An appraisal of the importance of graduates’ language skills and ERASMUS experiences

Abstract

<jats:p> This article discusses the importance of graduates’ language skills and their European Regional Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) experiences. The purpose of the research is to establish whether the potential benefits of ERASMUS participation for employability, particularly with regard to language skills, mean that organizations have a propensity to employ ex-ERASMUS students. The academic literature does not provide a conclusive answer regarding the specific benefits of student mobility participation. To test the claims that mobile students are statistically more employable on graduation, primary research was conducted on the perspectives of higher education institutions, businesses and students. The findings suggest that businesses do value language skills especially but put little emphasis on their origin. </jats:p>

Enhancing graduate employability: Why do higher education institutions have problems with teaching generic skills?

“…Evidence from many studies in developed countries suggests that HEIs, educationalists, policymakers and government departments pay greater attention to generic skills (Jackson, 2012; Mattern, 2016; McLarty, 2005; Sojot, 2018). Arguably, HEIs in Nigeria, as in some other developing countries, put more emphasis on ‘content knowledge’ (Okolie, Nwosu and Mlanga, 2019) and less emphasis on generic and softer skills (Okunuga and Ajeyalemi, 2018; Pitan, 2017), and this has been regarded as a disadvantage (Bagwasi, 2019; Darvas et al., 2017; Varghese, 2016) leading to a high rate of graduate unemployment.…”

“…Our findings reveal that HE programmes and curricula are missing the vital paradigms linked to sustainable education. As noted earlier, the embedment of soft skills into HES (Hassan et al., 2015) will enable graduates to develop specific skills required by the labour market (Evans et al., 2012; Jackson, 2012; Mattern, 2016). Therefore, if the dissonance between HEIs programmes and the demands of the labour market does not receive attention through the overhauling of the HE system, the problem of graduates’ unemployability may continue to be on the increase.…”

“…The embedment of soft skills into HES is closely related to the curriculum philosophy brought by the respective institutions (Hassan et al., 2015). Nowadays, employers are increasingly demanding a greater range of high-level skills such as effective communication, team working and problem-solving, to mention a few (Evans et al., 2012; Jackson, 2012; Mattern, 2016). However, there is a continuing disparity between industry expectations and HE provision (Jackson, 2012).…”

“…Graduate employability is a global issue that has received scholarly attention (Felicetti et al., 2013; Jackson, 2012; Mattern, 2016; McLarty, 2005; Rowe, 2019), especially since the global recession and the era of drastic increase in the emigration of tertiary-educated young people seeking further qualification and employment abroad (Tomić and Taylor, 2018). Yorke (2006: 21) sums up the tenets of employability as ‘a set of skills, knowledge and personal attributes that make an individual more likely to secure and be successful in their chosen occupation(s) to the benefit of themselves, the workforce, the community, and the economy’.…”

Room for improvement: A study of overconfidence in numerical skills among British graduates

“…These competencies are not usually addressed in curricula (Escudeiro, and Escudeiro, 2012). In this regard, the role of Universities in developing softer skills becomes crucial towards graduates employability (Evans, Gbadamosi, Wells, and Scott, 2012;Jackson, 2012;Mattern, 2016).…”