Abstract:
Contemporary practices and future projections in the Built Environment (BE) sector
highlight an increasing demand on Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to produce graduates
possessing relevant skills aligned to meet workplace demands. This study aims to analyse the
key skills influencing BE graduate employability in the United Kingdom (UK) for the benefit of
HEIs. This investigation leverages on a critical review of extant literature and an elicitation of the
perceptions of targeted macro, meso, and micro level key stakeholders in the BE sector to identify
key employability skills. The Total Interpretive Structural Modelling (TISM) technique was used
to analyse the contextual interrelationships among the identified skills to develop a hierarchical
model that provides HEI with insight for BE curriculum development. Six key employability
skillsets hierarchically modelled into four levels were identified as crucial for potential graduates to
successfully attract and adapt to contemporary practices in the Built Environment sector. Findings
reveal communication and team-working skills as critical, independent skills driving the successful
development of the remaining four skillsets. This research extends the literature on employability
skills by investigating the interactions of various skills that predominantly predicts graduate
employability in the Built Environment sector. The resulting TISM skills model provides hierarchical
and logical interdependencies beneficial to assist HEIs to strategically design BE curricular to enhance
graduate employability.
