The Skills Gap (the mismatch or gap between the skills required in current vacancies and skills possessed by people looking for work) and the Skills Shortage have become part of the everyday narrative in UK politics driven by employment data and unfilled vacancy data that show large numbers of unfilled vacancies and low productivity. Some employers have complained about university graduates not possessing ‘work-ready’ skills. At the same time, other employers of graduates have demonstrated that they value the skills that graduates bring by the simple fact that they employ thousands of them every year largely in areas unrelated to the disciplines graduates studied.
One cause of the Skills Gap may be that universities are often unable to point out to students where they have developed particular skills beyond academic skills, and subsequently, students are confused about or simply unable to articulate the skills they developed during their studies. Another may be that employers expect graduates to possess particular skills and understand what employers’ expectations are in particular areas or industries.
For several decades universities have been encouraged by the government to highlight ‘transferable skills’ defined as academic skills for study being relevant to skills for work. Resulting from the debates and pressure from various stakeholders, most universities have developed sets of clearly articulated graduate skills, sometimes referred to as graduate attributes or employability skills. This was to demonstrate, in particular to the government, but also to employers and students, their value for money and contribution to the economy. In 2008, the university sector started adding the so-called Higher Education Achievement Report (outlining the skills students developed during their studies) alongside students’ academic transcripts. This effort soon stalled, as there was no evidence employers engaged with this site in the process of graduate recruitment despite its popularity with students.
