Study Mechanical Engineering Graduate Employability

With the accelerating process of globalization and the new road to industrialization, China’s labor market put forward higher requirements on employability of mechanical engineering talents. This paper studies the employability statues, influencing factors and training methods of mechanical engineering graduates by empirical study in order to provide a reference on enhancing their employability and enrich relevant theoretical research on employability and higher education reform to some extent.Based on literature review and interviews with employers and experts, this study designs a questionnaire on employability of mechanical engineering graduates. Through empirical research and data analysis, the employability of mechanical engineering graduates is divided into three parts:Basic professional skills (Competent in application and practice, Apply knowledge of science and engineering principles, Engineering problem solving and decision making skills, Competent in specific engineering discipline); Personal management skills (Lifelong learning, Understand professional,social and ethical responsibilities, Knowledge of contemporary issues; Organizational skills (Basic business skills, Communication effectively, Interpersonal or team working skills).In general, the employability self-assessment of mechanical engineering graduates is on the upper level. They have a strong willingness and ability to learn and a certain ability to apply engineering knowledge and tools, but they are lack of depth and breadth of knowledge and they have weakness on interpersonal communication skills. In addition, there is a gap between training results and objectives on employability of mechanical engineering graduates in China. Also, Internships or part-time experience, attending seminars, foreign exchange learning experiences, published papers&participating in professional competitions and receiving career-related aspects of guidance are deficiencies among them. It can be seen that a sound mechanical engineering graduate employability training mechanism has not been formed yet in China. This paper explores ways to enhance employability of mechanical engineering graduates from the state, universities and personal perspective.