A quarterly publication of AQU Catalunya
Professionalising projects and communication skills are some of the keys to fostering the employability of Communication and Pharmacy graduates.
The universities of Catalonia are consolidated institutions of employability-oriented teaching, offering a range of quality degree programmes that equip people with the skills and qualifications required by the labour market. This is the main conclusion drawn from the first two seminars of the AQU Catalunya Employability and University Education series, which looked at the suitability of university degree programmes in the fields of Communication (Audiovisual Communication, Journalism and Advertising and Public Relations) and Pharmacy in relation to their capacity to provide graduates with tools to perform and grow as professionals.
This series is also the culmination of AQU Catalunya’s ambitious “Employers” project, launched in 2014 with the aim of incorporating the voice of organisations and companies that hire recent graduates into AQU Catalunya’s data system. In line with the Agency’s strategic courses of action, these two seminars helped gain access to quantitative and qualitative data that, in an integrated manner, allowed proposals to be put forth for improving the quality of bachelor’s degrees in Communication and Pharmacy. Both events featured a presentation by an international expert, enriching the debate with information on trends in the professions associated with these degree programmes. AQU Catalunya staff then gave a presentation on supply and demand, satisfaction, employment outcomes and employers’ opinions of Communication and Pharmacy graduates. Finally, a round table comprising academic experts, employers and alumni was responsible for integrating the information – the perspective of the international speaker, AQU Catalunya data and the experience of the round table participants themselves – in order to produce proposals for improving the degree programmes.
Although the data presented show that graduates in Communication and Pharmacy are satisfied with the education received, enjoy good employment outcomes and contribute positively to their jobs, the seminar allowed points for improvement to be identified, a necessary condition to continually progress towards excellence. For example, with regard to Audiovisual Communication and Journalism degree programmes, it was detected that their employment outcomes in terms of salary, suitability and type of contract were below the average for the entire set of degree programmes in the university system. In relation to Pharmacy graduates working in pharmacies, the diagnosis carried out showed that they could improve their capacity to provide therapeutic advice. Bearing in mind that universities have a limited capacity to influence the economic situation and the structure of the labour market – fundamental aspects when it comes to understanding the employability of graduates – the two events’ participants proposed a set of suggestions for improvement that could fall within universities’ teaching and institutional activity. Below are some of the proposals: