Stakeholder perceptions of what industry wants from doctoral students: A systematic literature review

An increasing mismatch between the global supply of PhD-qualified graduates with the global demand within the tertiary education sector comes despite academic positions remaining graduates’ first choice of future career. The ‘silver medal’ choice, research work in industry, is increasingly a likelier outcome, leading to a need to understand industry employers’ perspectives on desirable graduate attributes. This study systematically synthesises the results of literature examining industry employer perspectives, contrasting those perspectives with both the perspectives of PhD students and PhD-qualified graduates working in the industry. The findings show relatively little published empirical research to inform the transition of PhD graduates to industry destinations. Current research, however, indicates industry employers and those working in the industry tend to prioritise teamwork and collaboration more highly than doctoral students and shows that critical thinking is a skill set that unifies the views of employers, those working in industry, and doctoral students.