This is a refined research question that I would like to explore for my thesis. The question is specifically referring to a student's level of skills (communication, etc.) against the employers expectations of when entering the workforce
This can be taken together with. Your other question. This is a long standing conundrum. Many people have studied and argued about this and there is a big literature. Be careful to distinguish between education and training. Some practitioners may see what is done in universities as a production line creating skilled employees. Others may thinking it is not a training but an education preparing them for lifelong abilities. To understand this imagine turning the clock back only a couple of decades before cad came into practice. Now imagine if you can what changes will taken place over the next twenty years.
another issue here is that so e skills are simply better learns in practice and other in the university. You could try to analyse them and see if you can draw up lists. Try looking at the book design expertise that I wrote a few years ago with Kees Dorst to help map out the skills involved in design.