Abstract:
Opportunity to obtain higher education is considered as a privilege in countries like Sri Lanka, as people believe that
this opens new avenues for young generation to obtain better employment and benefits in life. Therefore all the higher
education institutions are keen to make their graduates employable. They use different models to inculcate skills and
competencies required by the industry in their graduates, hence to make them employable. National Institute of
Business Management (NIBM) is a statutory body which has been offering higher education opportunities for its
students since 1968. They utilize their own career guidance model which is based on grooming school leavers with
the graduate attributes based on TDF model (Thinker, Doer & Finisher) they have identified and finally making the
students industry ready through a study module called Continuous Professional Development (CPD). This study
aimed at identifying the level of satisfaction of the employers with whom the graduate students of NIBM completed
their internships with regards to the graduate attributes as well as CPD module outcomes. A questionnaire developed
to measure the satisfaction level of the employers regarding the graduate attributes and CPD module outcomes were
distributed to 138 employers who have provided internship opportunities to NIBM students in 2017/2018. The results
pointed out that the model utilized by NIBM is successful as it shows above average satisfaction level for all the areas
that has been tested, but at the same time it shows that there is tremendous opportunity for improvements since none
of the areas show extremely high satisfaction levels
