Professional identity formation (PIF) is an integral part of educating professionals. A well-formed professional identity helps individuals to develop a meaningful professional self-understanding that facilitates their transition to and sustainability in professional work. Although professional identity and its formation are well theorized, it is…

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…

Purpose: Drawing on human capital theory and sustainable career theory, this paper aims to explore the impact of undertaking an industrial placement on the "Great Eight" competencies as perceived by university students and line managers. Design/methodology/approach: 618 students and their line managers across three cohorts (pre-COVID-19)…

The misalignment between educational standards and the needs of students and the labor market often results in education that is underutilized. Thus, enhancing quality assurance in education to achieve learning outcomes that improve the value of life is essential for students to lead meaningful lives and attain true success. This study aims to:…

Although we have evidence that reflection on community service enhances student development outcomes, we have little understanding of the process by which students integrate their academic and community experiences. This study is a part of a larger participatory research project, for which we collected 403 narrative accounts of awkward and…

The lack of support in academia, especially during doctoral studies, is a widely debated issue. Such experiences can be expected to be highly relevant to young researchers for their developing identity as scholars and their career aspirations. According to self-determination theory, support for the three basic psychological needs for competence,…

This study aims to gain a deeper understanding of knowledge transfer as an outcome of transnational education. Based on the case of a Finnish-Vietnamese transnational education program, this paper analyzes the role of students as knowledge mediators between the study program, students' personal development and work life. Although students should…

While colleges and universities have historically emphasized holistic education, employers continue to be concerned that students are missing core elements of the non-technical skills which are necessary to be successful in the workplace. Organizations such as the National Association of Colleges and Employers as well as the Association of…

A key part of the student experience in the higher education context is employability. There is an expectation that universities will contribute to their students' employability and indeed they are measured on this contribution and are allocated funding based on it. Despite the importance of employability in higher education, it remains a complex…

The youth population bulge in Kenya comes with so many challenges such as poverty, gender inequalities, political inequities, the absence of adequate health and medical resources, low educational attainment, homelessness, increased involvement in violence, drugs, and alcohol, poor physical and mental health, a lack of key life skills, premature…

Using the cocurricular career connections (C3) leadership model, this chapter will focus on the potential for off-campus jobs to help a largely underserved group to develop leadership skills. In so doing, leadership educators and student employers can help students be more effective in their work, develop skills that can promote employability…

Short-term international study experiences, or study tours, aim to increase students' global awareness, educate and empower them to be productive global citizens, and contribute to their future employability. Learning outcomes from study tours often include intangible personal characteristics or soft skills, as opposed to specific disciplinary…

Study abroad programs offer undergraduate students multiple benefits by providing academic, professional and personal learning experiences that cannot be fully replicated in the domestic university setting. Recognizing the unique positioning of preservice English teachers participating in a London summer study abroad program, the author created a…

This paper examines the perception undergraduate students have, regarding the attributes they have developed in terms of transferable and communicative skills. The goal was to shed light on how undergraduate students, in the context of this research, perceive their graduate profile. This study was carried out at a university school of foreign…

Purpose: Collaboration between universities and industry is increasingly perceived as a vehicle to enhance innovation. Educational institutions are encouraged to build partnerships and multidisciplinary projects based around real-world open problems. Projects need to benefit student learning, not only the organisations looking for innovations. The…