Ej 1235900

Is the graduate attributes approach sufficient to develop work
ready graduates?
Srivalli Nagarajan1, Jenny Edwards2
[email protected]; [email protected]
1
The University of Sydney, 2University of Technology, Sydney
Abstract
Many universities have graduate attributes, sometimes referred to as generic skills, soft skills
or work ready skills. This paper reports a study of the professional work experiences of
recent Australian Information Technology (IT) graduates who identified that communication,
time management, teamwork, working with people, working across cultures, project
management and business skills were some of the major professional skills required for their
work. A discussion of the study and its findings raises questions about the adequacy of the
graduate attributes approach in the development of professional skills such as the ability of
to work across cultures and on multiple projects which are major requirements of graduates
in many IT (and other) workplaces. The study reveals the IT graduates’ perspectives on the
challenges they faced at work, the typical professional skills requirements of their practice
and how they acquired or developed them, the elements of their university study which had
relevance to the required workplace professional skills and how well their studies prepared
them to meet the professional needs of their practice.
Keywords: IT or ICT education, graduate attributes, graduate employability, work ready
graduates, work ready skills, graduate work experiences.
Introduction
Graduate attributes are defined by the Australian Technology Network (Bowden, Hart, King,
Trigwell & Watts, 2000) as:
……… the qualities, skills and understandings a university community agrees
its students would desirably develop during their time at the institution and
consequently shape the contribution they are able to make to their profession
and as a citizen.
Sometimes referred to as generic skills, transferable skills, core skills, soft skills, graduate
capabilities, work-ready skills and key skills, graduate attributes are no longer seen as being
independent of discipline knowledge because they interact with discipline knowledge. They
are a specialised and differentiated form of understanding generic abilities, which are
developed to meet the needs of a specific discipline or field of knowledge (Barrie, 2004).
According to James et al. (2004) graduate attribute development takes place mostly within
disciplines. Kamvounias and Thompson (2008) agree, reporting that the term ‘generic’ is
sometimes misinterpreted as independent of the field of study, implying development in a
separate unit of study. They refer to this as a ‘bolted on’ approach.
All Australian universities identify the graduate attributes to be attained by their students.
Often, particular courses have their own attributes in addition, or as an alternative to the
university’s generic graduate attributes (experiences of one of the authors as a government
Nagarajan, S. & Edwards, J. (2014). Is the graduates attribute approach sufficient to develop work ready graduates?
Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability, 5(1) 12
and discipline accreditor). For example, a generic graduate attribute for communication skills
may be expressed in an engineering course, as a requirement for graduates to exercise
effective communication to arrive at design and problem solutions while working as a team.
The desire to provide a coherent approach to the embedding of graduate attributes into
courses of study led to some Australian universities introducing a graduate attributes
framework as a policy led initiative for the design and accreditation of courses (Boud &
Solomon, 2006).
At times there are high or perhaps unrealistic expectations of universities to guarantee that
their students possess the desirable skills identified in the graduate attributes espoused by
institutions (Hager & Holland, 2006; Lowden, Hall, Elliot & Lewin, 2011; Seitel, 2011). A
more reasonable guarantee might be that graduates will be provided with as many
opportunities as possible to acquire and develop these generic skills during their study
program. However, the fact that university courses differ in length, coverage of content,
focus within subjects, etc., complicates the task of developing an overall approach to the
development of a set of generic attributes for graduates, if this is indeed desirable. Similarly,
academics, usually appointed for their expertise in their discipline and research
achievements, will have a varying commitment to and success in the application of the
concept of generic attributes to their discipline.
In 2009, partially as a response to the Bradley review of higher education (Bradley, Noonan,
Nugent & Scales, 2008), the Australian Government commissioned the Australian Learning
and Teaching Council (ALTC) to work with discipline communities on the Learning and
Teaching Academic Standards Project. The aim of the resulting ALTC’s Discipline Scholars
2010 program was to enhance student learning and learning outcomes by working closely
with the nationwide discipline specific bodies (ALTC, 2010a). The Discipline Scholars
developed five threshold learning outcome areas for Engineering and ICT graduates after
consultation with the industry, academics, students, Engineers Australia (EA) and the
Australian Computer Society (ACS) (ALTC, 2010b). Also taken into account was the current
accreditation process of EA and the ACS (ALTC, 2010c). The five threshold learning
outcome areas are: Needs, context and systems; Problem solving and design; Abstraction
and modelling; Coordination and communication, and Self-management (Wright, Hadgraft, &
Cameron, 2010). These are similar to many of the major professional skill categories
identified in this study (see Table 2).
Accreditation bodies have made a significant contribution to the discourse on graduate
attributes. For example, the ACS is responsible for Australian Information Technology (IT)
course accreditation in Australia and, although optional, most institutions seek it.
Accreditation requires a certain depth and breadth of knowledge in key areas. More
importantly, it mandates the learning of generic skills such as project management, ethics
and written and oral communication (ACS, 2013). Universities are required to submit a
detailed mapping of graduate attributes to assessment and learning outcomes. While the
spotlight remains on the development of graduate attributes, whether or not universities are
successful in achieving this remains uncertain. This paper seeks to address the question of
how IT graduates perceive the effectiveness of their undergraduate IT study program in
developing the graduate attributes required for their professional workplace.
The next section reviews the relevant literature and is followed by an outline of the
methodology and the findings of the study. Subsequently there is a discussion of the role of
graduate attributes in Australian universities, the relationship between graduate attributes
