EMPLOYABILITY COMPETENCES IN HIGHER EDUCATION: STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS

The aim of this paper is to explore the extent to which higher education students perceive that they have developed employability skills while doing their degrees. A survey was conducted amongst the students enrolled in the last year of several undergraduate degrees (Business and Management studies [ADE, for its Spanish initials], Labour Relations and Human Resources studies, Tourism studies, the double degree in Law and Business studies [DADE, for its Spanish initials] and the double degree in Tourism and Business studies [TADE, for its Spanish initials] taught at the University of Alicante. The results disclose a number of competences that are considered necessary to improve students' employability, such as: negotiation skills; detection of opportunities; digital skills; problem-solving skills; speaking in public; report writing; and languages. A university degree is a significant. but not the main. factor to find a job; having work experience matters more. Hence their conviction that they should be given the opportunity to engage in more practical settings, such as training programmes, while pursuing their degrees.