| Summary: | In this new age of globalization, higher education plays an increasingly important role in
preparing a workforce which meets rapidly changing industry needs. There is now a critical
need to re-examine the function of tertiary education such that it not only caters to fresh
school-leavers but of equal importance, provide opportunities for the further up-skilling and
upgrading of people who are already employed. With a substantial proportion of people who
have yet to obtain a basic degree, conventional universities by themselves are highly unlikely
able to meet the demands of providing tertiary education to all who need or want to further
education, in the near or even distant future. Open and distance learning programmes which
are able to contribute significantly to lifelong learning efforts, however, have constantly been
regarded as ‘the lower quality alternative’ with their flexible entry policy and flexible
learning modes. This paper seeks to examine the extent to which Open University Malaysia’s
graduates met employer expectation with regard to employability competencies. Paper and
pencil questionnaires were sent via postal mail to employers of the November 2010 open
market Bachelor degree programme graduates. Responses from 290 out of a total of 1088
employers were analysed using quadrant analysis and gap analysis for three dimensions of
employability competencies namely, Knowledge and Understanding, General Attributes and
Generic Skills. Overall findings suggest that while importance scores were higher than
satisfaction scores, the employers were generally satisfied with the graduates’ competencies
for all three dimensions. (Abstract by authors)
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