Abstract:
The lack of cognizance and skills amongst graduates has been described as one of the
reasons why graduates struggle to find employment after the graduation. Whilst some
are good in their technical skills, most have been found destitute of in their soft skills.
There was major concern from the employers about the local graduates that albeit
they are verbally expressed to be well equipped with pertinent technical skills, they
still lack paramount soft skills like communication, language, critical and ingenious
skills, leadership, etc. Several researchers in edification have discussed the
ineffectiveness of the current inculcated system in equipping the graduates with
germane employability skills as required by their potential employers. No one has
touched the Sri Lankan ICT Education sector. Major Objectives of this study are to
explore the employers’ insights of the employability skills that technical
Undergraduates need to encompass, as well as evaluating the employers’ level of
gratification with the ICT Undergraduates employability skills. Population of the
study comprises of employers that accepted the University’s Undergraduates for six
months of industrial training in their organizations. The study originate that the
uppermost five skills extremely regarded by the employers are a accumulation of
three soft skills and two hard skills. Ranked most paramount is the competency to
undertake quandary identification, apply quandary-solving, formulation and solutions
as the most consequential skills that employers needed in engineering and ICT
Undergraduates. In terms of the caliber of contentment, the employers denoted that
they are generally gratified with the university Undergraduates’ level of employability
skills. The adeptness that they are most gratified with is the competency to perpetuate
learning independently in the acquisition of incipient cognizance, skills and
technologies. This study offers three implications to take strategic steps for universities. First, equal attention should be prearranged to both technical and soft
skills. Second, there is an exigent desideratum for universities to quantify perpetually
employers’ level of contentment with regard to the excellence of graduates that
universities are conferring. Third, universities must ascertain that they have
continuous assignation with the industry in directing them to be able to perceive
transmutations in industry expeditiously
