EMPLOYABILITY OF BUSINESS GRADUTAES IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

Tertiary education institutions play an important role in supporting the country’s economic objectives in disseminating and applying new knowledge and developing a qualified indigenous labour force that can meet the requirements of a society. For the past ten years, educators, employers and university administrators have been greatly concerned about the quality of graduates because those graduates have less demand in the labour market which is a common issue in most of the countries; developed or underdeveloped.This paper addresses one of the critical national issues in the country: Employability of business graduates in Sri Lanka by examining what attributes business graduates should need for them to be employed. The research sample included 150 business graduates passed out in the year 2008/09, selected based on the convenience and random sampling methods, from the first three ranking universities in the field of commerce and management
studies. The study mainly used primary data, collected through a structured questionnaire and the data analysis included the multivariate analysis and descriptive analysis. As per the findings, there is a positive and significant relation between the quality of business graduates, their working/training experience and their employability.Hence the business graduates of Sri Lanka should improve a range of essential skills as English language proficiency, ICT skills, soft skills, practical training experience, research experience and entrepreneurial skills as around 50% of them lack with those skills and competencies.

Key Words: Employability, Business Graduates, Soft Skills

For full paper: fmscresearch@sjp.ac.lk