Browsing by Author "Luuri, Tytti"

Objective of the study. Previous studies have shown that generic skills required in working life are learned during university studies. However, according to studies, some university graduates may lack generic skills or do not recognise them. This study aims to examine what generic skills graduates from generalist fields have learned during their university studies and whether work experience acquired during studies and participating in practical training correlate with generalist skills learned during university studies. Additionally, it was examined what kind of content graduates would have hoped for during their studies to develop their generic skills and the relationship between these hopes and generic skills learned during university studies. Methods. The data for the study were collected part of a broader study of working life skills (Tuononen, 2019). A total of 1023 University of Helsinki graduates responded to the survey. Respondents were master’s degree graduates from the university’s faculties of arts, social sciences and behavioural sciences (n=372) and their responses were analysed with quantitative methods. Answers to open-ended questions (n=127) were analysed with the abductive content analysis method. Results and conclusions. The results of the study show that graduates had, on average, learned the generic skills measured in the study well or quite well. The respondents had especially experienced to have learned critical thinking skills, multiple perspective viewing skills and structuring and analysing information skills. Co-operation and interaction skills were assessed to have been learned the least of the studied skills. In this study, practical training or work experience acquired during university studies did not correlate with generic skills learned during university studies. Hopes for content to develop working life readiness were divided into formal and informal learning environments. Formal learning environments included courses and practical training, whilst informal learning environments included working life events, alumni activities, study guidance and job-hunting training. The respondents especially hoped for practical university courses with tangible applications to working life. Respondents were divided into two groups based on their hopes for more content in formal or informal learning environments. There was no statistical difference in the assessment of generic skills learned between these groups. More attention should be given to developing co-operation and interaction skills during generalist studies and finding more efficient ways of teaching them. More research is needed to show how studies should be developed to better support the relevance of generalist studies to working life.