Universities and professors are working hard on how to meet the challenges for 2020. There are several papers and results on this matter. However, the greatest challenge is to articulate the interest & efforts of both universities and entrepreneurs.

This is highly depending on the country the university is placed. In Germany (with some similarity to the Austrian and Swiss situation) the Humboldtian science principal shields most universities in the scientific ivory tower ignoring business demands for the students completely. Nevertheless since the universites of applied science were found, business demands have been better realised. In the Anglo-Saxion system it is more likely to study for the purpose of working later in a specific job. Universities are understood as services for job education purposes which is quite the opposite of the German situation.

The situation in Germany is changing a bit nowadays since the goverment is funding heavily hands-on teaching to ensure better hard skills for the jobs (especially in engineering courses). I am writing a paper at the moment which discusses this issue to some extent but it will be finished in around one month due to a lack of time. If you like, I can notice you when the version is finished.

Thank you very much for your high-quality answer. I am sure that your paper will be a very important contribution to make clear the discussions on the topic , will clarify doubts on the subject and point out some alternatives to improve teaching to ensure better hard skills for the jobs. I am quite interested in your paper I will expect you to notice me when the version is finished.

Dear Monica, I checked the literature I used so far and I think that you would like to look into the article "A review of literature on employability skill needs in engineering" (European Journal of Engineering Education, 31:6, 637-650; doi:10.1080/03043790600911704). It focuses mostly on the situation in Great Britain but one can achive insights on their own scope.

Dear Thorsten, Thank you very much for contributing with us. I very much appreciate your interest, I am sure the article would be very important for us. Undoubtedly we can achieve insights on our own scope.

In my opinion strategic goals should be aligned to the vision and mission of the university and not to the needs of the business sector. The labor industry designs the job needed. Concomitantly education sector review and redesign the curriculum and the legislators review relevant laws to support education and labor industry

Mentioning similar ideas I gave in related RG question, the gap between industry and education will always exist because change is constant. Innovation will always bridge the gap. Curricular innovation to address employability of university graduates is undertaken through consultation with different government and private agencies: basic and higher education, technical education and skills, science and technology, professional regulation, labor and employment, representative from business chambers, information technology – business process outsourcing, and other significant stakeholders.

Hi Monica,

Just to play 'devil's advocate' - Is it the role of universities "to ensure that their strategic goals are properly aligned to the needs of the business sector"? Whilst there needs to be correlation between university teaching and research and the business sector, I certainly do not think that universities automatically align with business sector principles. Apart from the philosophical issues of whether capitalism is the best or most desired economic system, there is the practical issue that many business sector successes have come about as a by product of innovative research not targeting the immediate goals of business. In addition, there are many forms of useful knowledge which by there nature do not correspond with narrow economic agendas.

Kevin

I am not sure if we can call fresh university graduates business professionals. What important is that university graduates have the knowledge, attitude and probably skills (include soft skills) to increase their chances for employability in the business sector. Strategic objectives, cooperations between society, business and higher education is commendable for universities or higher education but the main objective of higher education is employability or entreprenuer skills of graduates. This is the aim of private higher education in Indonesia , a developing country. Strategic objectives should be planned from the needs of society at national, regional or even at the local level.

The Universities were created earlier to realize the visions formed at the time of inception. But the environment of business and education is changing. In a digital environment it is difficult to discern what the strategic futuristic objectives are!! Employable and entrepreneurial skills are appreciated but unless there is alignment between the vision statement and the skills created , employment will remain a dream.