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Ready or not: different views about transferable skills of doctoral candidates in Flanders

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There are still barriers that impede a fluent transition from the academic to the business sector for doctorate holders. The lack of necessary skills is one such barrier. The question remains if academia can deliver a workforce with suitable competences for non-academic sectors. This article explores both the opinion about the importance of transferable skills on the part of doctoral candidates as well as the attitudes of companies towards doctorate holders. Is there a mismatch between what doctoral students consider important skills and what employers expect of researchers? If so, can this mismatch in views about competences be reduced by bringing doctoral candidates into contact with other sectors earlier in their career, e.g. by means of collaborative doctoral programmes? To answer these questions we draw on several sources of data. The Survey of Junior Researchers (SJR) represents the view of the doctoral candidates, and its results are compared with both those from the Research & Development Survey of Flemish companies and those from qualitative research in industry, representing the employers' view. A clear mismatch between what doctoral candidates consider important skills to get a job in the business sector, and what employers expect from their researchers is observed. Except in a few disciplines, doctoral candidates still feel that their doctorate is of little added value outside academia. Universities and industry share a responsibility in bridging this gap, through increasing intersectoral collaboration, raising awareness among doctoral candidates and providing better career training. This, however, touches upon another crucial question: can it be expected from a university to provide a totally demand-driven workforce for other sectors at the level of advanced researchers?
Book: International Conference and Workshops on Higher education, partnership & innovation
Pages: 51-61
Number of pages: 11
ISBN:978-963-88332-5-9
Publication year:2009
Keywords:intersectoral mobility, intersectoral collaboration, transferable skills