Graduates Attributes: Convergence and Divergence of Different Stakeholders

摘要

The concept of graduates’ attributes has become the focus of increasing attention among practitioners and scholars alike. Little research, however, has been undertaken to investigate the graduates’ attributes in Sri Lanka from the perspective of stakeholder, the main objective of this study is to explore students’ attributes from different stakeholders’ point of view, particularly scholars and industrialist perspective. Further, this study concludes that most employers are looking for graduates who possess a range of generic skills and attributes, particularly, communication, team work, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. The study found that graduates are unable to find suitable employment opportunities to fulfill their expectations. They have dissatisfaction towards the employability. The main reason for unemployment and under-employment among the graduates is due to mismatch between the qualities of graduates produced by the state Universities in Sri Lanka and the quality expected by employers.