Abstract:

The programs offered by universities must correspond to the requirements of society. Therefore, it is of great interest to the University of Panama to know to what extent this correspondence is taking place. Such knowledge is particularly important to ensure the employability of its graduates.

That is why the main objective of this research was to identify the extent to which graduates, when entering the labor market, met the requirements of employment positions, at least, for six of their degrees. With the results obtained, adjustments to the study programs could be suggested to improve employability potential.

Among the programs subject to the investigation was the Bachelor of Banking and Finance. Specifically, we were interested in identifying the importance, degree of adjustment, and development of the generic competencies required by employers and those shown by Finance and Banking graduates.

The methodology applied to achieve the objectives and purposes of the research, identified thirteen generic competencies through a focus group, which were then subjected to the evaluation of a convenience sample of graduates and employers through separate questionnaires, which were sent virtually. This allowed us to discriminate the gap in the profiles of thirteen competencies, according to the perception of the respondents. among which the following stood out: ability to act in new situations, ability to work as a team, and results orientation.
- Regarding the level of development of the skills, both graduates and employers agreed that the graduates have an average level of development higher than the overall average of the profile in eight of the skills.
- Concerning the area of importance of generic competencies, there were found gaps between those perceived by graduates and the importance values indicated by contractors, both at the higher and lower levels.
- In the analysis related to the adjustments in the levels of generic competencies of the graduates, there is evidence that they presented values higher than the average value, while from the perspective of employers, the graduates present average adjustments higher than the overall average value of adjustments in all skills.
- The data found related to the adequacy indices of the graduates' skills, compared to those of the employers, reflect that statistically significant differences were evident in all skills.

There are two relevant conclusions, as follows:
- A deeper study of the competency profile is required due to the differences and inconsistencies observed in the perception of the requirements of the level of development, importance, and adjustments from the perspective of graduates and employers.

The observed results show the importance of replicating this research since universities must respond to the needs of the market.

Keywords:

Competence, Employability, Finance and Bank, Generic Skills.