Future Competencies: Employers’ Insights on Economics Graduates from the Lublin Voivodeship

Theoretical background: Developing adequate skills is a key role that higher education institutions play for the benefit of their students/graduates, employers operating in the labour market, and society. However, their environment poses several challenges, and the pace of emerging changes makes planning the scope of competencies shaped in educational programs extremely difficult. Moreover, they must take into account not only current trends but also, given the duration of the educational period, anticipate what the competence needs of the labour market will be in the future. In response to emerging trends, expectations regarding the competencies that graduates possess are changing. Among these, it is worth mentioning the growing importance of technical skills related to Industry 4.0 and the growing importance of higher-level cognitive skills. However, the growing emphasis on developing social competencies is also worth noting. These seem universal, and even though the world changes, they still play a crucial role in building positive interpersonal relationships despite the digitalisation and virtualisation of everyday life. In the context of environmental change, competencies related to sustainable development also seem to play an increasingly important role. As a result of these trends, higher education institutions are responsible for supplying graduates with job-related technical skills and a variety of soft skills, as well as for shaping attitudes that will ensure young people can become valuable members of society. Purpose of the article: The primary purpose of the article is to identify the university graduates' competencies that employers believe are important currently and will be important in the future, based on the analysis of competencies of the graduates of data analysis, economics, finance and accounting, logistics, and management courses of studies at the Faculty of Economics of Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. Research methods: The survey used both quantitative and qualitative research methods, including a CAWI (computer assisted web interview) study of 155 employers and an IDI (individual in-depth interview) study of 16 employers in the Lublin region. Both studies were conducted in the first half of 2023. Main findings: The results highlight the competencies currently in demand and those to be sought in the next five years. According to the research results, the ranking of competencies expected from economics graduates will not change significantly in the next few years. However, according to the surveyed employers, basic IT skills and knowledge of the latest technologies may become more significant. In contrast, the importance of skills such as analysis and synthesis or the ability to communicate verbally and in writing in Polish will decrease. These changes may result from globalisation processes and the development of modern technologies, especially those related to artificial intelligence, which are expected to lead to fundamental changes in the labour market in the near future. The conclusions drawn from this research facilitate a comparison with other studies on this crucial topic. It should be noted that the primary constraint of the study is its regional focus and the fact that it solely targets employers who hire economics graduates.