...increasing employability through higher education...fact or fiction Introduction Whether you.re a recent graduate or are facing the prospects of looking for a job in the near future, there are many factors to consider before entering the job market. Knowing the kind of job you want, getting yourself prepared for the job market, and presenting yourself as a valuable asset would make it easier to obtain a position that will successfully meet the needs of both you and your employer. With globalization taking place and the employment equity act in force the job market has become rather competitive. Now, a person not only has to compete for a job with the different people from his own community or country but also with the people who emigrate from other countries. So what is it that will distinguish you from all your competitors? This literature review aims at exploring employability and focusing on the link between education and employability to determine whether employability can be increased through higher education. Defining employability A report carried out by Hillage and Pollard (1998) for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) found that. . Employability is about having the ability to acquire initial employment, keeping employment and acquire new employment if required. . For an individual, employability depends upon: 1. Assets in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes, 2. The way these assets are used and deployed, 3. Presentation of assets to potential...
Words: 2610 - Pages: 11
...Increasing Employability Through Higher Education In: Other Topics Increasing Employability Through Higher Education increasing employability through higher education...fact or fiction Introduction Whether you.re a recent graduate or are facing the prospects of looking for a job in the near future, there are many factors to consider before entering the job market. Knowing the kind of job you want, getting yourself prepared for the job market, and presenting yourself as a valuable asset would make it easier to obtain a position that will successfully meet the needs of both you and your employer. With globalization taking place and the employment equity act in force the job market has become rather competitive. Now, a person not only has to compete for a job with the different people from his own community or country but also with the people who emigrate from other countries. So what is it that will distinguish you from all your competitors? This literature review aims at exploring employability and focusing on the link between education and employability to determine whether employability can be increased through higher education. Defining employability A report carried out by Hillage and Pollard (1998) for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) found that. . Employability is about having the ability to acquire initial employment, keeping employment and acquire new employment if required. . For an individual, employability depends upon: 1. Assets in terms of...
Words: 321 - Pages: 2
...Graduate Employability and Student Attitudes and Orientations to the Labour Market Michael Tomlinson This article examines the way students, making the transition from higher education into the labour market, construct, understand and begin to manage their employability. It draws upon a qualitative study of 53 final year undergraduates in a pre-1992 university in the UK. It firstly explores students’ perceptions of the current labour market for graduates and how they understand future career progression. It examines their different orientations and attitudes to work and careers through the development of an ideal-type model. It then considers how these orientations influence the way students approach future work and careers and manage their employability, and further discusses some of the implications this has for current policies around higher education and the labour market in the UK context. Introduction This paper examines the perceptions, attitudes and orientations of higher education students to their future work, careers and employability. The employability of university graduates has dominated much educational and economic policy over the past decade (NCIHE, 1997; DfEE, 2000). Graduate employability is centrally located in the changing relationship between higher education and the labour market. The development of mass higher education has intersected with the shift towards a so-called knowledge-driven or post-industrial economy (Drucker, 1993; Amin, 1994)...
Words: 10121 - Pages: 41
...2007‐07‐09 1 Employability in working life: Graduates’ expectations and possibilities after graduation Airi Rovio‐Johansson and Stefan Tengblad Gothenburg Research Institute (GRI), School of Business. Economics and Law at Göteborg University Airi.Rovio‐Johansson@gri.gu.se Stefan Tengblad@gri.gu.se th Nordic Academy of Management Conference, Paper presented at the 19 August 9‐11, Bergen, Norway. Abstract The aim of the study is to investigate graduates’ strategies and attitudes towards employability and career development, and to construct a tentative model of employability by identifying inherent factors. Four theoretical perspectives have been used to discuss the concept employability and the empirical results, i.e., the Human capital theory perspective, Institutional theory perspective, Critical theory perspective, and Actor theory perspective. The research project takes its point of departure in changes of the European and the Swedish labour market during recent years and the ongoing restructuring of Higher Education in Europe. A fundamental principle underlying these movements is the formulation of “Employability” as a thesis that aims at making the European Union the most dynamic and productive Higher Education Area and labour market. A higher degree of “employability” is attainable if the relation between the employee and the employer depend more on market based contracts limited in time, and where the employees are willing to take a higher degree of responsibility...
