Building capability for project success: examining the preparedness of emerging professionals using a university capstone project case study

Industry expects that graduates of project management university programs are well equipped to enter the profession and contribute to project success. By the fourth and final year of their degree, students are expected to have learned the requisite knowledge and skills to successfully transition into a project role. This Chapter explores the perceived employability of students undertaking a capstone project in the final year of their project management degree from the perspective of students and mentors. Collaboration versus task allocation, working together and the impact of familiarity, group conflict, skills gap identification, confidence, application of course knowledge and skills, and the role of the mentor were identified as issues related to perceived employability. To enhance the employability of students it is recommended that the capstone project be designed to cater for a student group with diverse work and life experience, focus on integration of knowledge rather than information recall, and integrate quantifiable and non-quantifiable skills.