and employability skills, why graduate attributes should not be an add-on to existing courses
and the need to have graduate attributes embedded in discipline-specific subjects. Finally,
there is a consideration of an area of professional skill that does not appear to be addressed
adequately by existing graduate attributes for IT graduates.
Development of graduate attributes during university studies
Although skills and attributes are often used interchangeably they have different meanings.
Skills are typically practical such as communication, time management and teamwork.
Graduate attributes are usually broader than skills and include qualities such as loyalty,
commitment, honesty and integrity. Such qualities, which have been found to be highly
desirable by employers (Crebert, Bates, Bell, Patrick & Cragnolini, 2004a) are usually
considered to be attributes rather than skills.
Similarly, there is a great deal of variation in the ways in which academics not only interpret
or define graduate attributes, but also in how committed they are to particular approaches to
developing graduate attributes or indeed to whether they should be taught at all (Barrie,
2004). Boud and Solomon (2006) suggest that graduate attributes will work only if those to
whom they are exposed are willing players in the process and are in a position to appreciate
the qualities developed. Despite the disparate views, most Australian universities mandate
that academics include graduate attributes in their curriculum documentation (see, for
example, Deakin University, 2013).
Kamvounias and Thompson (2008) state that graduate attributes can be conceptualised at
different institutional levels such as university, faculty, school, department, program of study
and particular subjects. Such a conceptualisation does present challenges for curriculum
development. One approach to managing the varying levels is the use of overarching
graduate attributes that are then broken down to specifics that can be implemented at lower
levels. Subsequently, these graduate attributes are translated by the faculty into a set of
more specific learning goals relevant to the degrees. The successful development of
graduate attributes may then be facilitated by aligning learning design, learning outcomes,
teaching and learning activities, and assessment criteria and tasks with the graduate
attributes.
The further challenge for academics then becomes the tracking and assessment of the
development of graduate attributes. In some cases this might result in a tick-box mapping
exercise where, in reality, the learning goals are matched with graduate attributes. In other
instances graduate attributes are mapped to learning outcomes and assessment tasks, but
not necessarily mapped to the assessment criteria (Kamvounias & Thompson, 2008).
However, mapping graduate attributes does not ensure that they are taught explicitly, If not
made explicit, the students may focus on obtaining the required marks or grades and remain
unaware of, or disinterested in, the graduate attributes which may have been implicit in
assessment tasks and criteria.
Worldwide, employers demand that the graduates they hire should ‘fit’ and add value to the
business in the short-term and long-term (Nankervis, Compton & Baird, 2005). Many
employers assume that graduates have the required academic skills (Yorke, 2006). Yorke
discusses the preparation of graduates for work as a two-layered approach. Job-readiness is
the first layer of a student’s preparation for the workforce and it is linked to professional
knowledge. Employability is the second layer of student preparation and involves the ability
and willingness of graduates to think beyond knowledge. The employer perspectives are
reflected by this layer. When difficulties or challenges arise at work, graduates need to be
able to combine the most appropriate knowledge for the situation, i.e. both job-specific skills
and generic skills, to develop an ability to read the situation and determine a suitable
strategy. Scott and Yates (2002) describe this as professional capability. They discuss
whether individual graduates can be ‘emotionally intelligent’ (graduates with higher order
personal and interpersonal skills who can problem solve, think creatively, communicate,
negotiate and find solutions rather than know them) and whether or not, universities have
contributed to the initiation or fostering of such skills. They conclude that while technical
enterprise is a necessary capability, it is certainly not sufficient to produce a successful
graduate.
James, Lefoe & Hadi (2004) argue that the development of graduate attributes is a shared
responsibility of teachers and students. Furthermore, graduate attributes should not just be
viewed as a compliance issue, but instead used as a medium for good teaching practice and
the development of a community of practice. They discuss knowledge, purpose and
graduate attributes where knowledge includes cognitive understanding (disciplinary) and
affective knowledge (values and attitudes, such as commitment capability etc.). James et al.
(2004) also propose some ways to illuminate graduate attributes in teaching such as sharing
teaching strategies across different faculties through online web-based platforms. An
extension of this is the notion of developing communities of practice within a university to
collaborate on graduate attributes and teaching strategies (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder,
2002). Such communities of practice would encourage sharing by academics of strategies
used in teaching to develop graduate attributes resulting in the dissemination of good
practice to achieve graduate attributes.
Some of the practical challenges to overcome are the complexity of course structures and
the flow-on effect that curriculum changes can have on other university systems. For
example, Barrie (2004) states that universities often find it difficult to embed and assess
graduate attributes and that these are not really tested until students enter the workforce. To
date, graduate attributes do not appear to be a well-advertised concept among graduates.
Universities and departments need to do more to make their graduates aware of the
attributes they should acquire as a result of undertaking a particular degree. Explicit
connections between learning, assessments and graduates attributes are required for
graduates to appreciate and be aware of their development of graduate attributes
(Thompson, Treleaven, Kamvounias, Beem & Hill, 2008). Critical to the achievement of this
is stakeholder feedback. Feedback from employers may assist in the development of work-
readiness through applications of knowledge and skills to authentic work situations.
Similarly, student surveys will provide valuable feedback on learning experiences, while
student engagement may be reflected in information relating to retention rates.
In addition to responding to stakeholders, universities are under pressure by moves in

