ROLE OF UNIVERSITIES IN FOSTERING GRADUATE EMPLOYABILITY: FINAL YEAR STUDENT’S PERCEPTIONS IN PUNJAB PAKISTAN

Abstract

Students employability has become an important issue for universities, as they are expected to prepare students for the changing demands of the labour market. This study explored final-year university students’ views about how their universities contribute to their employability in Punjab, Pakistan. It also examined whether these views differed across academic programmes.  A quantitative survey was conducted with 2,411 students from ten universities and eight academic programmes. Data were collected through a closed-ended questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Tukey’s HSD test. The mean scores for the questionnaire statements ranged from 1.91 to 2.63. The highest mean was recorded for university employer collaboration (M = 2.63), while the lowest was found for students’ pride in their own skills, knowledge, and attitudes (M = 1.91). The analysis also revealed significant differences across academic programmes, F(7, 2403) = 3.61, p = .001. Tukey’s post hoc results showed that students from Engineering and English programmes reported higher scores than those from Management Sciences. These findings indicate that students’ views of their universities’ contributions to employability vary across academic programmes. They also draw attention to the role of curriculum relevance, skills development, career guidance, and links between universities and employers in preparing students for employment.