Generic skills of postgraduate students - enhancement for a career in business

In order to help students in a CBS "conversion" graduate degree course develop the skills needed for work and for life, it was decided to teach and assess some of the professional skills in the auditing unit. The unit is a compulsory unit in the Accounting conversion degree course, which is offered in Australia and in Hong Kong. Students come to this course from undergraduate degree courses in various disciplines and from various universities. The skills chosen for the unit were those which were considered most relevant to the professional practice of auditing and were: written communication, with an emphasis on the writing of an argument, which is considered an important skill needed for writing of reports to clients; team working, which is considered essential in most professional activities; and decision making, which is considered to be particularly important for auditors when making professional judgements.

Data on changes in students' perceptions of their skill development were obtained using an instructor developed self report survey comprising 27 items administered at the beginning and end of the course. Students responded to each item on a five point Likert scale. Additional data consisted of the instructor's observations of students' skills and a description of the teaching and assessment methods used.

Initial analysis of the data suggests that there were differences in student perceptions of their skill levels at the beginning and end of the course. At the beginning of the course the students considered most of their skills to be reasonable, rather than high, and at the end of the course they considered them to be generally higher. The preliminary analysis suggests also that some students may have become more able to critically assess their skill levels.

We discuss these findings, relate them to the instructional and assessment methods used and the literature on skill development, and consider what changes need to be implemented in future semesters in order to help students leave university with not only technical expertise but also well developed professional skills.