education and labour market policy to produce employable graduates (Bridgstock, 2009) and
this has increased the focus on graduate attributes and their relationship to employability
skills. That is, graduates increasingly need the ability to navigate the world of work and self-
manage the career building process (Bridgestock, 2009). Similarly, Harvey (2001) defines
employability skills as those that pertain to an individual’s capacity to obtain and maintain
work and contribute to economic productivity.
The employability skills framework (DEST, 2002) developed by the Australian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and the Business Council of Australia (BCA) use the
following definition of employability skills:
Skills required not only to gain employment but also to progress within an
enterprise so as to achieve one's potential and contribute successfully to
enterprise strategic directions
Eight employability skills and broad personal attributes across all industry sectors are
identified in the Framework. They are:
1. Communication;
2. Teamwork;
3. Problem-solving;
4. Self-management;
5. Planning and organizing;
6. Technology;
7. Lifelong learning; and
8. Initiative and enterprise.
Employability skills and work readiness have also been used interchangeably. In relation to
IT, Litchfield and Nettleton (2008) gathered definitions for work readiness as defined by
professional societies such as the ACS and the Department of Education, Science and
Technology (DEST) now known as Department of Industry. A common list of key graduate
attribute descriptors was found. They were global perspectives, communications capacity,
ability to work well in teams, ability to apply knowledge, creative problem solving and critical
thinking skills, professionalism and ethics, and the ability to apply knowledge. Despite these
efforts to define employability skills, there is no systematic framework in higher education to
embed these skills within the curriculum. The sector is reliant on graduate attributes as a
vehicle to deliver these employability skills during the course of study (Oliver, Jones, Ferns,
& Tucker, 2007a).
While there is general agreement that it is desirable to ensure alignment in curricula by

embedding and assessing learning outcomes derived from institutional graduate attributes
(Biggs, 2003), in practice this is not always achieved. Indeed, at some universities graduate
attributes remain at the level of intended or desired outcomes for students. Barrie and
Prosser (2003) observe that graduate attributes have their roots in the contested territory of
questions as to the nature of knowledge and nature of a university. Etzkowitz and
Leydesdorff (2000), view graduate attributes not as a representation of displacement of one
approach to knowledge production by another, but rather a change in priority for the types of
knowledge sought. The debate about whether universities see themselves as major players
preparing graduates for work is not over.
This study contributes to this debate through an investigation of graduates’ perceptions of

how relevant their university studies were to the professional workplace. The next section
describes the study and presents some findings that demonstrate that IT graduates were not
sufficiently prepared in some professional areas (for example, working across cultures). We
ask: What purpose do graduate attributes serve in the light of such findings? Does the
graduate attribute approach work? Is the graduate attributes approach sufficient to develop
work ready graduates, especially in IT?
Methodology
To understand the professional skill requirements of IT workplaces and to understand the
preparation of university IT graduates for work, the professional work experiences of twenty
four local and international graduates with IT Bachelor's degrees from New South Wales,
Australia were analysed. They were recent graduates, i.e. from the last three years and had
studied as full-time students. They had all been employed at the time of the study in a paid
IT professional position for 0.5-3 years. The graduates could have completed work
experience as a formal part of their university course, but graduates who did not study as
full-time students were excluded as they may have been working during university study and
could have developed some workplace skills from these jobs. Participants came from a
broad spectrum of cultural and ethnic backgrounds, worked for small, medium and large
sized companies that were either multinational or local and were employed across a variety
of IT roles. Table 1 shows the profile of the participants.
Table 1: Profile of study participants
Location/ Participant IT work Responsibilities/work areas

