A class act? Lecturers’ views on undergraduates’ employability

Abstract

This article details the findings of a study into lecturers' perceptions of undergraduate employability. The investigation employed interviews with the staff on a BA (Hons) in Education Studies course at a post-1992 university. The aim was to examine staff beliefs regarding their students' potential employability in the business and finance sectors. The staff believed the degree offered students the opportunity to develop 'transferable' skills that could potentially make them employable in business and finance, thus helping the students develop 'absolute' employability. However, some interviewees also believed the students may encounter class-based disadvantages in the labour market with the result that aspects of the students' 'relative' employability were beyond their capacity to intervene. In light of growing policy pressure upon higher education professionals to 'deliver' increasingly employability-driven curricula, it is concluded that further research is needed into staff perceptions of their roles and capacities within this area.

Let me entertain you: the ambivalent role of university lecturers as educators and performers

“…Many studies have raised concerns about the impact of a market-driven higher education system, which has given rise to the importance of instrumental issues such as worthiness, employability and student satisfaction (e.g. Bates and Kaye 2014b;Morrison 2014;Sheard, Carbone, and Hurst 2010;Tomlinson 2012Tomlinson , 2017. As de facto consumers, university students are empowered to exert customer demands and expectations.…”

Perspectives on graduate employability attributes for management sciences graduates

“…A study by Morrison (2014) indicates that lecturers' views are that employers expect higher education institutions to provide graduates with employability attributes, specifically, critical thinking, ability to articulate, and 221 self-confidence. The lecturers in this study expressed the opinion that graduates have poor standards of written communication than would be expected of university graduates.…”

The significance of employee biographics in explaining employability attributes

“…The use of learning goals or outcomes that require the measurement of learner's learning performance instead of the memorisation of factual knowledge must be a priority for all tertiary institutions if they are to prove their effective and efficient utilisation of public funds (Boden & Nedeva 2010). In the current, turbulent, unpredictable working environment in which fulltime employment for life is no longer guaranteed, it is essential that all employees develop generic skills that are transferable to the world of work (Ehiyazaryan & Barraclough 2009;Morrison 2013).…”

“…In a society previously defined by gross inequalities in terms of access to quality higher education and equivalent jobs, and in the light of the debate on the veracity of employability to overcome socio-economic inequalities, investigation of possible discrepancies in employability attributes between different gender, race and age groups has become crucial. According to Moreau and Leathwood (2006) and Morrison (2013), the dearth of research findings on the possible influence of biographic variables on employability affects the current standpoint of employability, and consequently, more research concentrating on biographical variables is needed (Clarke 2008;Themba, Oosthuizen & Coetzee 2012;Williams et al 2015). According to Gerstein and Friedman (2016), women seem to be better than men at social sensitivity but it is a kind of skill that can be taught.…”