Work in progress: Investigating the employment gap: What employers want from engineering graduates

A notable gap exists between the competencies that employers in the UAE want entry-level engineers to exhibit and the knowledge, skills and attitudes these fresh engineering graduates from UAE tertiary institutions are able to successfully demonstrate. Inadequate preparation of engineers in key competencies has been cited as one of the main threats to the sustainable development of the region. Misalignment between education and employers' needs was indicated as one of the main reasons behind the skills gaps. A multi-stage project has been launched to explore this misalignment. This paper focuses on Stage 1 of this multi-stage project: the scoping of the research design methodology for the analysis of job advertisements and an employer questionnaire, as well as the results from a preliminary content analysis of three job advertisements for entry-level engineers in the UAE.