AN EMPERICAL STUDY ON THE EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS OF PHARMACY UNDERGRADUATES IN SATARA REGION

Pratik R. Bhosale*, Avinash M. Bhagwat and Sachin H. Rohane

ABSTRACT

Today‟s generation of university graduates will be required to continuously update existing employability skills and obtain new skills and qualifications as a result of the rapidly changing economy market. In order to engage in a multilateral discourse on employability skills between various educational stakeholders, it is important to consider the perceptions of both recent university graduates and faculty members. Often, recent university graduates do not fully possess the types and range of skills necessary for success in the workplace. Where such skills are taught, however, students often lack the awareness to articulate the types of skills learnt or developed in the classroom. Employability skills are best developed when these skills are integrated across the curriculum. Effective teaching practices such as promoting active learning, using multiple teaching strategies and providing prompt feedback all contribute to the skills development of students and recent university graduates. Results suggest that, whilst students would accept peer assessment as an element of their course, its introduction at least should focus on the development of evaluative skills and provide support to alleviate an onerous sense of responsibility. It is concluded that, if the value of peer assessment in terms of employability skill development is accepted, then it should be adopted as regular practice on undergraduate programmes wishing to equip students with a complete repertoire of employment-relevant skills. A systematic random sampling technique was used in selecting a sample of 392 Pharmacy graduate students drawn from different 6 institutes in Satara region from the academic session (2018-19).

Keywords: Employability skills, Education, Knowledge.