Life Sciences Commons^™

Discord Between Egyptian Agriculture Students’ And Employers’ Perceptions Of The Importance Of Various Skills In New Employees, Leah Thompson, J. Alex Pasternak, Ramjee Ghimire, D. Hashini Galhena Dissanayake, Nanda Joshi, Waleed Saleh, Paul Ebner

Journal of International Agricultural and Extension Education

Unemployment remains high among Egyptian university graduates. This study aimed to identify demographic attributes that influence student perceptions of the importance of employability skills, as well as to measure concordance between employers versus student perceptions of the importance of employability skills. Egyptian university agriculture students and private sector employers completed a survey where they assessed their perceived importance of 35 skills. A multivariate linear regression model was used to measure the influence of student demographics in decision-making and concordance between employers and students were compared using Cohen's weighted Kappa. Student location was the most influential demographic that determined perceptions of …