Global Research in Higher Education ISSN 2576-196X (Print) ISSN 2576-1951 (Online) Vol. 7, No. 1, 2024 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe 17 Original Paper Study on the Path of Cultivating “New Abilities” of Contemporary College Students’ Employment Chuanli Yang 1 , Qiaohui Zhang 1 & Mingdong Li 1* 1 Qingdao City University, Qingdao, China * Mingdong Li, Qingdao City University, Qingdao, China Received: February 1, 2024 Accepted: February 28, 2024 Online Published: March 8, 2024 doi:10.22158/grhe.v7n1p17 URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/grhe.v7n1p17 Abstract With the development of the society and the increasing enrolment rate of higher education, the requirements for the employment ability of college students have been gradually improved, especially the college students with the “new ability” consistent with the needs of the society have obvious employment advantages, this paper analyses the “new ability” of college students from the three dimensions of professional ability, humanistic ability and basic ability. This paper analyses the “new ability” in three dimensions: professional ability, humanistic ability and basic ability, and combines the current cultivation mode and cultivation path of colleges and universities to analyze the matching degree of the ability demand of the society for college students, the “new ability” of college students and the cultivation path of colleges and universities to propose that colleges and universities cultivate the “new ability” that is agreed by the society for college students. Then, it proposes effective methods for colleges and universities to cultivate socially acceptable “new competences” necessary for college students. Keywords university students’ employment, “new” competences, paths and methods of cultivation www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe Global Research in Higher Education Vol. 7, No. 1, 2024 18 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 1. Introduction In recent years, the number of college graduates in China has been in a state of growth, and statistics for 2023 show that the scale of college graduates nationwide reached 11.58 million. The increase in the number of graduates reflects the fact that higher education in the country has become more accessible, while the increasing scale of college graduates, the impact of the domestic and international environment, and the increasingly stringent recruitment by enterprises have made the competition in the job market more intense. With the rapid progress of science and technology and the development of globalisation, the development of today’s society presents an unprecedented scene. Cutting-edge technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence and cloud computing are gradually changing our lifestyles and work patterns. Economic and cultural exchanges between countries around the world are closer than ever, diversity and inclusiveness have become the mainstream values, and the application of automation and intelligent technology has greatly improved the production efficiency and product quality, and at the same time brought many new industries and employment opportunities, opportunities and challenges co-exist, and college students must have the ability to match with the society in order to adapt to the industry’s development requirements, and have an employment advantage in the fierce competition, in order to adapt to the requirements of the development of the industry and to have an employment advantage in the fierce competition. 2. Definition of “New Competences” for Contemporary University Students China’s current employment market in a more severe form, in the context of the new social development, how to enhance the employability of college students is an important issue that needs to be urgently resolved. At present, China is in an important stage of economic restructuring and upgrading, the adjustment of the industrial structure will inevitably have an impact on the development of traditional industries, the ability of enterprises for talent requirements are also changing, college students as the future backbone of social construction, need to have a “new ability” to match the requirements of social development. 2.1 “New” Professional Competencies The professional knowledge of college students is the cornerstone of their future development, and today’s society has new requirements for the professional knowledge of college students. College students are required to have the core knowledge of the profession, which is an important part of the professional foundation, and is the basic theory and practical skills necessary for engaging in the work of the profession (Shen, 2023, pp. 39-41). In addition to the basic knowledge of the profession, college students need to have interdisciplinary knowledge and skills on the basis of mastering the profession. In today’s society, the cross-fertilisation between various fields is becoming more and more common, and simply mastering the knowledge of the major can no longer meet the requirements, and many industries www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe Global Research in Higher Education Vol. 7, No. 1, 2024 19 Published by SCHOLINK INC. and occupations need to have interdisciplinary knowledge and skills. Therefore, in addition to mastering the core knowledge of their own majors, college students should also understand the knowledge and skills of related fields, as well as be able to comprehensively apply the knowledge and methods of different disciplines to solve problems. This helps to improve the overall quality and employment competitiveness of university students. 2.2 “New” Humanistic Competences Humanistic quality ability has been paid more and more attention in today’s social development. For college students, a high level of humanistic ability is a necessary condition for adapting to the needs of society and realising personal values, and the requirements of today’s social development for college students' humanistic ability are diversified and comprehensive. Correct worldview, outlook on life and values are the basic quality ability, which is the foundation of personal behaviour. At the same time, college students need to have a high level of cultural literacy and aesthetic ability, cultural literacy is an important foundation of humanistic qualities, including the understanding of literature, art, history, philosophy and other aspects of the ability to appreciate. College students should broadly explore all kinds of cultural knowledge, improve their cultural literacy and aesthetic ability, be able to appreciate and create beautiful things, and cultivate their independent thinking and critical thinking ability. With the increase of exchanges among countries all over the world, college students need to have international career and cross-cultural communication ability. They need to understand the values and behaviours of different cultures, respect cultural diversity, and communicate effectively with people of different cultural backgrounds. 