Participant data background experience
collection
1 Sydney Bachelor of < three Web design, marketing and coordination of web
NSW Science degree years based campaigns, sales of IT services and
(Interviewed) in IT from a products and solutions
Sydney
University
2 Sydney Bachelor < three Professional services to telecommunication
NSW degree in IT years companies, technical and strategic solutions,
(Interviewed) from a Sydney advisory role, training
University
3 Sydney Bachelor < three Business analysis, client management, training in
NSW degree in years a consulting firm
(Interviewed) Software
Engineering
from a Sydney
University
4 Sydney Bachelor < three Software development, systems integration,
NSW degree in IT years network management, business reporting,
(Interviewed) from a Sydney support marketing of IT services and solutions
University
5 Sydney Bachelor < three In a two year graduate program. Currently doing
NSW degree in IT years IT auditing of internal company systems,
(Interviewed) from a Sydney previously in business analysis, architecture,
University design, programming and testing roles
6 Sydney Bachelor < three Network administration, hardware replacement,
NSW degree in IT years team member in a networking company
(Interviewed) from a Sydney
University
7 Sydney Bachelor > three Applications development, programming roles
NSW degree in IT years during the first three years of IT work
University
8 ACT Bachelor < three Systems development, database administration,
(Interviewed) degree in IT years systems testing
from a regional
NSW
University
9 Sydney Bachelor < one year IT support, troubleshooting, network management
NSW degree in IT role in an academic institution
University
10 Sydney Bachelor < three Team leader for software development team,
NSW degree in IT years project management, testing, support, defect
(Interviewed) from a Sydney management
University
11 Sydney Bachelor < three Business rules, system navigation and flow, legal
NSW degree in IT years & regulatory requirements, customer experience
(Interviewed) from a Sydney requirements, and controls
University
12 NSW Bachelor 1 year Customer support role
(Surveyed degree in IT
online) related
discipline NSW
13 NSW Bachelor 3 years Security compliance functions
online) related
discipline NSW
14 VIC Bachelor 1 year Programming and database administration
online) related
discipline from
VIC
15 NSW Bachelor 2 years Network administration and management
online) related
discipline NSW
16 NSW Bachelor 2 years Business analysis and project management
related
online) discipline NSW
17 NSW Bachelor 1 year Database administration, report generation IT
(Surveyed degree in IT audit
online) related
discipline NSW
18 NSW Bachelor 1 year IT / Network Security - Ensuring phishing sites
(Surveyed degree in IT targeting are disabled, reverse engineering
online) related malware, predicting future malware threats and
discipline NSW improving online collaborative environment for
large decentralised team
19 NSW Bachelor 2 years Project manager, business analyst and developer
(Surveyed degree in IT for 4 small automation projects
online) NSW
20 NSW Bachelor 2 years Database administrator, system administrator and
(Surveyed degree in IT general support.
online) related
discipline NSW
21 NSW Bachelor 2 years Business analysis - risk mitigation, requirements
(Surveyed degree in IT or determination, business process redesign,
online) related facilitate interviews/meetings.
discipline NSW
22 NSW Bachelor 2 years IT project manager, develop computer solutions
(Surveyed degree in IT for business processes, assist in the development
online) related of strategies that demonstrate best practice,
discipline change management and communication, liaise
with users to assist with business and system
related issues, project manage the
implementation of applications, overall IT project
testing, implementation and maintenance
23 NSW Bachelor 1 year Website design and development
online) related
discipline NSW
24 NSW Bachelor 2 years Quality assurance, software testing, team leader
online) related
discipline NSW
The focus of the study was on the professional skills and work experiences of recent
Australian IT graduates, an area which requires investigation and greater clarity of
understanding. It explored what graduates actually do in their professional practice and the
challenges they face in workplaces. It endeavoured to understand the role and
responsibilities of universities, employers and professional associations in the professional
skills development of IT graduates. These issues required an approach that generated a rich
conceptual description of the professional skills and work experiences of IT graduates. Thus,
an approach using ideas from grounded theory such as constant comparison, theoretical
sampling, open coding, axial coding, selective coding and theoretical saturation was
employed. Interviews and qualitative online surveys were the research methods used.
Data Collection and Analysis

