A study of Informal Learning role in development of Key competencies in Higher education and Job market

The main purpose of the present study has been to investigate the effect of Informal Learning through social interactions within the higher education and vocational contexts on the development of key job Competencies. The present survey has utilized researcher-constructed questionnaires and interviews as data collection instruments. The population comprised 150 participants of higher education graduates and workers in the industry section of Mazandaran province with an experience ranging from 2 to6. The data analysis was done using SPSS resulting in both descriptive and inferential analyses. The results implied that there is a significant difference between the role of higher education and vocational context in the development of job qualifications, suggesting a greater role for higher education. In university, Personal competencies and Social -communication skills and in job context personal competencies and Professional competencies are more developed. From among the learning indices of Informal Learning, the indices of speech learning in university and behavior learning in job context have been the most frequent. With regard to the higher frequency of no replies compared to yes ones, it can be concluded that neither of the qualifications seem satisfactory in the two contexts.