2.3 “New” Basic Competencies The basic ability of today’s society has been a new requirement, especially with the development of artificial intelligence, the basic general skills of college students are gradually increasing, and at this stage, college students should fully master the basic ability of artificial intelligence, and use artificial intelligence to improve their work efficiency and work quality. In the era of digital economy, digital technology has been popularised in many industries and has become one of the requirements for occupational positions. With the rapid development of information technology, students in colleges and universities must have the ability to analyse and process basic data, and be able to use digital tools and technologies for management, decision-making, etc. (Chen & Xiong, 2023, pp. 3-9). www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe Global Research in Higher Education Vol. 7, No. 1, 2024 20 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 3. Current Situation and Problems of University Students’ Competence Training In Higher Education 3.1 Insufficient Professional Skills The new economic development background puts forward new requirements for the optimisation and adjustment of industrial structure, and the adjustment and optimisation of industrial structure will certainly promote the integration and transformation and upgrading of part of the traditional industries, therefore, the requirements of enterprises for the professional ability of the talents will become more diversified and intelligent (Cao, 2023, pp. 84-88). For the employment of college students need to have practical professional skills. However, there are still some problems and challenges in the cultivation of students’ professional ability in colleges and universities. On the one hand, the curriculum is out of touch with the actual demand, the training of talents in colleges and universities should be in line with the needs of industry development, and many colleges and universities are too traditional in their curriculum. At present, China’s economy is gradually transforming into a digital economy, the curriculum of some colleges and universities failed to combine the current industrial structure adjustment and optimisation of the background, which led to a large gap between the knowledge students learn in school and the practical application. Single teaching method is not conducive to students’ mastery and application of professional knowledge. Although multimedia and network technologies have been widely used in teaching, some teachers still use traditional teaching methods, lacking interaction and inspiration, which limits students’ initiative and creativity and is not conducive to the cultivation of competence. On the other hand, students’ learning of professional knowledge often remains superficial. The imperfection of the evaluation system of colleges and universities makes many students learn professional knowledge only to cope with the examination, and they do not carry out in-depth exploration of the relationship between different courses, fail to master professional knowledge systematically, and are unable to apply professional knowledge in practical work. Students know less about other knowledge extended from their professional knowledge and cannot adapt to the requirements of career development. 3.2 Lack of Awareness of Vocational Quality Training and Career Planning The curricula of colleges and universities focus on the training of theoretical knowledge and skills, failing to take into account the cultivation of students’ vocational qualities, which can lead to the inability of students to adapt to the challenges of the workplace and the changes in their surroundings in the course of their employment. In the process of work, responsibility, teamwork, etc. are necessary professional qualities, many college students in the workplace will be faced with insufficient psychological preparation, unable to adapt to the employment environment and changes in the work environment. At the same time, college students for professional choice is mainly in the college entrance examination volunteering completed, after entering the university, students for their own www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe Global Research in Higher Education Vol. 7, No. 1, 2024 21 Published by SCHOLINK INC. interests and hobbies do not have a clear position, for the job market situation lacks a certain understanding of what they want to be engaged in what position in the future is in a relatively confused state. In the process of cultivating students’ employment ability, career planning can play an important role in guiding students’ choice of employment. At present, some colleges and universities in the development of career planning courses, in the form, relying only on employment courses can not help students to form a correct view of career choice, students do not form a clear understanding of their career planning (Xu, 2023). 3.3 Inadequate Basic Capacity The background of digital economic and social development has brought many new work opportunities to college students, but it also puts forward higher requirements for competence. The speed of development of information technology is relatively fast, and colleges and universities do not have perfect measures to help students improve their digital capabilities; students generally lack digital skills, are unskilled in mastering common digital tools, such as office software, and have less knowledge of big data, artificial intelligence and other aspects of knowledge, and insufficient knowledge of cutting-edge information in the industry, which can easily put them in a disadvantageous position in their employment. 