Skip to content
Research Article Open access CC BY 4.0

Employability of Humanities Graduates in Bhutan: An Examination of Graduates’ Perceptions

Dorji Wangdi, Deki Wangmo, Leki Wangdi

Asian Journal of Advanced Research and Reports · pp. 26–40 · Published 19 May 2023

10.9734/ajarr/2023/v17i8502

Abstract

With the alarming increase in graduate unemployment in Bhutan, many scholars have looked into the causes, implications, and potential solutions to Bhutan's unemployment issues. However, in Bhutan, only a few references have been made to individual majors and courses when analyzing students' employment status. As a result, the employability status of students in humanities majors is a grey area, especially in Bhutan. There is much speculation around the employment prospects of a student undergoing humanities courses, with people often citing the humanities courses in Bhutanese colleges as too broad and redundant. Therefore, this study examines the employability perception of the humanities graduates in Bhutan and the factors contributing to their unemployment. A non-probability sampling procedure, called a snowball sampling technique, was employed to collect data from 316 humanities graduates through a structured questionnaire. The findings reveal that employability depends on various factors such as academic performance, integrated courses, work experiences, and skills acquired while studying. The study also highlights the skill mismatch problem in higher education institutions and recommends producing work-ready graduates. Despite the students' enthusiasm for the humanities course, their employability prospects in the field are questionable after graduation due to the mismatch between the course content and the jobs in the market. In order to address this issue, the study recommends that universities and colleges integrate practical and work-ready programs into their courses to enable graduates to acquire the necessary employability skills. Additionally, universities and companies/agencies should collaborate to bridge the gap between industry skill requirements and the skills graduates acquire. This research intends to initiate conversations on controlling the number of humanities course intakes to reduce the increasing trend of humanities graduates in an inadequate job market.

Employability humanities perception employers undergraduates’ curriculum

References (15)

  1. 1 Comprehensive molecular characterization of gastric adenocarcinoma [DOI]
  2. 2 The reliability of a two-item scale: Pearson, Cronbach, or Spearman-Brown? [DOI]
  3. 3 A comparative analysis of international frameworks for 21 st century competences: Implications for national curriculum policies [DOI]
  4. 4 The graduate attributes we’ve overlooked: enhancing graduate employability through career management skills [DOI]
  5. 5 The key to employability: developing a practical model of graduate employability [DOI]
  6. 6 Education and job match: The relatedness of college major and work [DOI]
  7. 7 Employability and Good Learning in Higher Education [DOI]
  8. 8 Review of literature on Graduate Employability [DOI]
  9. 9 What is Your Degree Worth? The Relationship Between Post–Secondary Programs and Employment Outcomes [DOI]
  10. 10 Consequences and Policy Implications for University Students Who Have Chosen Liberal or Vocational Education in Canada: Labour Market Outcomes and Employability Skills [DOI]
  11. 11 Is There a Hidden Technical Potential? [DOI]
  12. 12 Employability of Bachelor of Arts Graduates [DOI]
  13. 13 South African Journal of Higher Education [DOI]
  14. 14 Graphic technology. Variable content replacement [DOI]
  15. 15 Graduate employability and the role of 21st century skills. A case study among Humanities students and academics at the University of Oslo

Cited by 0

No indexed citations yet.

Related research

Article metrics

Real usage data collected on this platform.

7

Page views

0

PDF downloads

0

Outbound clicks

0

Citations

Views over time

Views by country

Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".

Traffic sources

Referring site, by host.

Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.