Authors : Kalaivani Nadarajah, Mahanem Mat Noor, Ainon Hamzah and Arina Anis Azlan
Abstract: The employers’ perception on the quality was derived from evaluation of the knowledge, skills and generics skills that the graduating class of 2011 possessed after undergoing a 120 credit hours of education and training in the seven different programmes offered at the School of Biosciences and Biotechnology. The evaluation was conducted while the students were undergoing their industrial attachment at various organisations which is a mandatory requirement for graduation. The pool of employers demographic in this study was clustered into 13 groups with the largest number of respondents from Research Institutes/Facilities (38.4%) followed by hospitals (26.7%). The study found that the language proficiency of the students in written and oral Malay and written English language was good with an overall average score of 4.00 on a scale of 5. The survey identified the students’ strengths in generic skills in commitment to work, work ethics and time management and punctuality (Likert scores ranging from 4.2-4.6). They received excellent ratings with regards to their interpersonal (team-work, respect of others views, racial tolerance and conflict resolution) and their mastery of IT skills (database analysis, internet search and computer proficiency) with an average score ranging from 4.3 and 4.6, respectively in the descriptive factors analysed. As for the quantitative and research skills of the students; the overall analysis showed that the employers were satisfied with the students ability and exposure in both areas (average score range of 3.6-4.1 for the descriptive factors). The results showed that the weakest link for these students was in the area of quantitative analysis which involved critical thinking (3.6), problem solving (3.7) and statistical analysis (3.6). They however, scored higher (scores ranging from 3.9-4.1) with regards to their ability to plan and conduct research.
Kalaivani Nadarajah, Mahanem Mat Noor, Ainon Hamzah and Arina Anis Azlan, 2012. Employers Perception on the Quality of Graduates from the School of Biosciences and Biotechnology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The Social Sciences, 7: 478-485.