Words: 9993 - Pages: 40
...Management * Module – Employability for Marketing * Module Leader – Ruth Gosnay * Word count – Part A: 719 Part B: 781 * Date of submission – 12th March 2012 Contents Page Part A: Graduate Employability - Page 3-5 Part B: Reflective Essay - Page 6-8 References - Page 9 Graduate Employability In this assignment I am going to expand on the survey conducted by the Institute of Directors’ in 2007, which says: ‘90% of members believe the education system should do more to prepare students for the world of work.’ I chose to research this because I believe it is a high figure and really questions how much educational institutions enhance the employability of their students. Up until the late 1980’s/early 1990’s, most graduates that progressed from university found satisfactory employment within a short amount of time and were able to earn a sufficiently high income. At that time the preparation for employment often implied the knowledge and technical skills required for the occupation. The introduction of The Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 made changes to the funding of most higher education institutions which resulted in 35 polytechnics gaining university status. E.g. Leeds Met, Manchester Met. It was around the same time that the UK Government proposed universities should develop the core/transferable/generic skills needed for high-level employment – also known as Employability skills. Therefore higher education institutions responded...
Words: 1692 - Pages: 7
...the due date. It needs to be completed in Word format and then submitted online as a PDF document. Only assignments in PDF format may be submitted. [If you need more guidance on how to create a PDF document – review the FAQ’s on your HMEMS80 myUnisa site]. 1 SECTION A: MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS See the INSTRUCTION document for the material that you need to work through and the multiple choice questions to complete this section. Question number Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Question 9 Question 10 Correct answer: Indicate ONLY the letter for the correct answer below for each of the 10 questions. D A D D A D D A A D 2 SECTION B: LITERATURE REVIEW Include your literature review below: Developing a conceptual model for graduate employability in South Africa. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction pg.3 2. The Concept of Employability pg.4 3. An Academic and Work Experience Perspective pg.4 4. Elements of Employability pg.6 5. Conclusion pg.7 6. References pg.7 Introduction Employability of graduates in South...
Words: 2164 - Pages: 9
...Management-MGT521 Writing an Argument Paper Many factors influence the decision to seek a Master’s in business administration degree. Employability, cost, interest, and personality compatibility are just a few areas one should consider when determining if an MBA degree is the best direction academically for one to embark upon. Through research and reliable sources one can gather important data useful in making this life-changing decision. Reliance on credible and valid data significantly improves ones opportunity to make an informed decision and this increases the probability of successful completion of the MBA program. Why an MBA The decision to seek a graduate degree in Business Administration should be based on a number of elements. Determining factors in making this decision may include personality traits, interests, life stage, past career developments and successes as well as economic and employability factors. When an individual has experienced the business and management fields for a number of years, and the individual has developed a positive level of accomplishment, seeking an MBA degree could lead to significant benefits professionally. After spending many years in another field the decision to begin a new career in mid-life is a major and a somewhat anxiety filled endeavor. Income potential, personal interests and employability are considerations of extreme importance when weighing the final decision. When personality traits are analyzed for possible career...
Words: 1200 - Pages: 5
...bs_bs_banner Higher Education Quarterly, 0951-5224 DOI: 10.1111/hequ.12055 Volume 68, No. 3, July 2014, pp 348–372 The Role of Work Experience in the Future Employability of Higher Education Graduates Ruth Helyer, Teesside University, r.helyer@tees.ac.uk Dionne Lee, Teesside University, d.lee@tees.ac.uk Abstract Many new graduates are finding it difficult to obtain graduate-level work and impossible to break into the sectors they were aiming at. In order to address this, higher education institutions are examining the methods they use to enhance student employability and deploying various measures to grow and strengthen this activity, with an increasing focus on providing work experience. One popular way of doing this is via internships (placements). This paper examines the context in which work experience has come to the fore as an approach to enhancing employability by interrogating recent research and policy related to this agenda. Employability is presented as an on-going debate that cannot be viewed as a finite entity but must move and develop with the market, society and the global situation. In addition the paper closely examines a graduate internship programme in a university in North East England. Comparing and contrasting findings from this scheme, with other examples of experiential learning through work experience, provides some evidence to suggest the value of internships and furthermore supports some formative ideas about how internships...
