Degree apprenticeships offer a new route to a degree in UK higher education, with policymakers emphasising their social mobility potential to widen access to graduate professions. In this context, this article compares the employability perceptions and strategies of aspiring solicitors on traditional university and degree apprenticeship routes in…

We quantify the returns to higher education for degree disciplines, namely 'professional' degrees, Medicine/Dentistry, Law, Accountancy and Psychology, within the UK from 2007 to 2015. We estimate the returns to education in the form of employment and wage premia associated with each subject. Our analysis contributes to the existing literature on…

Although Critical Thinking (CT) has been a desirable aim expressed both by higher education institutions and labour market professionals, studies on what CT means and what it looks like in the workplace are scarce. The current study intends to tackle this gap by sharing findings about the importance of CT and its practical manifestation in…

Research on how higher education institutions work with professional formation indicates that insufficient attention is currently paid to issues of professional responsibility and ethics. In the light of such findings, there is increasing concern about issues related to learning professional responsibility. This article concentrates on different…

There is an increasing trend within higher education and, more specifically, in higher degrees by research, to treat a professional skills set as a desirable graduate outcome. The increasing value that is being placed on a professional skills set in large part reflects growing interest around the world in the role of research degrees in labour…

In the UK fully qualified status in professional occupations is normally awarded by a professional association or registration body. Both the requirements and the routes for qualifying vary between professions, although the majority include an academic component combined with or followed by a period of assessed practice. In recent years there have…

Professions are sometimes characterised as comprising a mixture of art and science. Such labels do not offer an adequate account of the nature of professional work, singly or together. Professions are better understood on their own terms and an alternative approach takes as its point of departure the engagement of professions in doing rather than…

The results of interviews of students of medicine, business administration, and engineering concerning their perceptions of their professional education's relevance to actual professional work, the nature of learning and knowledge, and worldwide economic and technological development are presented and discussed. (MSE)

This interim report analyzed attitudes of 69 practicing professionals (doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, accountants, architects, and engineers) toward professional continuing education in the United Kingdom, particularly as it becomes institutionalized. The study identified some characteristic approaches to coping with unfamiliar demands and…