4. Pathways and Methods for Developing “New Competencies” 4.1 Enhancing the Updating of Emerging Expertise Professional knowledge is a key element in the employability of college students. For the learning of professional knowledge, it is necessary for students to master a solid theoretical foundation as well as to improve their practical application ability through practice. In terms of curriculum, the talent cultivation programme is set up reasonably and the teaching content is optimized. Colleges and universities should pay attention to the scientific and systematic nature of the curriculum, schools should strengthen cooperation with enterprises, from the perspective of employing demand, to understand the needs of enterprises, optimize the talent training programme, adjust the professional curriculum, and provide richer and more in-depth professional courses for students to choose. Under the background of digital economy, we should pay attention to the updating and upgrading of the course content to keep up with the development of the times and the needs of the society, and offer some interdisciplinary courses to help students understand the links and intersections between different disciplines, so as to better expand their knowledge (Li, 2021). In addition, it should also pay attention to the setting of practical courses and introduce diversified practical courses, which can be carried out through school-enterprise co-operation and other ways, so that students can really apply the theoretical knowledge in practice. At the same time, more academic exchanges and scientific research opportunities can be provided by organising academic lectures and establishing academic exchange platforms to help students understand the academic frontiers and dynamics, and improve their academic www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe Global Research in Higher Education Vol. 7, No. 1, 2024 22 Published by SCHOLINK INC. literacy and research ability. 4.2 Focusing on the Cultivation of Students’ Humanistic Literacy Skills Schools should pay attention to the cultivation of students’ humanistic abilities. In terms of curriculum, they should increase the proportion of humanities and social sciences courses and provide a diversity of courses for students to choose from, including literature, history, philosophy, sociology, psychology and so on. Meanwhile, campus culture construction should be strengthened to create a strong humanistic atmosphere, and communication and interaction among students should be promoted through the organisation of various academic lectures, seminars and salons on humanities and social sciences. At the same time, colleges and universities can also encourage and support students to set up humanities and social sciences clubs and organisations to carry out relevant activities on their own, so as to improve their self-management and organisational abilities. While focusing on the cultivation of students’ humanistic ability, attention should also be paid to helping students form correct employment values, attaching importance to employment guidance courses, deepening communication and cooperation with enterprises, inviting relevant personnel of enterprises, such as enterprise HR, etc. into the classroom, so that students can have a certain understanding and awareness of the knowledge required by the industry and the skills necessary for the work. 4.3 Focus on the Development of Students’ Basic Abilities For the cultivation of students’ basic abilities, firstly, students need to be skilled in basic office software tools, and students are encouraged to study digital technology courses to keep up with the background of information technology development. Secondly, the school can appropriately increase the emerging technology courses according to the development of information technology, combined with the professional needs, and open the basic courses about artificial intelligence for students to learn, these courses should cover the basic principles of artificial intelligence, algorithms, machine learning, deep learning and other fields, so that students can understand the core ideas and implementation methods of AI technology, and at the same time, they should pay attention to the practicability and applicability of the courses, so that the students to deepen their understanding and mastery of AI through practical operation and project practice, so that students can have a certain knowledge and understanding of AI, big data and so on. Interdisciplinary integration courses should also be strengthened to form a diversified curriculum system to help students understand the industry prospects and market demand. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/grhe Global Research in Higher Education Vol. 7, No. 1, 2024 23 Published by SCHOLINK INC. 5. Conclusion Enhancing the employability of college graduates is inseparable from the government’s policy support, the school’s talent training design, and the students’ own efforts. From the school level, strengthen school-enterprise cooperation, develop training programmes from the perspective of the needs of enterprises, set up courses in a reasonable manner, strengthen the practical courses, help students to master the professional courses on the basis of the core qualities of students, combined with the background of the development of information technology of big data, pay attention to the cultivation of students’ general knowledge and general ability, so as to help students to improve their own employability, and better adapt to the requirements of the workplace. Students in colleges and universities should also establish correct employment values, and make long-term planning during their school years, so as to prepare themselves for entering the workplace in the future. Funding This paper sponsored by Qingdao City University Excalibur Project. References Cao, C. (2023). Study on Improvement of Employability of College Graduates under the Perspective of Industrial Demand--Taking L School as an Example. Journal of Tongling Polytechnic, 22(03), 84-88. Chen, W., & Xiong, Y. L. (2023). Cultivating students’ digital literacy and competence for the digital economy: chasm, path and countermeasures. China Education Informatisation, 29(07), 3-9. Li, J. (2021). Research on Interdisciplinary Curriculum under the Perspective of Innovative Talent Cultivation. Changjiang University. Shen, F. E. (2023). Research on the Problems and Countermeasures of Cultivating Employability of Undergraduates in Colleges and Universities. China Employment, 2023(10), 39-41. Xu, J. J. (2023). Research on the Construction of Career Development and Employment Guidance Help System for College Students in Colleges and Universities. Yan’an Education Society. In Proceedings of the Fourth Academic Conference on Innovative Education and Development (I) (Vol. 6). Guangzhou Kangda Vocational Technical College.