EDUCATION FOR INNOVATION AND WORKPLACE SKILLS FOR EMPLOYABILITY

Education is considered as one of the main drivers for social and economic growth through a transformational act of individuals who are seeking self-improvement and employability i.e. it's a means of providing human power for organisations. Nimmi and Zakkariya (2016) postulated that the human capital theory of innovation and economic performance emphasise the value of employability in advancing human capital for economic growth. Enhancing employment here is related to enhancing graduates' soft and hard skills which includes subject understanding, skilful knowledge, self-awareness and metacognition (USEM Model). This article considers the forces shaping educational innovation as a means of impacting students' employability in the globalisation era. Accordingly, it's of interest to higher education providers to invest in their educational programs to improve their graduate employment rates through providing them with a quality innovative education system. The article commences by defining innovation and its importance in the education field followed by a discussion of workplace skills for employability, and finally presenting the results of a real life case study in a private tertiary education institute based in Auckland, New Zealand. The case study demonstrates how educational innovation has the potential of contributing to graduates' employability through training them on workplace skills.