Chapter VII Curriculum Change and Alignment with Industry: The Student Perspective

Abstract

This chapter presents the design and results of a study that focuses on students as stakeholders in the education process. A general framework based on a nomological net is introduced and used to derive the research models underpinning data gathering and the subsequent data analysis. The findings indicate that students realistically evaluate the gaps in their learning but put more emphasis on technical skills, ignoring or undervaluing soft and business skills despite academic efforts to develop these through skill-centered teaching. It was also found that a mismatch existed between student expectations of required skills and skills demanded by employers, to some extent exacerbated by the content of job advertisements.