Higher education and high intellectual unemployment: does education matter? An interpretation and some critical perspectives

Assessing the Regional Economic Impact of Higher Education Institutions: An Application to the University of Cardiff

“…It measured the expenditure impact in the financial year 2000-2001 through a Keynesian multiplier model developed by the Centre for Ad- 520 Tavoletti vanced Studies in order to measure that same impact in the financial year 1994-1995. According to the conceptual framework I developed in a previous work (Tavoletti 2005) to explain intellectual unemployment, the present paper has assessed the university's knowledge impact through two main directions: (1) employment and destination of graduates, or people impact, and (2) kind of knowledge produced.…”

“…It may be interesting to observe that a lack of work experience was the main disadvantage for recruiting graduates in the eyes of Welsh employers (67.6%) followed by high expectations with regard to career development (58.8%). These data are a further hint of the importance of work experience during the university years and of the dangers of what I defined as ''positional competition'' (Tavoletti 2005) or positional expectations. Demand for higher wages that, according to human capital theory, should be the main disadvantage or cost of recruiting graduates, was considered a disadvantage only by 32.4% of respondents in respect to the above mentioned percentages of 67.6% and 58.8% (the percentage is even lower -20.4% -for employers based outside Wales, who generally experienced far higher graduate wage levels than Wales).…”

“…The interaction among students and local economy is quite intensive during the years spent at the university, especially through work experience, and I believe it is a very relevant sign that Cardiff University is involved in the production of that ''social'' type of knowledge I have defined in a previous work (Tavoletti 2005).…”

“…If we adopt the definition of ''knowledge'' as ''ability to produce an effective action in a consensual domain'' that we assumed in a previous work (Tavoletti 2005), then we believe that the destination of graduates from Cardiff University may be a valuable hint of its ability to produce a knowledge impact on its region and locality. In September 2001 the Centre for Advanced Studies at Cardiff University collected information on graduates from a postal survey asking for information about their activities fourteen months after graduation (Coombes et al 2002).…”

“…The five by far most important attributes (communication skills, team working skills, showing initiative, understanding customer needs) cannot, by definition, be developed through individualistic accumulation of knowledge but require, instead, a continuous practice that can be developed only through social interactions inside a community sharing a common ground of beliefs and behaviours or what I defined in more abstract terms as a ''consensual domain'' (Tavoletti 2005).…”