Lecturer Perceptions of Employability Skills: Case Study in Vocational Education Diploma (VED)

Abstract: Employability Skills (ES) are a key component of prospective workers to be accepted to work in industry, especially manufacturing. However, the Employability Skills in Vocational Education Diploma (ES-VED) implementation has not been identified, and no standard pattern is in line with the manufacturing industry. The purpose of the study is to explore the perceptions of the lecturers of the student internship program coordinator at VED regarding the understanding, implementation, and strategies of employability skills. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with five VED lecturers: Yogyakarta State University, Surakarta State University, Industrial Mechanical Engineering Academy in Solo, Semarang Polytechnic, and Subang Polytechnic. Data analysis used qualitative thematic data. The study findings reveal that employability skills are identified as software, career skills, and added value. Furthermore, employability skills consist of six components, Including Teamwork Skills (TWS), Problem-Solving Skills (PSS), Planning and Organizing Skills (POS), Management Skills and Occupational Health and Safety (MS-OHS), Initiative Skills (IEs), and Communication Skills (CnS). A strong relationship based on the Pearson CorrelationCoefficient (PCC) is Planning and Organizing Skills to Management Skills and Occupational Health and Safety of 0.852. Strengthening employability skills to the challenges of industry 4.0 is carried out through equalizing industry-based curricula, digitizing technology, developing human resources, and digitizing learning management. Keywords: employability skills, manufacturing industry, soft skills, vocational education diploma