New Competences for Physics Graduates Fostering Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Employers of Physics Graduates
Figure 3. The importance of competences needed by their employees’ as evaluated by employers in industry
and services, and the discrepancy between that evaluation and how well the competences developed by the
employee at the start of the employment. The red and green colour of the discrepancy indicates if the skill had
less or more emphasis in the degree respectively.
First we observe from this graphical representation of the data that for all competences and
attributes, except for Theoretical Physics Knowledge, the emphasis on the competence at
the university is perceived lower than the importance of it on the job. For alumni, this
discrepancy is highest for the Organization skills and Project Management even though it
was not ranked very high by neither alumni or employers. This discrepancy is also observed
by employers, although not so strong. Clearly in physics studies more attention should be
devoted to this competence. Student centred learning with a clear definition of objectives
and good supervision of the process could lead to the attainment of this skill.
The competence problem solving and analytical thinking is ranked highest by both
employers and alumni in industry (and second highest by alumni in academia) and because
the discrepancy is negative, it should be given more attention in the study program.
Innovative thinking is considered the second most important competence by employers.
Alumni in industry and academia rank this competence a bit lower, but still very high. It is a
complex competence and many basic competences contribute to it, like theoretical and
technical knowledge, experimental physics competences and IT‐knowledge. The high
discrepancy perceived by all respondents indicates that the importance of the learning of
this skill is strongly underestimated at the university. It is thus important that the
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