The 2006 Education Act provided an entitlement for all 14 year-olds to take a specialist diploma from 2013. Despite concerns of many educationalists and politicians, the first diplomas will begin in September 2008. New Labour claims that the diplomas are innovative and challenging; however, this article argues that they exhibit many of the…

On the basis of the author's experience in coordinating a number of EU research projects aimed at improving the transition from school to vocational training for disadvantaged young people, the following paper focuses on problems in comparing support measures in Europe and on the practical relevance of comparative EU research. The first section…

Most of the studies that account for the endogeneity bias when estimating the returns to schooling assume that the relationship between education and earnings is linear. Studies that assume the latter relationship to be non-linear simply ignore the endogeneity bias. Moreover, they either assume an ad-hoc non-linear relationship or argue that…

The European Students' Union (ESU) feels the need to face the current crisis and to foster the student voice of all students across Europe. In this context its main priorities for 2012 will be: (1) Education as a public good; (2) Internal development; (3) Social dimension; and (4) Bologna and European cooperation. It is of great importance for ESU…

America's economic productivity and competitiveness are grounded in education. The public schools and the higher education institutions alike are falling behind those of other nations. This paper recommends four policy proposals that offer substantial promise for improving American education, are achievable and have low costs. These…

This report provides an comprehensive analysis of the way recession is impacting upon graduate outcomes. Data used in this report reflects the current level of applications to higher education (HE) for 2010 entry, but, due to data collection timing differences, the employment and training destinations of the graduating cohorts of 2005/06-2008/09.…

This report presents estimates of the private rates of return for students studying for vocational education and training (VET) qualifications in Australia. Estimates of rates of return are commonly used by governments, businesses and others to compare the merits of different forms of investment where costs or benefits or both are distributed over…

The establishment of the General Teaching Council for England (GTC) in 2000 created a professional and regulatory body for teaching in England. Acting in the public interest, GTC is responsible for contributing to improving the standards of teaching and the quality of learning, and for maintaining and improving standards of professional conduct…

Quality career/technical education and its role in school improvement was a primary theme of the 2008 "High Schools That Work" ("HSTW") Staff Development Conference. This newsletter covers crucial topics in quality CTE (career and technical education), including assessing the quality and effectiveness of CT programs, preparing students to succeed…

As the labor market continues to demand more workers with postsecondary credentials, for-profit colleges and universities offer the training, degrees, and credentials that students seek to remain viable in an increasingly competitive job market. This study seeks to provide a new perspective on for-profit institutions by focusing on the roles and…

Employing critical discourse analysis (CDA), this paper examines the attempt to bridge a Canadian adult second language policy with an employment skills policy. The result is a third policy intended to improve language education and employment skills training for immigrants. The analysis reveals that the knowledge economy and human capital theory…

High-level agricultural manpower training in Ethiopian institutions of higher education (AIHE)specializing in agriculture and related fields was studied. The study reveals that high-level agricultural manpower training began in the early 1950s and that, at present, the country has seven institutions of higher learning, which train students in…

This chapter introduces four new data tools that broaden student tracking coverage and add statistical indicators and visual images of employment patterns. (Contains 2 exhibits.)

The purposes of this descriptive study were to assess graduates' perception of the importance and competence levels of performing identified transferable skills in the workplace and use the Borich (1980) needs assessment model to identify the skills most in need to enhance the curriculum. The findings revealed that solving problems, working…

This qualitative and longitudinal study focuses on graduate employment and the development of graduate employment paths. The aim of this article is to explore the present professional trajectory from higher education to working life, with particular reference to graduates from two different study programmes at Linkoping University in Sweden:…