Stakeholder perceptions of chemical engineering graduate attributes at the University of Adelaide

Abstract

The current emphasis on outcomes-based approaches in higher education has resulted in a focus on graduate attributes. As part of ongoing curricula review at the University of Adelaide we seek quantitative data in relation to the perceptions of our key stakeholders towards specific chemical engineering graduate attributes. A survey instrument has been prepared which seeks opinions regarding the importance and the perceived competence of our graduates with respect to 14 specific attributes. Responses were collected from recent graduates (N = 27), line managers (N = 6), human resources personnel (N = 2) and senior undergraduate students (N = 40). All stakeholder groups identified those attributes relating to communication and teamwork as being the most important of those specified in this study. Managers and recent graduates agree that graduates display a high level of competence in teamwork, but they disagree in their assessment of graduates' competence in communication. Graduates rate their communication skills quite highly while managers rate this as one of the most deficient attributes in the graduates' skill-set. Managers also identified business skills as an attribute in which the recent graduates are deficient. Additional work is now underway which aims to increase the sample size for this survey, particularly for managers, and to more fully explore some of the key attributes identified in this study.