Developing and Utilizing Employability Capitals


Book Description

Graduate employability is a significant concern for most higher education institutions worldwide. During the last two decades, universities have attempted to implement their employability agendas to support their students to enhance employment outcomes. However, within today’s globalized labour markets, employability has gone far beyond the notion of obtaining stable and permanent employment. This book explores graduates’ experiences in developing and utilizing employability capitals for career development and success in different labour markets. In the chapters, the graduate contributors narrate and discuss how they negotiated their employability on the transitions across jobs, occupational sectors and labour markets. The chapters address key issues, including how employability is understood by graduates of different disciplines, at different career stages and in different contexts; how they develop and utilise such capitals along with strategies to negotiate their employability; and what can be done to move the higher education employability agenda forward. The book presents international insights and perspectives into transitions from education to work and career development across the labour markets, as well as calls for improving the graduate employability agenda. It is an invaluable resource for researchers and academics, university leaders, policymakers and students who are concerned about graduate employability.




International Student Employability


Book Description

This book explores how international undergraduate and graduate students navigate their higher educational institutional (HEI) experiences and employability prospects in both Global North and Global South universities. The chapter authors examine how students from the Global South use their agency to apply their HEI experiences to meet their needs, gain skills, and envision alternative pathways to adapt to economic, environmental, and political changes. Through diverse student voices, the book sheds light on the challenges faced by these international students in the job market. It highlights the importance of promoting diversity and equity in higher education. The book emphasizes the need to consider the cultural circumstances of global south students to enhance their employability. The book contributes to a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by Global South international students in the job market. It offers effective strategies for educators, policymakers, and employers to support these students.




Graduate Employability and Workplace-Based Learning Development


Book Description

This book presents a comprehensive discussion of sociocultural perspectives on graduate employability and workplace-based learning development. It draws on Vygotsky’s theories such as situated learning and sociocultural perspectives, as well as the constructivist learning theory. This book showcases theoretical and empirical analyses that show how institutions, decision-makers or academics can work together to enhance job employability in this age of uncertainty. It discusses issues such as the development of emerging and employability skills, examines research in higher education and workplace-based learning development, and proposes directions for the changing nature in real-world settings. This book details empirical research in the field using quantitative, qualitative and mixed method approaches, and summarizes the key conclusions pertaining to graduate employability skills as well as workplace learning culture and technology-mediated environment. It includes contributions from experienced international scholars, and offers detailed insights for readers who want a timely understanding of research trends in graduate employability and workplace-based learning development.




Enhancing Student Education Transitions and Employability


Book Description

This book explores student education transition and employability negotiation experiences in various contexts. It explores determinants of student transitions at three levels including macro, meso and micro but focuses on exploring affordances, constraints and strategies at the micro level. The framework underpinning the explorations at the micro level covers a range of different forms of capital including human, culture, social, identity, psychological and agentic. The book is unique in three ways. First, it consists of chapters about critical discussion, empirical research and practical guidance about student transition experiences. The critical discussion and empirical research chapters explore and obtain insights about the complexity of student transitions and develop conceptual frameworks that guide the development of applicable practices. The book is, therefore, a useful resource for policy makers, institutions, academics, professionals and students. Second, it provides insights about how student transitions are determined by a range of factors at different levels. These insights extend discussions about student transitions in the current literature which have mainly explored impacts of policies, institutional programmes and human capital. Finally, it is international in focus because it draws on research with different cohorts of students and graduates in different contexts. Insights provided in the book are, therefore, rich, diverse and comparative.




Graduate Employability in Context


Book Description

This book explores the highly significant and contested area of graduate employability and employment which is paid so much attention by those in the media and policy-makers. This is driven largely by concerns over the wider economic impact and value of graduates as increasing numbers complete their studies in higher education. At a time when graduates are seen as key to economic success, the critical question remains as to how their employability plays out in a changing labour market. This book brings together innovative approaches and research to present an extensive survey of the field. It provides insight on what is a complex and often elusive social and economic problem, ranging from how graduate employability is constructed as an economic and policy agenda to explorations of how graduates manage the transition from higher education to paid employment and finally to suggest future directions for curricula, policy and research.




