While academic and subject-specific skills and knowledge are vital for young people, it is increasingly clear that broader 'life skills' -- things like communication, resilience, motivation and confidence -- are also needed for success, both in education and in the workplace. Of those 'life skills', the development of communication skills…

This article challenges what is now a common assumption in Higher Education; that teaching for employability will result in enabled and empowered graduates. Drawing upon empirical data, and Foucault's concept of subjectification, we argue that discourses of employability instead encouraged museum, gallery and heritage postgraduate students at one…

This research set out to assess the importance of Design for Manufacture (DFM) within the industrial design process, understanding how it is taught, and comparing this to the requirements of professional practice. A mixed methods approach was applied in, collecting a combination of both quantitative and qualitative data through two questionnaires.…

This is a conceptual paper that examines the origin and development of universities and their current role in global society. There has been an unprecedented and exponential growth of technology and artificial intelligence capabilities over the past ten years which is challenging current working practices and affecting all areas of society. The…

With the ever increasing pace of change in the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry, universities need to be more aware of the skill set that employers are seeking in graduates. These skills often include risk taking, creative thinking and entrepreneurship; skills that are not naturally associated with chemistry-related curriculums. This research…

The paradigm of human resource development has shifted to workplace learning and performance. Workplace can be an organization, an office, a kitchen, a shop, a farm, a website, even a home. Workplace learning is a dynamic process to solve workplace problems through learning. An identification of global trends of workplace learning can help us to…

A recent UK survey found many graduates unprepared for employment while employers placed greater value on transferable, employability skills rather than on specific ones. Increased student entry into professional-oriented programs, and subsequent pressures on work placements, have educators looking to alternative ways of providing safe,…

Skills are high on the agendas of politicians and, increasingly, of employers. For Chris Humphries, Chief Executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, it felt as though things have come full circle. He noted that five years ago, the biggest priority for business was not skills, but they are now--absolutely, categorically and without…

The paper provides an analysis of Core Skill policy and practice in the UK. The author presents a conceptual basis for re-thinking generic Core Skills within educational approaches in teaching and learning. The discussion looks at whether universal notions of generic skills are appropriate when considering post-compulsory pedagogic approaches to…

Belbin team role self and observer perceptions were applied to a large cohort (145) of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences undergraduates in a module assessed through two separate group projects. Students self-selected groups for the first project; for the second, groups were more "balanced." Results show slight improvement in…

Since the 1980s higher education (HE) in the UK has been continually developing to meet the needs of a changing economy. An economy now based largely on knowledge and its transfer, rather than manual skills and labour, has led to an emphasis by the government on increasing the number of adults with high level skills to contribute to economic…

Drawing on an exploratory qualitative study, this article considers the link between business school teaching at graduate level and subsequent work behaviour and experiences of former students. It evaluates the student experience some time "after" graduation. The findings of the retrospective evaluation point to the value of classroom…

It is proposed, as an extension of earlier research, that there is a correlation between the design of British economics programs in higher education and the syllabi, teaching and evaluation methods, and instructional materials used in them. A clear link between the functions of economics degrees, course structures, and employment entry…

This paper reflects on the relevance and applicability of "key transferable skills" to the higher education curriculum. Although they are regarded as having common currency within universities, it is argued that their uncritical acceptance devalues and distorts the nature and character of the teaching and learning employed in academe.…

This document contains 43 papers presented at a conference on research in teaching adults at the University of Exeter, England, in 1998. Among the papers are the following: "Reconstructing Academic Practice: Research and Teaching in a University School of Adult Education" (David Boud); "Re-searching Adult Education Practice:…