Data collection and data analysis occurred concurrently. As the interviews were completed,
they were transcribed. Each transcript was then read carefully and the phrases were
chunked. Subsequently, phrases of each interview were taken and each piece of ‘chunked
data’ was coded with a code name (open coding). The data from one interview were
constantly compared with the other interviews and the same codes were used in all the
transcriptions when there were similarities identified. Once concepts (codes) were identified
they were grouped to form sub-categories. In axial coding, the codes were reviewed again
(for relationship between sub-categories) and grouped into minor categories. As interview
and survey data were subjected to further constant comparison it was necessary to create
new categories and merge some existing categories resulting in major categories. Further
grouping of major categories resulted in the emergence of five themes.
Theme 1 Professional skills IT graduates believe are required for their work
Theme 2 Sources of professional skills for IT graduates
Theme 3 Most useful aspects of university studies that IT graduates believe
contributed towards their professional skills development
Theme 4 Challenges faced by IT graduates at workplaces
Theme 5 Graduate perceptions of differences between university and the
workplace in the application of professional skills.
Only themes 1 and 2 will be discussed in this paper.
Study findings
Table 2 provides a detailed view of the different professional skills IT graduates believe are
required for their work. There are eight major categories: communication, time management,
teamwork, working with people, working across cultures, project management, business and
personal skills.
There are multiple and complex relationships across the categories of the eight professional
skills. Communication is the dominant skill category that is related to all other categories.
The study showed that some skills are applied differently in different work contexts across
different organisations and the professional skill requirements also vary from one employer
to another, although the nature of work may be the same. These findings have implications
for university courses and their commitment to preparing work ready graduates.
Table 2: Major Categories for Professional Skills IT Graduates Believe are

Required for their Work
Major Details of sub categories of skills

Category
Communication Use of language in communication with clients/peers/superiors

Skills Communication style (formal versus informal)
Communication mode (verbal, written, e-mail, online, face-to-face meetings)
Documenting communication
Structure of messages, choice of language in business and technical communication
Ability to communicate bad news-tactical communication
Communication with senior colleagues and people from different cultures
Communication in an international work environment with people from different cultures
Meeting facilitation, feedback communication
Communication to solve problems, communication to sell ideas
Timeliness of communication
Time Schedule management (projects, resources) with different project duration

management Time management in an international work environment with people from different time zones
skills Use of technology, tools and techniques to manage time
Multitasking ability, timely delegation/escalation of issues
Handling different workloads (under, normal, over, crisis)
Timeliness of work delivery, handling pressure and time management for self and for the team
Teamwork Team dynamics, Nature of teams (formal, informal) and team player
skills Team size and composition, international team, handling feedback to and from team
Team monitoring and motivation
Use of technology, tools and techniques for team interaction
Handling team conflicts and negotiation
Pre meeting planning and management, conducting meetings, post meeting tasks
Working with Managing expectations of manager, forecast stakeholder reaction

people Managing client expectations, managing team expectations, work–life balance
Building trust, professional relationship with clients
Being aware of hierarchical work relationships
Use of appropriate conflict management strategies to resolve problems at work
Ability to work with competent and incompetent peers
Assisting managers with recruitment of staff
Ability to care for customers and build good relationships
Understanding customers from different cultural backgrounds and customer relationship
management, use of appropriate customer service strategies
Working Ability to work with people from different work culture (business, IT, international and
across cultures interstate sites)
Ability to work with international people from different work culture
Cultural communication style (choice of correct writing style)
Being aware of language issues and local customs when working on international sites
Language barriers
Project Change management, quality assurance, research and information management, infrastructure
management management, scope management, resources management, cost and time management
Work delegation, job competency (analysis, research, logical, economical)
Managing risk issues in work processes, managing product related risks
Compliance and work accountability, following company procedures while handling problems
Use or development of appropriate problem solving strategies
Business Understanding management style and work procedures, product knowledge

Skills Business knowledge, business analysis, business representation
Ability to promote products, ideas and services
Understanding the importance of marketing and stakeholder relationships
Understanding team dynamics, performance appraisal skills
Information gathering skills, Information processing skills
Personal Adapting to dynamic work requirements, ability to assess one’s strengths and weakness
Attributes Emotional intelligence, ability to confidently conduct oneself, passion/enthusiasm for the job
Work ethic, experiential learning, ability to develop new skills
The graduates in the study believe that they developed the professional skills they needed
for work from many sources, just one of which was university study, as shown in Figure 1.
Furthermore, it was revealed that some aspects of university IT studies are more useful and
relevant for IT workplaces than others. Work placement and project work are the aspects of
university study that all IT graduates found most useful in the workforce. The majority of the
challenges that the graduates face are in the category Working with people. Issues such as
age differences, gender domination, managing expectations, lack of recognition, lack of
support, insufficient induction, mentoring, professional relationships and professional
development are particular challenges in this category and are distributed across the
professional skill areas identified in this study. Graduates use a combination of strategies to
cope with these challenges. They believe that some professional skills such as standards of
work submission are applied differently in work contexts than those developed at university.
Time management strategies were learned from both university studies as well as on the
job, but other skills were developed outside university. Some skills, for example, working
with international clients in different time zones and from different cultures could be
sufficiently developed only when graduates have commenced employment. Such findings
have implications for universities’ claims that they are preparing work ready graduates and
raise questions about the achievement of graduate attributes stated in the university
curriculum.
Communication skills
Academic
(e.g. university IT
degrees, other short Time management skills
courses)
Social
Teamwork skills
(e.g. friends/social
network, overseas
travel, extra-curricular)
Working with people
Personal
(e.g. hobbies and
pastimes) Working across cultures
Work experience
Project management
(e.g. previous careers,
previous work
experience IT/non-IT)
Business skills
Personal attributes
Figure 1: Relationships between sources of professional skills and

