Most undergraduate students enroll in college with the aim of securing a professional career after graduation; however, not all students achieve this goal. Prior research has explored whether career outcomes differ between students of varying academic and demographic backgrounds, but few studies have examined whether first-generation status is…

How do teachers affect students' academic and labor market outcomes? Research into teacher quality has been thoroughly scrutinized for the K-12 sector, while there is a requirement for examining these questions at post-secondary education level. In the past few decades, several important trends of faculty employment among higher education…

EARLI SIG 24, Researcher Education and Careers (SIG-REaC), was founded because increasing interest has emerged within the EARLI community into understanding different aspects of doctoral and post-PhD researcher educational and career development. This special issue brings together the outcome of our first scholarly discussion at the SIG-REaC…

The study investigates how the Finnish model of providing initial vocational education and training (IVET) has succeeded in terms of enhancing educational progress and employability. A relatively high level of participation in IVET makes the Finnish model distinctive from those of three other Nordic countries: Denmark, Norway and Sweden. All four…

This research explores the relationship between place and the career experiences of STEM-educated recent college graduates in the U.S. over the 2000-2010 decade. Specifically, it seeks to understand how these graduates' early career outcomes (earnings, odds of unemployment and underemployment) are contingent on the location where they received…

Gainful employment and earnings to support a family living are significant policy goals of the applied baccalaureate program. Therefore, employment is an important metric to study; however, there are limitations in the data and process used in past reports that make understanding the true impact of applied baccalaureate programs on an individuals'…

Washington's community and technical colleges (CTCs) play an important role in producing baccalaureate degree graduates in the state. They expand opportunities for both graduates and employers, build upon professional-technical associate degrees, and provide a clear pathway for students who may be place bound or have difficulty finding a transfer…

University-industry collaboration patterns in more advanced economies have greatly impacted expectations for higher educational systems in developing countries. In Saudi Arabia, generally poor innovation performance of domestic industry has been perceived as a constraint in global competitiveness. The purpose of this study was to determine if…

It's the night before one of Javier Jimenez's big job interviews at the Modern Language Association (MLA) meeting. The 35-year-old graduate student, who is scheduled to earn his Ph.D. in comparative literature this spring from the University of California at Berkeley, is trying to ward off anxiety and abdominal pains. The mystique of the MLA, the…

This paper presents an analysis of trends in actual full-time equivalent (FTE) university staff over 2000-2010 for Go8 and non-Go8 universities. Staff are classified by function as "Academic" or "Other". Academic staff are classified as Research Only (RO) or Teaching and Research (T&R) or Teaching Only (TO). The evidence…

This four-year mixed method longitudinal study utilises data collected from four cohorts of Outdoor Education (OE) students to compare "fresher" and "graduate" identities and to explore the impact of identity on graduate employment. Findings demonstrate that compared to other programmes, and the university as a whole, OE…

Employers across the globe project a slightly more positive hiring outlook for 2013 compared with 2012, according to responses to the 2012 Year-End Poll of Employers of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). Hiring decisions in 2012 were influenced by a mixture of economic conditions from the unfolding Eurozone crisis, to slower growth…

Not only do more companies plan to hire in 2012, they plan to hire at similar or increased levels compared to 2011, according to responses to the 2011 Year-End Poll of Employers of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). The annual poll of employers, which the Council conducted from November 2 to November 16, 2011, garnered responses…

Comparative studies describing the transition from higher education to work have often simplified the complex transition processes involved. In this paper we extend previous research by taking into account several steps that comprise labor market entry, e.g., recurrent education leading to more than one instance of labor market entry. By comparing…

Since 2003, Chinese university students have faced a dangerous level of unemployment after graduation. Current trends indicate that the situation is likely to remain at this level for some time. This article argues that it is difficult to generalize that there has been a decline in the competitiveness of all university students in the job market…