ability to use computers and the internet 3

ability to write and speak in a foreign language 3

Second level programmes

analytical thinking 2 2 1 1 1 3 3 1

mastery of your own field or discipline 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 ability to rapidly acquire new knowledge 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 3 ability to write reports, memos or documents 3

ability to work productively with others 3

* Hungarian data for strong points wrongly coded, and therefore omitted from the table

** EDU=Education; HUM= Humanities and Arts; SOC=Social Sciences, Business and Law; SCI=Science, Mathematics and Computing; ENG=Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction; AGR=Agriculture and Veterinary; HEA=Health and Welfare; SER=Services

There is also a high degree of consistency in the top 3 weak points by level and field of study, with the ability to write and speak in a foreign language, the ability to negotiate effectively, and the ability to assert authority forming the top three in most fields at both the first and second levels (see Table 4.6).

Table 4.6:

Top 3 weak points of study programme, by level and field of study, all countries

Field of study*:

EDU HUM SOC SCI ENG AGR HEA SER Total

First level programmes

ability to write and speak in a foreign language 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

ability to assert your authority 2 3 3 2 3 3 2

ability to negotiate effectively 3 2 2 3 2 2 3

ability to present to an audience 3

ability to use computers and the internet 2 2

knowledge of other fields or disciplines 3

Second level programmes

ability to write and speak in a foreign language 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

ability to negotiate effectively 2 2 2 3 2 2

ability to assert your authority 3 2 3 3 3 3

ability to present to an audience 2 3 3

ability to use computers and the internet 2 1 2

* EDU=Education; HUM= Humanities and Arts; SOC=Social Sciences, Business and Law; SCI=Science, Mathematics and Computing; ENG=Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction; AGR=Agriculture and Veterinary; HEA=Health and Welfare; SER=Services