Department of Educational Leadership, Policy and Technology Studies, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States of America.
Department of Business Administration, University of Scholars, Banani, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
PLoS One. 2024 Oct 7;19(10):e0310815. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0310815. eCollection 2024.
The present study employs a quantitative approach to measure the student perception of the direct and mediating effect of quality education for ensuring employability skills in higher education students of Bangladesh. The study was conducted on 154 undergraduate and graduate students at a Private University in Bangladesh, through a cross-sectional survey using a structured data questionnaire. The multilevel measurement and structural model, which was based on the constructs of quality education, employability skills of students, course structure, institutional policy, and physical aspects, was analysed using Partial Least Squares modelling with SmartPLS 4. The aim was to identify the employability skills that are present among higher education students in Bangladesh through student perception and explore the mediating role of quality education in shaping these skills. The findings suggest a significant gap between the skills taught in private universities, and the industry requirements of Bangladesh, which highlights the urgency for administrators and policy-makers to act fast. physical aspects have a positive influence on quality education and employability skills, but course structure and policy show less direct impact. Moreover, quality education is a crucial mediator for only the factors that match a direct effect. This proves that higher education students in Bangladesh may not have acquired the technical knowledge required by the industry. However, the present study was conducted on undergraduate and graduate students at a single private university, thus acknowledging the need to diversify the population sample in future studies for enhanced generalizability. The implications of these results extend to educational policymakers, institutions, and stakeholders, therefore emphasizing the need for curriculum enhancement, industry-academia collaboration, and policy reforms.
本研究采用定量方法来衡量学生对孟加拉国高等教育学生素质教育的直接和中介效应的感知，以确保他们具备就业技能。该研究在孟加拉国的一所私立大学对 154 名本科生和研究生进行了横断面调查，通过使用结构化数据问卷进行了横断面调查。多层次测量和结构模型是基于素质教育、学生就业技能、课程结构、机构政策和物理方面的结构构建的，使用 SmartPLS 4 中的偏最小二乘建模进行了分析。目的是通过学生感知来确定孟加拉国高等教育学生现有的就业技能，并探索素质教育在塑造这些技能方面的中介作用。研究结果表明，私立大学所教授的技能与孟加拉国工业界的要求之间存在显著差距，这凸显了行政人员和决策者必须迅速采取行动的紧迫性。物理方面对素质教育和就业技能有积极影响，但课程结构和政策的直接影响较小。此外，质量教育仅对具有直接影响的因素是至关重要的中介因素。这表明，孟加拉国的高等教育学生可能没有获得行业所需的技术知识。然而，本研究是在一所私立大学的本科生和研究生中进行的，因此需要在未来的研究中使人口样本多样化，以提高推广度。这些结果的影响延伸到教育政策制定者、机构和利益相关者，因此强调需要加强课程、产学合作和政策改革。
