University’s Social Responsibility – Labor Market Perspective

Changes in the socio-economic environment of universities require its tasks and social roles to be constantly reviewed and redefined. The present paper attempts to assess universities’ responsibility for the outcomes of educational process. The outcomes are measured on the basis of graduates’ preparedness for undertaking professional work. The paper’s aim was to indicate the main discrepancies between employers’ expectations regarding graduates’ occupational training and the level of competences acquired by graduates in the course of their studies. A premise was made that the comparison of the views presented by the main stakeholders will enable the level on which the individual competences match the needs of labor market to be determined, and the strengths and weaknesses of university curricula to be indicated. The analysis encompassed both hard occupational skills, which are subordinated to the content-related educational profile, and key soft competences.