Employers’ Expectations of Students’ Generative AI Skills: a Student Perspective

Research notes that knowledge in student use of generative AI (GenAI) products will be needed by students in their professional careers and will contribute to professional growth. However, we did not find scientific publications that examined students’ points of view regarding employers’ expectations about the level of students’ skills in the field of generative AI. Based on the survey of 689 students from one Ukrainian university, the study examines the students’ perspectives on employers’ expectations regarding their ability to select and apply generative AI products. The results obtained are compared with a survey of teachers at this university, as well as with a survey of students at Latvian universities. The study also used methods of comparative analysis, descriptive statistics, and econometric methods. We found that only 54% of students believe that employers will soon expect university graduates to have the knowledge and skills to select and effectively use GenAI products. We also examined differences in student responses based on department affiliation, mode of study, program of study, age, gender, and use of GenAI in the educational process. However, a statistically significant association was found only between students’ opinions on whether employers will expect AI knowledge from potential employees and the students’ use of AI in their study process. Based on the Expectancy-Value Theory, we draw an important conclusion that serves as a signal to university administrators and educators: to better prepare students for the demands of the labor market, it is necessary to appropriately motivate and stimulate them to use GenAI in their educational process.