professional skills
Before discussing these findings, a brief overview of the question of why graduate attributes
should not be an add-on to existing courses and the need to have graduate attributes
embedded in subjects is provided as a context to the findings.
Generic graduate attributes should not be an add-on to existing courses

While the importance of the soft skills in any workplace is emphasized by some studies, in IT
it is essential not to separate these generic skills from the technical nature of IT work. In the
real world, graduates report that they face situations where they need to integrate their
professional skills and technical skills. Litchfield and Nettleton (2008), as a part of their work
ready project at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), recommend sharing across
faculties tasks designed to assist the acquisition of generic work skills. This is appropriate as
long as those tasks are then contextualised to a profession so students appreciate their
relevance (Frawley & Litchfield, 2009).
Many professional undergraduate degrees have a capstone course in the final year. This
usually involves project work on a real world problem with a focus on the interaction of
theory and practice. The aim of such projects is to give students exposure to the industry
and can include real workplace assessors and possibly real or simulated interviews with
clients and supervisors. The assessment of these projects should take into consideration not
only assessment of the technical content based on the project deliverables, but also
assessment of the development and use of professional skills such as communication skills,
time management, teamwork, project management, business skills and self-reflection
abilities. It is desirable that project problems are designed to be open, ambiguous and broad
with students from different cultures and languages interacting with real workplace
supervisors and university supervisors. Students should be asked to present their work at
industry meetings to gather feedback.
Rossin and Hyland (2003) studied two project work groups from the information systems
departments in two UK universities. In each case, students acted as consultants to clients
and tutors assumed an advisory role to facilitate the project work. They found that the
advantages of group work-based learning included: students training each other, both in
technology and non-technical areas (the cascading effect of skills and knowledge was
strong); conducting peer assessment; undertaking individual self-assessment (personal
diaries) and the submission of group-based work deliverables for assessment. Such
capstone projects have great potential to develop contextualised professional skills for IT
graduates.
While the advantages of group work-based learning are clear, issues do arise if lecturers do
not understand the transfer of generic skills between contexts and are not familiar with
learning theory. Hence, students may be disadvantaged because of the approaches to
teaching and learning used in classrooms (Crebert et al., 2004a; 2004b). Bridges (1993)
describes ‘transferring skills’ as higher order skills that enable a person to select, adapt,
adjust and apply his or her skills to different situations across different social contexts and
across different cognitive domains. The development of such skills within a classroom
setting requires specifically constructed tasks within the teaching and learning program.
The differing understandings and interpretations of generic graduate attributes present an

obstacle to the consistent implementation of a graduate attributes framework across
faculties. A further challenge for all universities is how to encourage student self-
development and assessment for lifelong learning and reflective practice. This seems to be
an area of deficiency in many graduates and development of this attribute through existing
teaching, learning and assessment practices is often lacking.
Major study finding: Cultural awareness and ability to work with cultures is a
skill which is needed in IT but is often absent from graduate attributes
Ability to work with people from different cultures
Graduates’ work frequently requires them to communicate with a variety of people from
different departmental groups with different cultures within their own organization, both
locally and overseas. In addition, multinational and often global teams or clients are involved
in IT projects. Consequently, cultural complexity arises due to the different cultures which
may have different values and beliefs. Graduates have to take extreme care in composing all
communication to deliver their message in a simple, clear, professional and timely manner.
In this context, cultural awareness and communication are strongly related skills.
Graduates need to be aware of the nature of the group with whom they are talking.
Communicating with technical teams is different from communicating with business teams.
These two groups have varied professional culture and language requirements. Even within
the same professional group, the use of technical language can be complicated, especially if
the peers are from different overseas offices. Graduates need to be conscious of the
recipient ‘culture’. Gender differences can sometimes introduce yet another form of culture.
When a graduate is working on a project that uses different language systems or translations
it is essential for graduates to acknowledge the complexities involved in developing a
satisfactory product for the clients. One graduate described her experience with an
international client as stressful, tedious and frustrating because of language and cultural
differences that arose during the interactions between their Australian office, overseas
offices and the client’s overseas office.
We had an e-book campaign……….This e-book had to get translated into let