Graduate Employability Across Contexts


Book Description

This book explores stakeholders’ perspectives, their practices, and engagement with enacting the employability agenda in the context of a rapidly changing world. It explains the need for developing graduate employability under socioeconomic, cultural, and political pressure exposed to the higher education sector. Largely framed within Bourdieu’s concepts of social field, habitus, and capital, it explores international stakeholders’ perspectives and experiences with graduate employability agenda in different contexts, which serves as a point of reference for the adoption of such initiatives. Based on empirical evidence, the authors develop a new graduate employability framework seeing it as a lifelong process, denote the relationships between types of employability capital, and shed light on the consequences of different strategies to translate employability capital to employment and career outcomes. Overall, this book generates both theoretical and practical insights which help to advance employability programs, better prepare the future workforce, and anticipate turbulence in the labour markets.




International Handbook on Education Development in the Asia-Pacific


Book Description

The Springer International Handbook of Educational Development in Asia Pacific breaks new ground with a comprehensive, fine-grained and diverse perspective on research and education development throughout the Asia Pacific region. In 13 sections and 127 chapters, the Handbook delves into a wide spectrum of contemporary topics including educational equity and quality, language education, learning and human development, workplace learning, teacher education and professionalization, higher education organisations, citizenship and moral education, and high performing education systems. The Handbook is grounded in specific Asia Pacific contexts and scholarly traditions, using unique country-specific narratives, for example, Vietnam and Melanesia, and socio-cultural investigations through lenses such as language identity or colonisation, while offering parallel academic discourse and analyses framed by broader policy commentary from around the world.




Prioritizing Skills Development for Student Employability


Book Description

In the throes of a global skills gap and relentless labor market disruptions, organizations grapple with the pressing challenge of aligning workforce skills with the demands of a hypercompetitive economy. Reports from influential entities like the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Company underscore the urgency for strategic interventions to bridge this divide. Despite the pivotal role of higher education and corporate training, recent findings from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reveal a persistent struggle in finding candidates equipped with the requisite skills for a multitude of available jobs. The deficiencies span from foundational communication skills to complex problem-solving abilities, posing a formidable hurdle for organizations seeking qualified talent. Prioritizing Skills Development for Student Employability emerges as a solution to the skills misalignment conundrum by delving into the heart of the issue, dissecting the intricacies of global workforce dynamics, education-industry collaborations, and the evolving landscape of corporate training. By exploring topics such as learning analytics, educational artificial intelligence (AI), and effective leadership in the context of present-day human resource management, the book provides a comprehensive roadmap for both academic scholars and professionals to navigate the complex terrain of skills development.




Student Agency and Self-Formation in Higher Education


Book Description

This edited volume argues for positioning students at the centre of higher education, drawing from the concepts of student agency and self-formation. The volume highlights that higher education has broader and more important purposes than what a neoliberal human capital approach would suggest, and explores how students exercise their agency and realise self-formation as inherently connected concepts throughout university education. With disciplinary, cultural, and contextual diversity, this volume will provide international perspectives to readers interested in higher education theories, policies, and practices.




Strategic Opportunities for Bridging the University-Employer Divide


Book Description

When looking at academia and the job market, a persistent issue continues to cast a shadow over the future of graduates and the workforce alike. The problem at hand is the enduring divide between universities and employers, a chasm that often leaves graduates ill-prepared for the demands of the modern workplace. Academic scholars, career advisors, and graduate recruiters grapple with the challenge of equipping students with the skills and knowledge needed for sustainable career success. This divide not only impedes the career prospects of graduates but also leaves employers struggling to find the talent they need to thrive in a rapidly changing world. Strategic Opportunities for Bridging the University-Employer Divide offers a solution to a pressing problem. For academic scholars seeking innovative answers to this enduring challenge, this comprehensive guide marries theoretical insights with real-world applications, providing a roadmap to bridge the gap between education and employment.