Words: 9691 - Pages: 39
...opportunities (1). In fact, the Philippine Star through its website published that there is a 7.5% increase in the unemployment rate for the year 2014. In addition, the Philippine daily inquirer said that there is a 12 million increase in unemployed Filipinos year. In addition to issues like underemployment where in graduates of a 4 year degree course do not usually land in decent jobs with proper compensation, or there is no parallelism of the courses finished with their job. One example of this is a graduate in Teacher Education working as Brgy. Secretary or a BSOA graduate working as Barangay Health Worker. Today, most college students and their families are banking on education as the means and ways to have a financially secured job in the future that is why they enter in tertiary level. The higher education institutions then are responsible in equipping these students with knowledge, values, and skills to be able to perform well in the working place. Mountain Province State Polytechnic College as an institution offers Bachelor of Science in Office Administration which aims to produce graduates who are employable and globally competitive in the various general and specialized administrative supports, supervisory and managerial positions. More or less it is then expected to see BSOA graduates of MPSPC to be working in offices. To gauge whether the BSOA graduates dream of good job is met, this study on the “Employability of BSOA graduates (2008-2013) in Bontoc” will look...
Words: 2182 - Pages: 9
...GMT Autumn 2011 4 GMT interview Graduate employability 2012 with Dr Paul Redmond Discussions on student employability are now more ‘en vogue’ than ever before. GMT explores the issues and challenges brought on by fast changing higher education and technology landscapes with an exclusive interview: AGCAS’s new President Elect, and one of the best known experts and public figures in the field, Dr Paul Redmond, talks to Aphrodite Papadatou about graduate employability in the year 2012 – and beyond.1 AP: The recent higher education white paper reinforces governmental concern for employability. How will this affect the provision of undergraduate degrees? Will some disciplines where employment rates are low become ‘extinct’? PR: I think the sector is going through a phase where it is asking itself big questions like ‘what is higher education for?’ and often answers to these are shaped by instrumentalist concerns – such as all university courses should contribute to the economy. In some ways, this is fairly recent idea, but it has now become so mainstream to be almost ubiquitous. This strikes me as being a pity. Not only does it challenge the idea of the university, even economically, it doesn’t make sense. We need the artistic skills of the arts and humanities to innovate and produce future technology – think for example of the iPad: technology meets art and design. The only reason why early Apple computers offered different fonts was because Steve Jobs, prior to being thrown...
Words: 2614 - Pages: 11
...36,1 Employability and talent management: challenges for HRD practices Staffan Nilsson Centre for Policy Studies in Higher Education and Training, Department of Educational Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and HELIX VINN Excellence Centre, ¨ Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linkoping University, ¨ Linkoping, Sweden, and 26 Received 14 May 2011 Revised 15 August 2011 Accepted 16 September 2011 ¨ Per-Erik Ellstrom HELIX VINN Excellence Centre, ¨ Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning, Linkoping University, ¨ Linkoping, Sweden Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this conceptual paper is to illuminate the problems that are associated with defining and identifying talent and to discuss the development of talent as a contributor to employability. Design/methodology/approach – The world of work is characterised by new and rapidly changing demands. Talent management has recently been the target of increasing interest and is considered to be a method by which organisations can meet the demands that are associated with increased complexity. Previous studies have often focused on the management of talent, but the issue of what exactly should be managed has generally been neglected. In this paper, the authors focus on discussing the substance of talent and the problems associated with identifying talent by using the following closely related concepts: employability, knowledge, and competence. Findings – Employability is central...
