The Acquiring Marketing Communication Competences of the Future - Expectations of Polish Students

Abstract

Higher education in specific professional competencies is each time a challenge to combinethe expectations and capabilities of universities, the expectations of the labor market and the expec-tations of students. With regard to the competencies of the future, relevant to the marketing commu-nications sector, the situation becomes further complicated due to the dynamically changing digitalmedia and modes of communication. In Polish conditions, numerous research results are available,indicating the expectations of employers of the marketing communications sector. However, thereis a lack of research dedicated to the competence offer of universities in this regard, as well as theexpectations and interests of students. This article attempts to fill this gap. It presents the resultsof a survey of 156 students at Polish higher education institutions regarding the assessment of thepresence of future competencies in the study plans of the majors they study and their perceivedprofessional usefulness of these competencies. The results of the survey indicate the existence of acompetence gap both between the offer of higher education institutions and the expectations of em-ployers, as well as between the expectations of students and employers. This article was written aspart of the implementation of the “Media and Communication in Education and Science” project, un-der the International Partnerships program, funded by the National Agency for Academic Exchange.