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Generic skills needs for graduate employment in the aquaculture, fisheries and related sectors in Europe

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Abstract

There is an increasing demand for highly skilled workers in all advanced industrialised economies. Although most jobs require occupation-specific skills to carry them out, it is widely recognised that generic skills are ever more needed by job seekers, to increase job opportunities and maintain employability; this applies to all sectors of the economy, from selling cars to undertaking marine research. Several recent European Union strategy documents emphasise the importance of generic skills. However, the apparent mismatch between the skills sets that employers seek and that job seekers offer remains a major challenge. This paper focuses on perceptions of and attitudes to generic skills training for university graduates intending to gain employment in aquaculture, fisheries or other marine sectors and presents the results of a survey administered to academics, industry representatives, students (at different stages of their academic career) and graduates. The various respondents regarded most of the 39 generic skills under investigation as important, with none classified as unimportant. However, students undertaking different types of degree (i.e. B.Sc., M.Sc. and Ph.D.) prioritized different generic skills and the level of importance ascribed to generic skills training increased as students progressed in their university careers. On the other hand, university staff and other employers were fairly consistent in their choice of the most important generic skills. We argue that there remains a need to place generic skills and employability attributes and attitudes at the centre of the higher education curriculum.

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Notes

  1. EU-funded TUNING project “TUNING: Educational Structure in Europe” http://www.unideusto.org/tuningeu/.

  2. Notices from European Union Institutions, Bodies, Offices and Agencies. 2010 joint progress report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the ‘Education and Training 2010 work programme’ (2010/C 117/01).

  3. Official Journal C 119 of 28.5.2009 “A strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020)”.

  4. Agenda for new skills and jobs: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=958 [Accessed 25 November 2011].

  5. Embedding generic skills development in existing provision. AlphaPlus Educational Consultancy: http://www.alphaplusconsultancy.co.uk/alphaplus-case-studies/embedding-generic-skills [Accessed 20 November 2011].

  6. The effect of employee attitude on productivity in the workplace: http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/effect-employee-attitude-productivity-workplace-3168.html [Accessed 20 January 2014].

  7. “Today’s youth not fit for work says car firm”, The Scotsman, Tuesday, 22 May 2012.

  8. Embedding generic skills development in existing provision. AlphaPlus Educational Consultancy: http://www.alphaplusconsultancy.co.uk/alphaplus-case-studies/embedding-generic-skills [Accessed 20 November 2011].

Abbreviations

CV:

Curriculum Vitae

EC:

European Commission

EQF:

European Qualifications Framework

ESCO:

European Skills/Competences Qualifications and Occupations

EU:

European Union

HEIs:

Higher Education Institutions

VET:

Vocational Education and Training

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Acknowledgments

The data used in this study were collected for the purposes of the EU-funded projects “AQUA-TNET 2” and “AQUA-TNET 3”. The survey was designed with the assistance of AQUA-TNET project partners, in particular those involved in the Generic Skills workpackages of both projects. The authors would like to thank all the people who took part in the survey, both in administering the survey and respondents. We would also like to thank Marieke Reuver (AQUATT, Ireland) for the helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK

    Cristina Pita

  2. Department of Biology and Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

    Cristina Pita & Graham J. Pierce

  3. AQUALEX Multimedia Consortium (AMC) Ltd, Dublin, Ireland

    Margaret Eleftheriou

  4. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Jaime Fernández-Borrás

  5. Universidade Aberta, Lisbon, Portugal

    Susana Gonçalves & Sónia Seixas

  6. Department of Ichthyology and Aquatic Environment, School of Agricultural Environment, University of Thessaly, Vólos, Greece

    Eleni Mente

  7. Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo, Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO), Vigo, Spain

    M. Begoña Santos

  8. Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE), Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Sónia Seixas

  9. Oceanlab, University of Aberdeen, Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, UK

    Graham J. Pierce

Authors
  1. Cristina Pita
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  2. Margaret Eleftheriou
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  3. Jaime Fernández-Borrás
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  4. Susana Gonçalves
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  6. M. Begoña Santos
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  7. Sónia Seixas
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  8. Graham J. Pierce
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Correspondence to Cristina Pita.

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Pita, C., Eleftheriou, M., Fernández-Borrás, J. et al. Generic skills needs for graduate employment in the aquaculture, fisheries and related sectors in Europe. Aquacult Int 23, 767–786 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-014-9843-x

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