Words: 10536 - Pages: 43
...ASSESSING GRADUATE EMPLOYMENT IN THE PRESENCE OF ENDOGENEITY AND SAMPLE SELECTION BIAS V1.2 Paul Blacklow* School of Economics and Finance, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 85, Hobart, TAS 7000 Paul.Blacklow@utas.edu.au *Presenting Author JEL Codes: I21, J23, C25 Keywords: Graduate Employment, Self Selection Bias, Sample Selection Bias Aaron Nicholas Department of Economics, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, VIC 3800 Aaron.Nicholas@buseco.monash.edu.au ABSTRACT This paper examines the probability of a recent university graduate obtaining full-time employment by degree of study. It allows for degree choice to be endogenous (self-selection bias) and adjusts for those graduates not in the labour force who are not typically considered in graduate outcome studies (sample-selection bias). The self-selection problem is able to be identified by using a unique data set that combines data from the 2005 and 2006 Australian Graduate Destination Survey with data from the University of Tasmania’s (UTAS) student administration database, which includes students’ pre-tertiary school results. Degree choice is modelled using a Nested Logit, while labour force participation is modelled using a Probit. Using a ‘Heckit’ type methodology, the Inverse Mills Ratios (pseudo-residuals) from the Nested Logit and the modified Inverse Mills Ratios from the Probit are included in the final Probit model for Employment. Both correction terms are statistically significant at 5% in the employment...
Words: 8542 - Pages: 35
...Why should the United Kingdom be your destination for higher education? The United Kingdom attracts one of the largest internationally mobile student bodies seeking higher education from around the world. Home to the oldest university in the English-speaking world, the Kingdom has established numerous universities which provide high-quality education, facilities and research opportunities to the student demographic looking for advancement in the education career. The reasons that elevate the United Kingdom as an education destination are the quality of education, research opportunities that follow after students have enrolled or completed their universities, lower study costs, shorter study programs and the statistics that show that graduates educated in the United Kingdom have remarkably higher average salaries than if they had been educated in their home countries. According to an on-line global Student Decision Making survey conducted by the British council in 2007, United Kingdom attracts 10% of total internationally mobile students each year. Within the migrating population, 59% reported choosing the UK solely because of the quality of education. To confirm that the high standards of academic education, teaching, support and facilities are maintained, the universities are regularly analyzed, ranked and compared annually. QS world university ranking is an information database that compare and rank universities across the world and help students make researched comparisons...
Words: 2913 - Pages: 12
...Engaging Students in PDP and Employability through U CRe8 Club Introduction Bridges CETL (Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning) is based at the University of Bedfordshire – a multi-cultural learning community which is recognised internationally for transforming the student experience and for the high quality of its teaching. The majority of Bedfordshire's courses are vocational and for this reason, employability is an important aspect of ASPIRE: the University's six core values embodying access, scholarship, partnership, innovation and respect. Reflecting QAA guidelines (2001) on personal development planning (PDP), employability and PDP are core elements of the curriculum at the University. According to Yorke (2004) employability is 'a set of achievements – skills, understandings and personal attributes that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy'. With this in mind, Bridges CETL is integrating personal, career and professional development through the undergraduate curriculum. To achieve this it facilitates many student-centred, developmental, sustainable activities and funded projects. Bridges CETL aims to build bridges: between higher education and the world of work and across the divide between students and staff. The CETL employs a student on work placement every year to liaise with students and survey their opinions. This is reported, discussed...
Words: 298 - Pages: 2
...ENHANCING STUDENT EMPLOYABILITY: Higher Education and Workforce Development Ninth Quality in Higher Education International Seminar in collaboration with ESECT and The Independent. Birmingham 27th-28th January 2005 The Competencies for Next Generation Employability Eamonn McQuade, Deirdre Hogan, John O’Donoghue, Theresa Maguire, Eamonn Murphy. Programme for the University Industry Interface, University of Limerick Conference Theme 3: Working with employers Abstract It is generally accepted that employees will need to broaden their knowledge, skills and competencies through a lifetime of learning if they are to remain employable, and if enterprises are to maintain their competitiveness in a knowledge-based global economy. However, identifying and developing skills and competencies for next generation employability in Ireland is a challenging task. The Programme for University Industry Interface (PUII) is an action research project, established in 2003, to determine the skills and competencies required by Irish Industry and to develop learning models that will facilitate their delivery. This paper presents the outcomes of an action research methodology based on a Community of Practice model (COP), which addressed the issues surrounding competencies for next generation employability. It proposes a competency framework which integrates the four key categories of skills: Business, Technical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and presents a set of recommendations...
Words: 6540 - Pages: 27
