How universities can overcome the threat of the graduate skills mismatch

Promising to pair your talent with skill shortages to avoid the growing ‘skills mismatch’, most universities out there aim to prepare you for the ‘jobs of tomorrow’. A common promise in higher education, it’s only natural for students to expect their chosen course to be desirable and reel in prospective employers. But what happens when universities are faced with the threat of a skills mismatch? A term that refers to the student’s level of skill not matching the level required by the job, the issue is a huge concern for colleges and universities. If the course content isn’t relevant enough to match the job descriptions of today, or if a graduate is deemed under qualified due to the course direction or the professor’s outdated knowledge, it’s unfair to be promising graduates abundant career opportunities. In the most recent Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) report on untapped skills and the skills mismatch in the UK, it was found that nearly half of workers feel mismatched in their roles, with 37 percent being deemed over-skilled and 12 percent under-skilled. Outlining the fears of ‘over skilled workers’, the report found that they are “less satisfied and nearly twice as likely to want to quit than those in well-matched roles and more likely to say their job offers poor prospects for career advancement, training and skills development.”