Higher education and employment are two important life aspects for students as education is a stepping stone for them to enhance their future career opportunities. It is crucial to examine how they perceive the performance of their university in preparing them for the job market, as well as the early employment problems encountered by them. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted to get inputs from 18 fresh accounting graduates. The study found that the fresh accounting graduates encountered various problems while at work. These early employment problems include: (i) insufficient technical knowledge, (ii) poor communication skills, (iii) not tech-savvy, (iv) difficulty in adapting to workplace, (v) inadequate stress and time management skills, and (vi) a lack of hands-on experience. The study also indicated that many of the interviewees are less satisfied with the performance of their respective universities. The accounting graduates expect their courses to emphasize more on the practicality instead of the theoretical aspects. It is suggested training could be provided to the newly hired accounting graduates to reduce their early employment problems. On the other hand, university should make internship compulsory for accounting students to provide them with real work life experience before they are hired. The findings of this study provide an insight to the education providers to enable them to develop more effective accounting curriculum to produce better-equipped graduates for the job market.
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In-Text Citation: (Heang, Ching, Mee, & Huei, 2019)
To Cite this Article: Heang, L. T., Ching, L. C., Mee, L. Y., & Huei, C. T. (2019). University Education and Employment Challenges: An Evaluation of Fresh Accounting Graduates in Malaysia. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 9(9), 1061–1076.
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