This section of the research deals with the quality of the educational systems in Taiwan and the Czech Republic. HR professionals and also recent business graduates shared their
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experience with the universities and consequently evaluated what skills they develop in students. Furthermore, both groups of the survey participants also assessed whether universities properly prepare the graduates for the transition from student to work life and provide them enough education and knowledge for their future occupation.
4.5.1 Taiwan
Tables 32 illustrates what skills and to what extent Taiwanese universities develop them in business students. Values closer to number one signify that universities completely fail in developing the particular skill. On the other hand, the maximum average value of 5 would mean that universities excel in teaching the skill. Consequently, HR professionals are mostly satisfied with the business graduates’ language (3.44), analytical (3.42), presentation (3.39) and learning (3.36) skills. It indicates that according to the experience of Taiwanese companies, Taiwanese business graduates frequently do not have serious difficulties in using and speaking foreign languages (mostly English), they are able to independently think about problems, make presentations about the results of their work in front of other people and they are good in learning new things and theories as well. Nevertheless, when HR professionals were asked whether Taiwanese universities properly prepare the graduates for their future occupation, in average they stated the value 2.78 (1 = minimum, 5 = maximum). This result suggests that universities do not excel in this aspect and HR professionals are only moderately satisfied.
Table 32: What skills universities develop in students - Taiwan
Skills:
Companies*
(Mean)
Graduates*
(Mean)
Language 3.44 3.52
Analytical 3.42 4.00
Presentation 3.39 4.23
Learning 3.36 3.90
Communication 3.33 3.90
Interpersonal 3.19 3.97
Knowledge 3.11 3.48
Creative 3.06 3.58
Cross-cultural 2.69 3.29
Leadership 2.64 3.16
* 1 = Universities completely fail in developing those skills 5 = Universities excell in developeing those skills
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Recent Taiwanese business graduates also evaluated what skills were developed during their studies. In their opinion, they posses very good presentation (4.23), analytical (4.00), interpersonal (3.97) and learning (3.90) skills after their graduation. It is interesting to see that both groups of the survey participants, HR professionals and recent business graduates, believe that universities do not pay very much attention to the development of leadership and cross-cultural skills. Consequently, some of the graduates might have difficulties in leading other people and in working with members of different cultures. In addition, Taiwanese graduates were also asked to evaluate if it is possible to work and study at the same time. The results illustrates that 16.13% of them think it is possible to study and have a full-time job, most of them (64.52%) would combine only part-time job and studies, and 55.56% of graduates believe there exist no obstacles to study and have a summer job together.
According to James Ya Chen, recruiter of Ichia, and Jessica Chang, HR manager of Maersk, there are too many universities in Taiwan and thus, too many business graduates.
Also L. C. Lewis Kuo from TSMC mentioned the existence of too many universities in the country. Consequently, TSMC systematically chooses graduates of 6 particular national universities. This process should save time and the effort of TSMC’s recruiters. It guarantees a certain level of graduates’ soft and hard competencies. Furthermore, he mentioned the company’s management trainee program. It lasts 6 months and as L. C. Lewis Kuo, Senior Administrator of the company’s HR Operations Department, stressed out graduates are assigned to buddy and mentor system that should facilitate their first months in work.
4.5.2 Czech Republic
Czech HR professionals and recent business graduates showed their opinions on Czech universities and the skills which they develop as well. Table 33 illustrates their experiences.
A higher average value (maximum equals 5) signifies that universities excel in the development of the skill showed in the first column. Therefore, with reference to the results, Czech companies are mostly satisfied with graduates’ learning (3.96) skills, knowledge (3.54), language (3.33) and analytical skills (3.29). Consequently, Czech recent business graduates excel in learning new information and theories, universities also provide them with good theoretical knowledge related to their job. Besides that, Czech companies are satisfied with graduates’ abilities to think independently about problems and speak foreign languages.
Nevertheless, their general satisfaction with graduates’ readiness for the work life after passing university studies is only moderate (average value 3.08; 1 = minimum satisfaction; 5
= maximum satisfaction).
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The opinions of recent Czech business graduates are almost the same as the experiences of Czech HR professionals. According to their view, Czech business universities most develop learning skills (4.06) and knowledge (3.89) necessary for their future occupation.
Furthermore, Czech graduates believe they posses very good analytical (3.36) and communication (3.08) skills. On average, they think universities help them in learning how to explain thoughts and opinions clearly. On the contrary, both groups of survey participants showed discontent with the level of graduates’ interpersonal, leadership and cross-cultural skills. Consequently, Czech recent business graduates might easily face difficulties in leading other people, deal with them and solve possible inter-personal conflicts. Working in teams could cause them problems as well. Moreover, these graduates’ weaknesses may be even multiplied when they would need to work with members of other cultures. In addition to previous information, recent Czech business graduates suppose that it is possible to combine university studies and a part-time job (71.43%) or summer job (81.32%).
