STUDENT PERCEIVED EMPLOYABILITY WITH REFERENCE TO MEDIA STUDIES: VALIDATING A MODEL OF KEY DETERMINANTS

The motive of this research is to investigate the employability of media students. It aims to validate a holistic model of key determinants of perceived employability in the Indian context. These factors emerge from internal backgrounds such as academic performance, contacts, generic skills, and self-confidence of students; external backgrounds such as university role and labor market. Psychometric properties of the proposed scale were assessed including validation at exploratory and confirmatory level; reliability; convergent and discriminant validity. Further model fit estimates were demonstrated. The study results in a comprehensive model determining the perceived employability of media students. The practical implications of this study include the identification of the university‟s contribution to employability of students and providing a foundation for higher education policy formulation and amendments in the media studies program. The novelty of this study is validating the measurement tool for assessing the employability of media students in the Indian context. This study will contribute towards the improvement of the perceived employability of media students and the augmentation of literature in media studies.