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University legal learning spaces effectiveness in developing employability skills of future law graduates
Turner, J.J1, Amirnuddin, P.S2, Singh, I.H.S3.
Purpose – The objective of this study was to examine the role of legal
learning space in a Malaysian university and how this space impacts
on law students’ preparation for the employment market. This study
comes in response to the issue of inexperienced graduates, who lack
appropriate employability skills for the world of work, commonly
referred to as the ‘graduate skills gap’.
Methodology – This study used an online survey (accessed via a QR
code) on 256 law students at a university in Malaysia. The sample
size comprised 213 currently enrolled students and 43 alumni,
with the former cohort representing 95% of the total law student
population at the university and the latter representing 17% of the
total alumni population.
Findings – The study found that students, regardless of their year
of study, did not consider that legal learning space at the university
replicated real life legal practice but thought that the space prepared
them for employment. The students felt that some legal learning space was better than others in developing their employability skills.
Despite this they enjoyed interacting in the space collectively and
felt that it helped them improve their teamwork, communication
and soft skills. It also revealed that the perceptions of legal learning
space could be improved with better management of staff and
student expectations.
Significance – This study was one of few studies, which investigated
the role of learning space in developing law students’ employability
skills set. The findings helped to consolidate existing research
in the area of graduate skills gap, the development of graduate
employability skills, and in advancing research on identifying
students’ perception of learning space and the specific skills students
felt they had developed while engaged in this space. This study
will be of particular interest to both employers and universities as
they seek to manage each other’s expectations and pursue a more
practice-based learning curriculum.
Affiliation:
- Taylor's University, Malaysia
- Taylor's University, Malaysia
- Taylor's University, Malaysia
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Indexation |
Indexed by |
MyJurnal (2021) |
H-Index
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3 |
Immediacy Index
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0.000 |
Rank |
0 |
Indexed by |
Scopus 2020 |
Impact Factor
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CiteScore (2) |
Rank |
Q1 (Cultural Studies) Q2 (Education) Q3¬¬¬ (Psychology (all)) |
Additional Information |
SJR (0.385) |
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