Re-imagining employability: an ontology of employability best practice in higher education institutions

Abstract

This paper uses a macro, meso and micro level analysis of employability best practice in higher education institutions (HEIs) to question how employability is being conceived within higher education settings alongside academic goals. Thematic analysis is applied to: a range of academic articles and papers containing HEI employability best practice case studies

Who is interested in retail education? The (mis)match between the leading universities’ offerings and job demand in the UK

“…Secondary data analysis has also been considered a powerful method for conducting research in the field of education (Logan, 2020;Rees, 2019). Based on this study, it is possible to identify the (i) expertise having the greater demand by industry, and (ii) university offering in terms of courses and single modules, hence evaluating if the university courses equip graduates with the skills desired by the industry.…”

Educating a Multilingual Workforce in Chinese universities: Employability of Master of Translation and Interpreting Graduates

“…The concept of employability, originally developed within the economic and political discourse, can be approached from multiple angles in educational research and employment assessment today (Guilbert et al, 2015). For example, the higher-institutional perspective has focused on analyzing graduates' and students' employability and subsequently boosting it through curricular design (see Bennett et al, 1999;Harvey, 2002;Knight & Yorke, 2004Su & Zhang, 2015;Rees, 2019). In addition, from the individual perspective, scholars attached importance to supervisors' (Heijden & Bakker, 2011), students'/graduates' (see Dacre Pool & Sewell, 2007;Rothwell et al, 2008;Reamdonck et al, 2011;Rahmat et al, 2012;Helyer & Lee, 2014), and employers' (Van der Heijde & Van der Heijden, 2006; Association for Talent Development, 2019) perception of the capacities, skills, and attributes to optimize individuals' career trajectories.…”

Pedagogies for employability: understanding the needs of STEM students through a new approach to employability development

“…The challenge of developing student employability in an equitable and responsive way is one of the most pressing challenges facing contemporary higher education (Campbell, Cooper, Rueckert, & Smith, 2019;Rees, 2019). Given that a commitment to employability implies 'a preparedness to rethink curriculum, pedagogy and assessment' (Yorke, 2010, p. 10), it is also one of the most complex challenges.…”

“…Turning to possible solutions, Black and Wiliam (1998, p. 384) suggest that teachers might be supported with 'a variety of living examples of implementation, by teachers with whom they can identify and from whom they can both derive conviction and confidence'. A pedagogy for employability might be scaffolded by carefully designed resources, embedded within the core curriculum (Bennett, 2019c;Rees, 2019) and delivered in partnership with careers practitioners and other student support services (Campbell et al, 2019). The pedagogy should also be processual with a focus on the developmental process (Holmes, 2013) and designed to assure a 'holistic, end-to-end curriculum design for employability' (Kift, 2019, p. 155).…”