Table 33: What skills universities develop in students – Czech Republic
Skills: Companies*
(Mean)
Graduates*
(Mean)
Learning 3.96 4.06
Knowledge 3.54 3.89
Language 3.33 2.96
Analytical 3.29 3.36
Presentation 3.00 2.72
Communication 2.92 3.08
Creative 2.71 2.67
Interpersonal 2.63 2.65
Leadership 2.46 2.23
Cross-cultural 2.42 2.54
* 1 = Universities completely fail in developing those skills 5 = Universities excell in developeing those skills
According to Hynek Rychtar, senior recruitment consultant with 5 years of experience, Czech business graduates usually have good knowledge of how the companies work, good business knowledge, they know the processes, they are able to adjust to the working environment quickly and they frequently posses excellent language and soft skills (e.g.
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communication and presentation). On the other hand, quite often they are overambitious. For example, Rychtar mentioned that especially graduates of the prestigious University of Economics in Prague apply for managerial position without any previous working experience, they want to lead a team of people immediately after their graduation. In other cases, they request very high salaries that do not correspond to their experience and job position. Rychtar also made a comparison with graduates of technical universities. In his opinion, technical graduates have better hard skills than business graduates; they know more often what they want to do (future job) and how they want to achieve it. On the contrary, they lack the general idea about how the business works and their soft competencies and language skills are not as developed as in the case of business graduates.
Frantisek Kulvajt, Business Manager of CVO Technology Recruitment, also made several comments on this topic. He pointed out that Czech universities teach how to find and analyze information. In his opinion, university graduates are also more resistant to stress and pressure and they are better in time management. Regarding the salary which business graduates might request, Kulvajt believes they are somewhere in the middle. According to him, graduates of technical universities (especially of those focused on IT) may request the highest salaries, because there exists a very high and unsatisfied demand for them, followed by business graduates and finally by the graduates of humanities. Kulvajt stressed out that the appropriate range of monthly salary for recent business graduates is from 25 000 CZK to 35 000 CZK, depending on the company and its location, job position and graduates’ skills and experiences. Furthermore, Kulvajt thinks that graduates of universities located in Prague generally have better language skills and they are also more self-confident and ambitious. He also made a comparison between universities located in Prague and in regions. With reference to his experience, regional universities can frequently offer a more individual approach and care to students. The numbers of students there are not so high. Consequently, because of lower competition students have better and more chances to participate in different activities – e.g. exchange study programs.
4.5.3 Comparison and Conclusion
The results from both countries show that companies and also graduates are not satisfied with the attention that universities pay to the development of leadership and cross-cultural skills.
Consequently, Taiwanese and Czech recent business graduates might have difficulties in leading other people, dividing the work among team members and solving possible conflicts.
Furthermore, it seems that graduates do not have many chances to work and deal with people
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from other cultures. This could cause them problems later while working on possible international projects in companies. Both groups of the survey participants also showed some discontent with the universities’ interest in developing the creativity of students – ability to be innovative, come up with new ideas. Additionally in both countries, people speak languages that can be very difficult for foreigners to learn – Czech and Chinese. Consequently, business graduates, and not only them, must have excellent language skills in order to be able to deal effectively in an international environment. English is the most common language that is being taught.
Moreover, results in both countries illustrate that business students expecting to receive a master’s degree can study and have a job at the same time. Summer or part-time jobs are the most common. Earned money can help the students pay for their expenses related to the life of a student. But sometimes, having a job can bring difficulties in terms of students’ time management and lower their results both, at work and at school. Nevertheless, real working experiences may also significantly help the graduates in the recruitment and selection process – especially in the Czech Republic. As Frantisek Kulvajt, Business Manager of CVO Technology Recruitment mentioned during the interview it is important to have a degree, but then he looks for something more. He prefers to work with graduates who already had some job during their studies. He even mentioned that graduates who passed their studies at a university located in Prague without any working experience would be suspicious to him.
Working several years in Prague and having a good knowledge of the labor market in the capital city of the Czech Republic; Kulvajt knows that there exist lots of companies that offer interesting and relevant jobs to students. Furthermore, due to the credit system and flexibility of universities, students can create their own timetables. Therefore, they are perfectly able to combine studies and a part-time job. However, the situation outside of Prague, in regions is different. There exist fewer employers willing to hire students and thus, graduates simply could not have had any way how to gain relevant working experience.
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5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
In this section of the paper, an overview of the research outcomes is provided. An interpretation and implication of the results helps clarify the findings and emphasize key points. This should help the recent business graduates and companies from both countries to better match mutual needs and wants. The limitations of the research are being discussed as well in order to provide an objective platform to form the final conclusion. Finally, the directions for future research which were identified during this research are described, too.