Final Report Pilot Project - Phase 1

The most striking difference is that academics rank Basic generalknowledge in the first position of the list (although it should beremembered that shows no significant difference compared to thesecond ranked Capacity for analysis and synthesis) while both graduatesand employers tend to rank this same item in the twelfth position.Spearman correlations are shown in Table 14 showing that employersand graduates rankings tend to be more similar among them than theacademics ranking. Compared to graduates, most relevant differences areElementary computing skills (fourth position for graduates and sixteenthfor academics) and Interpersonal skills (sixth for graduates andfourteenth for academics). Compared to employers, most relevantdifference is again Interpersonal skills (fifth for employers and fourteenthfor academics).Table 14Spearman correlationsAcademics 1Graduates 0.45588 1Employers 0.54902 0.89951 1Graduates&Employers 0.55147 0.95098 0.97304 1COUNTRY EFFECTSMultilevel modelling allows the estimation of what could beconsidered a country effect, this is, a measure of the effect of the countryas a whole on respondents. This effect was measured on the thirtyimportance items rated by graduates. The country effect was classified inthree groups: strong effect (there are strong differences betweencountries), mild effect (the differences are weaker) and no effect (allcountries seem to be equal). This classification is shown in Table 15.A graphic display for the items with a strong country effect areshown in Figures 8 to 14. 19Figures 15 to 17 display the same graphic for items where thecountry effect was non significant so the reader is able to comparethe different graphic patterns between significant and non significantcountry effects.19See Tuning website: www.relint.deusto.es/TuningProject/index.html orwww. let.rug.nl/TuningProject/index.html or europa.eu.int/comm/education/tuning.html.88