Examining the stage of degree, work experience and gender on the perceived employability of project management students
Michelle Turner, Guinevere GilbertPurpose
Implicit in the design of university courses is an assumption that students will progressively develop discipline-specific skills, knowledge and attributes that foster employability. In the project management discipline, it is not well understood how each year of the university project management program contributes to students' beliefs about their own employability. To address this knowledge gap, the perceived employability of project management students was examined from the commencement through to the midpoint of their degree.
Design/methodology/approach
A repeated cross-sectional design was used to examine perceived employability at three time points: (1) before the commencement of the degree, (2) at the completion of the first year and (3) at the completion of the second year. Gender and work experience, which are known to be related to perceived employability, were also examined.
Findings
Students commencing their degree had significantly lower perceived employability than students who had completed their first and second years of study; however, perceived employability remained static across years one and two. Where a student had project-based work experience, there was a significant increase in some, but not all, of the perceived employability dimensions compared with students engaged in non-project work or not working at all. There were significant differences within the female cohort but not within the male cohort.
Originality/value
Findings challenge the assumption that perceived employability develops along a positive and linear trajectory throughout a project management degree. It is recommended that programs continuously monitor students' perceptions of their employability and consider how the curriculum can be modified to enhance it.