The recent emergence of microcredentials, short courses leading to accreditation with an emphasis on work-aligned skills, is worthy of note due to its speed, scale and accompanying endorsement from governments and influential non-state actors worldwide. This paper analyses the reasons for this rapid growth which have been proposed in academic…

There is considerable international interest in transitions from school to work. This article approaches the issue as part of the debate around 'vocational maturity' ("Ausbildungsreife") in Germany and 'employability' in the United Kingdom. Vocational education and training systems in these two countries differ significantly, so the…

Career development learning (CDL) equips students with the skills, knowledge and resources to navigate their careers amidst dynamic work and learning environments. While CDL is known to be facilitated by central careers services in higher education institutions, embedding CDL activities within the curriculum is purported to be an effective…

Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) plays a pivotal role in equipping young individuals with technical skills and competencies, enhancing their employability. TVET is distinct for its student-centered and industry-oriented features, often involving enterprises in on-site training. In this study, we conceptualized TVET as a…

This study explores how two typical pedagogical modes, namely, problem-based and employment-based pedagogical mode, contribute to the employability of university and college students. Based on analysis of a total sample of 428 undergraduates from Chinese universities and colleges using structural equation modelling, the results show that students'…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine career engagement and perceived employability during the school-to-work transition. We studied within-person changes in career engagement and perceived employability in the transition from higher education to the labor market. We investigated their dynamic reciprocal relationship to unravel whether…

Background: The purpose of this paper is to do a cross-sectional analysis to evaluate the impact of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic on Dental Match Residency statistics from the year 2019-2023. Methods: The Dental Match Residency statistics available from the Dental Match website were analyzed from years 2019-2023 to evaluate the impact of…

Internships are widely recognized within higher education as a useful work-based learning (WBL) approach to enhance student employability. However, there remains a need to understand whether internships provide a developmental experience that includes higher-level (soft) skills such as self-responsibility, flexibility and innovation. Our study…

Few issues have attracted as much policy interest in the tertiary sector as graduate employability. Graduate employability positions universities and their students as key players in the national economy. At the same time, the standard conception of graduate employability, as it has evolved from human capital theory and modified by neoliberal…

Introduction: Underemployment of people with visual impairments has long been a concern among professionals in the field of blindness and low vision, but limited research has been conducted on this topic. In this study, we assessed educational underemployment of employed college graduates with and without visual impairments to evaluate differences…

Research educators, scholars, and employers often debate the nature and purpose of doctoral training. Should doctoral degrees exist only to make new knowledge and replenish the academic workforce or are they part of broader societal-enhancement and employment agendas? Or both? This study aimed to identify and analyse tensions in Australian…

Background: Engineering education seeks to prepare students for engineering practice, but the concept of preparedness is often ill-defined. Moreover, findings from studies of different populations or in different contexts vary regarding how well new graduates are prepared. These variations, coupled with the lack of clarity, suggest the need to…

The field of nutrition has seen a growing interest and demand in recent years, with more students choosing to study within the field. This demand has highlighted the importance of producing work-ready graduates with skills that enhance their employability and ability to contribute effectively to the workforce. This study investigated the role of…

New managerialism and neo-liberal discourses have re-shaped traditional academic practices towards the vocational aspects of higher education. One institutional response to the growing graduate employability policy agenda has been the introduction of work-integrated learning (WIL) within Australian universities, a form of learning to require…

Contribution: This study demonstrates the effectiveness of a dedicated soft skills (SSs) course in an electrical engineering (EE) undergraduate program, showing improvements in students' appreciation and satisfaction of expressing most of these skills. Background: SSs, encompassing interpersonal and social competencies, are important for career…