me see, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Korean and then it was sent
over to Europe to get translated into Russian, Spanish and a couple of
others….However, because we had a really lengthy backwards and forwards
with the client …. it was an international campaign and I can understand that.
…..They were immensely particular about everything…. manager who was
working with me must have recorded in excess of 100 emails with said client
about this project, which is insane.
Awareness of cultural barriers
While working on international sites it is important for graduates to be aware of local
customs, values and beliefs, for example having knowledge of local politics, holiday periods
and food habits. One graduate was surprised when the customer made them wait until after
a certain time because he did not like to be disturbed during certain times of the day.
Some people make you wait so they can finish their lunch before you can
start work. That’s happened to me….When someone we sent out, an
engineer on site, and the customer said, you’ve got to wait I’ve got to finish
my lunch. So we had to just wait there…. So the timing and knowing the local
customs there on top of the language issues as well….
Language barriers are usually overcome by the use of translators. When the translators are
not reliable project management plans can be affected. A graduate described her dilemma in
working with translators and how that affected her project management plans.
…all of a sudden we are working with a translation team. We have to work

out exactly what they can do, how they are going to do it and how much it is
going to cost as well. All that gets taken into account…….but for the most
part when there is translation… it is really my problem.
Another graduate in a helpdesk role stated how he had to communicate with clients who had
a strong accent, and as a result their English was hard to understand. Graduates in those
situations have to be polite while facilitating communication either by use of a slower pace or
translators.
Although the ability to work with people from different cultures and awareness of cultural and
language barriers was strongly indicated as a requirement by many IT graduates in this
study, it is not one of the threshold skills developed for the ALTC by Wright et al. (2010).
This is surprising in light of the attention given to the development of cultural competence of
staff and students in universities generally. While development of the skills required for
working in such international projects can be fully developed only when graduates are on the
job, an initial awareness and some development during university studies is not impossible
and would be valued by students. The next section elaborates on this proposition.
Maximising and using diversity in the university environment to assist IT graduates to

develop social and cultural skills for the global workplace
IT graduates need relevant cultural and communication skills to work in an industry that is
global, multi-national and involves clients and colleagues from different countries and
cultures. They also need to be aware of local customs and practices when they go on
overseas business trips. In addition to the ability to work with people from different cultures,
graduates need skills to work with people from different industry sectors, people from
different age groups and with different experience levels in the hierarchy. Oliver, Jones,
Tucker & Ferns (2007b) state that graduates with international perspectives are able to
consider how issues might impact on people in other parts of the world and graduates with
intercultural perspectives are able to consider how issues might impact on people from other
cultures.
According to Jenkins (1995) the link between the effectiveness of graduates in the workplace
and a global perspective cannot be ignored. Universities could be responsible for developing
graduates who fit into global workplaces. Similarly, Fuller and Scott (2009) discuss the need
for global graduates and the development of job-readiness and employability skills in a
global context. This is particularly relevant for the IT industry. Oliver et al. (2007b) reported
that employers surveyed in their study commented that their graduates lacked international
perspective and intercultural understanding.
Social and cultural skills are those skills that graduates need to work effectively with people
from different cultures and different professions (technical and non-technical), such as
building and maintaining professional relationships with peers and customers. Within
Australian universities, particularly in IT departments, both staff and students come from a
diverse range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. This diversity could be used to help build
these skills.
Universities could also tap into a different form of diversity and encourage collaboration
between students in different disciplines and promote and facilitate socialisation between
students from different courses, both on academic and cultural and social grounds (Barkley,
Cross & Major, 2005; Trigwell, 2005; Webb, Dawes & Egodawatta, 2011; Schaffer, 2012).
Faculties should consider the possibility of developing cross faculty projects for students
although this can present practical challenges. While forming project groups, the ideal is to
form diverse groups with a mix of students from different age groups, with or without
previous work experience. The development of socio-cultural and professional skills could be
encouraged by healthy intra and inter-university competitions such as debates. Encouraging
student volunteers to plan and conduct major events on campus and increasing the
interaction between students from different cultures will also help in the development of
culturally sensitive global graduates.
Universities need to consider allocating dedicated resources to develop cultural awareness

