Transmitting competencies at universities: employability readiness of students
| Pages | 522-537 |
| Published date | 13 November 2017 |
| Date | 13 November 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/VJIKMS-11-2016-0067 |
| Author | Gulbakhyt Sultanova,Serik Svyatov,Nurzhan Ussenbayev |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Knowledge management,Knowledge management systems |
Transmitting competencies at
universities: employability
readiness of students
Gulbakhyt Sultanova,Serik Svyatov and Nurzhan Ussenbayev
Department of Socio-Economic Disciplines, Narxoz University,
Almaty, Kazakhstan
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paperis to examine factors that can contribute to minimising a discrepancy
between a traditional gradepoint average and a newly introduced employability readinessindicator, aiming
to increase the efficiency of universities in producing employable graduates. While grade point average
integrates gradesfor courses completed, employability readinessindicator indicates the level of competencies
developedin these courses.
Design/methodology/approach –The data were collected for two bachelor programmes at Narxoz
University by means of a structured interview, a structured observation and a specialised test. Various
statistical and regression analyses were applied to determine properties of grade point average and
employability readiness indicator as well as factors affecting them by setting and solving the problem of
minimisingthe discrepancy using Bloom’s taxonomy as a framework.
Findings –The minimisation problem appears to have had multiple optimal solutions that significantly
decrease the discrepancy on account of factors from thinking levels 3-4 (apply and analyse). To further
eliminatethis discrepancy, it is reasonable to focus on factors from thinkinglevels 5-6 (evaluate and create).
Research limitations/implications –Due to its consistency and simplicity, this approach can be
applied at any university allowing national and international comparison of educational quality. A
longitudinalstudy covering more programmes is necessaryto draw conclusionsconcerning causality.
Originality/value –The novelty of this studylies in illustrating how the education process can berelated
to competencydevelopment and how critical factors of competencytransmission can be identified.
Keywords Higher education, Graduate employability, Knowledge management,
Performance measurement, Student assessment, Transferable competencies
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Knowledge management as a process of transforming individual knowledge into the
intellectual wealth of an organisation has already influenced most domains (Wedman and
Wang, 2005). However, the relationship between knowledge management and education is
still not evident. Relying on bibliometric analysis of the 500 most cited articles of the
knowledge management literature indexed by Web of Science between 1980 and 2014
(Akhavan et al.,2016), one can conclude that education and especially higher educationhave
not yet emerged as a separate area of knowledge management research. This is hard to
explain because applyingthe knowledge management principles is crucial for enhancing the
productivity of educational institutions. On the one hand, a university as a knowledge
intensive organisation requires an effective knowledge management system to implement
its main activities, i.e. science and education, which rest on using, sharing and creating
knowledge. On the other hand, the university’s end products, i.e. research outcomes and
skilled workforce, can improve the efficiency of an enterprise’s knowledge management. In
VJIKMS
47,4
522
Received30 November 2016
Revised11 February 2017
Accepted27 February 2017
VINEJournal of Information and
KnowledgeManagement Systems
Vol.47 No. 4, 2017
pp. 522-537
© Emerald Publishing Limited
2059-5891
DOI 10.1108/VJIKMS-11-2016-0067
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2059-5891.htm
many respects, the output of the university’sknowledge management system is the input of
the enterprise’s knowledgemanagement system.
Due to the aforementioned leverage effect of higher education, it is fundamental to
investigate the role of universities in providing businesses with graduates who are able to
contribute to enhancing the efficiency of the enterprise’s knowledge management system.
This system aims at transforming tacit knowledge, i.e. skills, experiences, beliefs, etc., of
individuals, into explicit knowledge, i.e. information fixed in organisational policies,
procedures, etc. (Ozmen, 2010). Being the most valuable part of knowledge (Chase, 2007),
tacit knowledge is difficult to codify and can be transformed into explicit knowledge
through personal contact,personal experience, etc. (Chugh, 2013). The process of knowledge
exploration and exploitation is a basisfor developing dynamic capabilities (Easterby-Smith
and Prieto, 2008). A dynamic capability is the ability to permanently improve operating
routine and, hence, the effectiveness of the enterprise rests upon its organisational generic
competencies (Zollo and Winter, 2002). Because generic competencies of the enterprise are
the synergetic effect of relevant competencies of individuals that are required for acquiring
tacit knowledge and transformingit into explicit knowledge, these competencies have been
increasingly demandedin the labour market.
Accordingly, a university can contributeto improving the competitiveness of businesses
if it produces graduates possessingcompetencies demanded in the labour market. Thus, the
efficiency of a higher educationinstitution (HEI) should be considered in terms of the ability
of its academic staff to transmitdemanded competencies and the success of students should
be measured in terms of their ability to develop demanded competencies and, thereby,
enhance their employability readiness. Being aware of that, in the previous study on the
holistic system for performancemeasurement at universities (Sultanova and Auken, 2016), a
traditional grade point average (GPA) was complemented by a newly introduced
employability readiness indicator (ERI) to find out how the education process satisfies the
employability of graduates.
In the proposed approach, ERI was introduced in addition to GPA to establish a link
between the internal and external environment. While GPA is internally defined at
universities and measures a student’s success in courses completed, ERI is connected with
the labour market and measures the levelof his competencies developed in differentcourses.
These competencies are primarily transferable competencies such as critical thinking,
problem-solving and communication skills. Also referred to as generic, general and non-
cognitive competencies, they can easily be transferred to any occupation enhancing the
employability of graduates (Velasco, 2014). Being based on occupation-specific knowledge,
transferable competencies must be practiced and developed in a specific context (Billing,
2007); the development of the former is a prerequisite for the development of the latter. The
minimum efficiency in transmittingcompetencies can be reached if GPA approximates ERI.
To increase the efficiency of HEIs, factors related to each component of the education
process, i.e. course content, teaching methods and assessment policy, should be defined.
Then, a set of factors that are critical for transmitting competencies can be identified.
Considering the pivotal role of critical factors, one should initiate targeted changes in the
education process that can leadto the approximation of ERI and GPA. Having attained this
short-term goal,one should aim at the maximisation of ERI as a long-term goal.
The purpose of this paper is to clarifyhow ERI can contribute to increasing the efficiency
of universities in transmittingcompetencies and to test relationships between ERI and GPA.
This explanatory study will identifyfactors having an effect on the approximation of GPA
and ERI for reaching the minimum efficiency. The structure of the paper is as follows. The
next section gives a brief review of relevant studies. The Conceptual Framework section
Transmitting
competencies
at universities
523
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