This study examines whether premature termination of vocational education and training (VET) is more likely when trainees have to make compromises between their realistic occupational aspirations and the occupation for which they are trained in terms of the occupational dimensions of gender type, prestige, and occupational interests. Specifically,…

This Research Brief provides data and analysis on business school candidates who studied non-business fields as undergraduates, including liberal arts and STEM subjects. Topics covered include demographics, timing of their consideration of business school, career aspirations, curriculum preferences, and evaluation of business school options. The…

To reduce their attrition rates, institutions need to ensure that their students can manage the stressors they confront in their academic work and persist to complete their study programs. Given the significance of non-cognitive attributes in education, this study aimed to identify the non-cognitive profiles exhibited by students which related…

The increasingly diverse student population serves as a motivating factor for colleges to reimagine both their academic pedagogy and curriculum to be more inclusive of diverse student learners' needs. Service-learning is a high-impact practice that positively influences students' academic success, and student engagement on- and off-campus, along…

Background: The United States continues to invest considerable resources into developing the next generation of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) talent. Efforts to shore up interest in pursuing STEM careers span decades and have increasingly focused on boosting interest among diverse student populations. Policymakers have…

To inform higher education and student affairs (HESA) professionals who work with college students outside of the classroom, we asked the research question: How do undocumented Latinx college students use aspirational capital to navigate higher education? Aspirational capital is the ability to maintain hopes and dreams for the future in the face…

We examined the relationships between high school CTE participation and indicators of career and college readiness using 2009 High School Longitudinal Study restricted-use data. Regression analyses of 2009-2018 data revealed significantly lower dropout rates for CTE participants, but only White CTE participants experienced better employment…

The current study suggested and tested a model to investigate the associations between adolescent future expectations of work and education (AFE-WE; adaptive responses) and positive future expectations (PFE; adaptivity) through concern, control, curiosity, and confidence (adaptability resources) as well as the role of the gender. The data were…

Chinese students studying abroad have been increasing rapidly in the past decades and become a significant financial contribution to receiving countries. Accordingly, understanding their enrollment choice is essential to facilitate college marketing and admission strategies. Though the decision process is believed to be different from domestic…

Existing research has studied the underrepresentation of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) students enrolling in and graduating from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields in college (e.g., Okahana et al., 2018; Rincón & Lane, 2017). However, there is a dearth of research that examines the precollegiate…

Referring to Bourdieu's three-level analysis and trio concepts, the authors offer a third-level analysis of the academic and social adaptation of 32 rural students in four elite universities in Shanghai, China. Respondents with rural habitus and cultural capital had difficulties in adapting to the field of an elite university in an urban city and…

Apprenticeships remain an important source of skilled workers in Australia; however, commencements have not kept pace with the skills demand projected in the previous decade. During that same decade, undergraduate university enrolments grew considerably. In investigating whether young people who would previously have chosen an apprenticeship have…

This study examines how the interplay between individual and contextual factors contributes to the academic and career outcomes of female science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students. Hypotheses regarding the indirect influence of stereotype threat on STEM career goals were assessed. Data were collected from 323 undergraduate…

This paper reports qualitative findings from a large study on Indonesian teacher education students' career aspirations. The participants were 133 final-year undergraduate students who entered teacher education programmes with no intentions to teach in schools or had intentions to teach only for a short period upon graduation before pursuing…

Vocational identity develops through the interplay between process and content dimensions. A three-wave longitudinal study investigated how identity process dimensions (in-breadth exploration, in-depth exploration, commitment making, identification with commitment, self-doubt, flexibility) and content dimensions represented by career goals…