amongst their students through whatever is realistic and affordable, although there are
several practical challenges to overcome. Many university students cannot afford the time for
social activities because they are working in part-time jobs to fund their living and study
expenses. These jobs are often low level and offer few opportunities for the development of
social skills. Another obstacle for socialisation is that students from non-English speaking
backgrounds are sometimes reluctant to participate in social activities at universities. The
challenge is for universities to engage all their graduates in socialisation processes while
they are studying.
The graduates in a study conducted by Crebert et al. (2004a) chose ‘group work’ (from a list
of options) as the most effective context for the development of the university’s stated
generic skills and abilities. In addition, during work placements, graduates believed, that
being given specific responsibility and working collaboratively with colleagues were critical
for skill development. Graduates also stated that while teams at university were based on
friendships, socio-cultural backgrounds and academic standards, at work they had to team
up with people who might be different socially and professionally. In the study reported in
this paper, IT graduates believed that the teamwork they engaged in at university assisted to
some extent with the development of teamwork skills. However, the type of teamwork skills
required in typical IT work settings, (for example, working with culturally diverse international
teams in different time zones), were quite different. Nevertheless, they indicated that any
group work-based learning had a greater impact on personal and social development than
independent learning.
The value of teamwork (Engestrom, 1996), lifelong learning that views learning as
‘inescapably a social creation’ (Ranson, 1998) and the notion of collective intelligence
(Brown & Lauder, 1995) are highlighted by group work-based learning (both at university and
workplaces). Guile and Hayton (1999) suggest that this is the case, even in the sphere of IT
in which individual learning seems to predominate. Lave and Wenger (2002) describe the
social context of learning in terms of ‘legitimate peripheral participation’ and the different
ways in which newcomers move from being an outsider to an insider (in workplace learning).
They view learning as a part of social practice. Rossin and Hyland (2003) propose group
work-based learning to provide opportunities for training for employment and for personal
and social development (moral, cognitive and social benefits to its members and to the wider
community). The process rather than just the learning outcomes is emphasised by the social
context of learning. They claim that social learning and communities of practice serve as
mechanisms for personal, social and self-development of graduates.
Socialisation at university could be achieved through encouraging student participation in

work placements, internships, involvement in student organisations, networking and career
building contacts. Socialisation has the potential to provide graduates with opportunities to
develop their social, communication and interpersonal skills. Universities should maximise
and utilise their environments to develop the social and cultural skills of their graduates. For
example, this study showed that communication requirements vary across workplaces,
based on the scope and kinds of communication and norms of workplace requirements and
culture. Communication in a hierarchical, oral, directive (command) culture is different from
negotiations with self-managed teams in a workplace for a work based decision-making
process (Billett, 2000, p.145). These workplace cultural differences should be highlighted to
graduates before they enter the workforce so they do not experience ‘culture shock’.
Communication skills, teamwork skills and the ability to work with people from different
cultures are the most obvious skills that were developed from increased socialisation with
university friends and professional peers as shown in the study findings. It has been reported
in previous studies that graduates who actively participated in student organisations,
internships and in organising or planning social and cultural events during university studies,
perceived their courses as more relevant and useful than those who had not been so
involved (Shruptrine & Willenborg, 1998; Sleap & Reed, 2006).
Conclusion
An increasingly important aspect of university preparation for the workforce is the attention to
graduate attributes. Despite of the significance of cultural awareness and the ability to work
with different cultures for professional graduates, there is little reference to the development
of these skills in the current graduate attributes of many universities. These are of particular
importance for IT degrees and courses. Even where such an attribute, often expressed as
‘global citizen’, is listed, there is no assurance that such skills are translated into learning
and assessment resources. This paper has considered how universities might maximise the
use of diversity on their campuses to assist with the development of cultural skills in
graduates. In addition to this, faculties need frameworks beyond current graduate attributes
to successfully address the development of skills such as the ability to work across different
cultures. In conclusion, given the significance of graduate attributes at university, faculty and
course level, it is of concern that they are often seen as yet another instrument for
compliance rather than providing a focus for teaching and learning. There remains work to
be done to ensure that students are not only aware of the importance of graduate attributes,
but also that these can be achieved through student learning and assessment experiences.
Furthermore, graduate attributes frameworks need to be reviewed for specific professional
skills for individual professions.
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Is the graduate attributes approach sufficient to develop work

In addition to responding to stakeholders, universities are under pressure by moves in

While there is general agreement that it is desirable to ensure alignment in curricula by

This study contributes to this debate through an investigation of graduates’ perceptions of

Table 1: Profile of study participants

Location/ Participant IT work Responsibilities/work areas

Data Collection and Analysis

Only themes 1 and 2 will be discussed in this paper.

Table 2: Major Categories for Professional Skills IT Graduates Believe are

Major Details of sub categories of skills

Communication Use of language in communication with clients/peers/superiors

Time Schedule management (projects, resources) with different project duration

Working with Managing expectations of manager, forecast stakeholder reaction

Business Understanding management style and work procedures, product knowledge

Figure 1: Relationships between sources of professional skills and

Generic graduate attributes should not be an add-on to existing courses

The differing understandings and interpretations of generic graduate attributes present an

We had an e-book campaign……….This e-book had to get translated into let

…all of a sudden we are working with a translation team. We have to work

Maximising and using diversity in the university environment to assist IT graduates to

Universities need to consider allocating dedicated resources to develop cultural awareness

Socialisation at university could be achieved through encouraging student participation in

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