Skills Mismatch in the Context of Technological Change

Opis

Skills Mismatch in the Context of Technological Change

Autor: Franciszek Kutrzeba

Wydawnictwo Politechniki Gdańskiej

The main purpose of this dissertation is to assess the perception asymmetry of smart skills and formal education in ICT based economy. In other words, the goal of this research is to assess perceptions of smart skills and competences in the context of technological change from the perspectives of employers and students in Poland. Determining the fore-mentioned relationship gives insight into the hypothetical perception asymmetry for demanded smart skills in an ICT-based economy with possible practical implications for policymakers and educators. I have defined the following research questions:

1. What is the interrelation of perceptions on smart skills and competences between Polish higher education students and employers in Poland?
2. What is the significance of formal education in the context of recent technological change?

Contents

List of abbreviations….. 7

Glossary ….. 8

1. INTRODUCTION ….. 9

1.1. Technological change and the character of work…. 9

1.2. Higher education and skills mismatch …..10

1.3. The research problem, purpose and objectives … 13

1.4. The structure .. 16

2. TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE AND THE FUTURE OF SKILLS. 17

2.1. Aspects of technology…. 17

2.2. Technological change…… 20

2.3. Technology diffusion …. 24

2.4. Future skills and the changing character of work .. 28

3. SKILLS AND COMPETENCES ….. 31

3.1. Smart skills….. 34

3.2. Various aspects of the same phenomenon… 36

3.3. Skills and the Polish labor market …. 40

3.4. Skill and routine biased technical change… 44

4. SKILL AND COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT

IN HIGHER EDUCATION .. 46

4.1. Approaches.. 46

4.2. Higher education and its mission in Poland ….. 47

4.3. Recent changes.. 49

4.4. Returns on education…. 53

5. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH…… 55

5.1. Research approach and materials…. 55

5.2. Target population and sample selection … 58

5.3. Data collection .. 59

5.4. Knowledge creation – a conceptualization .. 62

5.4.1. Practical implications….. 67

5.5. Limitations…. 68

6. RESULTS …. 69

6.1. The pilot study … 69

6.2. Results: the survey on students….. 73

6.3. Results: the survey on employers …. 80

7. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS…. 84

7.1. Findings….. 84

7.1.1. Formal education and work experience …. 85

7.1.2. Smart skills…… 86

Appendices …… 90

BIBLIOGRAPHY….. 96

List of tables and figures…. 115