Why do tertiary education graduates regret their study program? A comparison between Spain and the Netherlands

Kucel, Aleksander; Vilalta-Bufí, Montserrat

doi:10.1007/s10734-012-9563-y

Cited by 19 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The results show that a well-designed degree programme, that is academically prestigious, allows flexibility to combine course and areas of specialization, is vocationally oriented and whose content and objectives are known to employers, and is seen as demanding, contributes to an increase in earnings (see the positive entry of these variables in Table 3, columns 3 and 4). This result is similar to the finding in Kucel and Vilalta-Bufí (2013).…”

Section: Monetary Returnssupporting

confidence: 92%

Effects of college programme characteristics on graduates’ performance

García‐Aracil

2014

High Educ

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Education programmes are designed to equip young populations with the qualifications required to assume responsible roles in specific professions and in society generally. In this paper, the focus of the analysis is on the significance of a number of higher education programme characteristics in allocating young higher education graduates across the labour market and how these graduates perform in their jobs. Graduate performance is analysed in terms of both monetary and non-monetary pay-offs. The findings show that education programmes in which learning is linked to acquisition of work experience result in better paid employment, although an appropriate balance between theoretical and practical-oriented curricula is important.

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Section: Monetary Returnssupporting

confidence: 92%

Effects of college programme characteristics on graduates’ performance

García‐Aracil

2014

High Educ

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“…In many subjective specifications of horizontal mismatch, the respondent specifies the job requirements in terms of the attended field of education. For instance, Kucel and Vilalta‐Bufí () classified employees as horizontally matched if she or he reported that exclusively the own attended field or a related field was appropriate for the job, whilst employees were classified as horizontally mismatched when a completely different field or no particular field was most appropriate for the job. Other studies based their definition on the degree to which employees perceive a fit between their field degree and their current job.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Van de Werfhorst, ; Wolbers, ; Bender and Roche, ). Horizontal mismatch also increases the likelihood of experiencing programme regret which is associated with substantial costs (Borghans and Golsteyn, ; Kucel and Vilalta‐Bufì, ). From this perspective, horizontal mismatch may reveal that the process of skill formation and the allocation of skills on the labour market are sub‐optimal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Horizontal Mismatch Between Employment and Field of Education: Evidence From a Systematic Literature Review

Somers

Cabus

Groot

et al. 2018

Journal of Economic Surveys

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This paper provides a systematic review of the growing literature on the poor match between employees' field degree and the job requirements, also referred to as horizontal mismatch. We identify the different definitions used in the literature and find that each measure of horizontal mismatch yields substantially different incidence rates. We discuss the validity of the different measures and conclude that a more uniform definition of horizontal mismatch is needed. The likelihood of horizontal mismatch is among other things determined by the extent to which employees possess general skills as opposed to occupation-specific skills, and, it appears to be more frequently present among older workers. Compared to well-matched employees, horizontally mismatched workers generally incur a wage penalty, are less satisfied with their jobs, and are more likely to regret their study programme. The ensuing findings offer guidance to prevent horizontal mismatch as well as a roadmap for future research.

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“…In keeping with previous findings (Kucel & Vilalta-Bufí, 2013), dissatisfaction with the occupational outcomes from initial degrees was the prime reason that individuals regretted their initial decision, and returned to study a change qualification. Their dissatisfaction stemmed from employment issues including limited availability of employment and consequently poor job security (Carless & Arnup, 2011), dislike of the work (Borghans & Golsteyn, 2007), work-related stress, and moral issues (Bergin & Jimmieson, 2015;Minten & Forsyth, 2014).…”

Section: Dissatisfaction With Occupational Outcomessupporting

confidence: 79%

Lifelong career mobility and change options in knowledge occupations: career pathway implications of initial degree choices

Eggins¹

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Because of the social, personal and financial benefits of paid work activities, occupational choices, and lifelong career options warrant careful consideration. Rapid social, technological and organisational change is theorised to produce changes in the world of work where future, or 'new careers' will be characterised by high levels of mobility; and the demand for knowledge workers (with a university qualification) in a 'knowledge economy' with be high. Paradoxically there is some agreement that the level of mobility varies between levels of occupations, and is inversely related to education level, so that mobility would be lowest in knowledge occupations. However, from inadequate definitional precision, the type of workforce mobility referred to in these predictions and observations is unclear. In the 'new careers', individuals are increasingly seen to have the freedom and opportunity to construct and manage their own careers lifelong by adding skills and knowledge to an existing set, changing sets, or changing mode of practice, for example to self-employment, or relocating. However knowledge occupations tend to be bounded by mandatory qualifications and other controls, which could make the option of mobility by changing skills and knowledge sets at level, costly in time and money. Factors such as age and gender have also been found to affect choices of field of study and employability on graduation.Information about the level and nature of future mobility options is important for individuals contemplating high initial investments of time and money in their education for labour market entry and lifelong career development. The populist current and future mobility discourse propagated politically and in the media, has the potential to misinform university aspirants about the type and level of their lifelong career pathway options, and warrants clarification.The present study examined the current situation regarding skills and knowledge-set adjustments and changes in knowledge occupations by Australian university graduates, by focusing on skillsand-knowledge-based mobility and change among knowledge occupations. Fields of qualifications, rather than self-reported names of occupations were used as more accurate indicators of actual skills and knowledge sets. The fields of past and recent qualifications of individuals who had undertaken further credentialing were compared to determine the extent to which people with qualifications in a particular field actually chose further study in a different field, as an indication of future occupational intent and of perceived change options. This research also explored the motivations for studying a different skills and knowledge-set, and the influence of demographic, contextual and social factors. A mixed method design was employed and undertaken in two phases. Phase 1, a quantitative study, sourced the Australian Graduate Survey responses as a large secondary data base iii from which patterns of change between educational fields were examined together with their as...

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Why do tertiary education graduates regret their study program? A comparison between Spain and the Netherlands

Cited by 19 publications

References 49 publications

Effects of college programme characteristics on graduates’ performance

Effects of college programme characteristics on graduates’ performance

Horizontal Mismatch Between Employment and Field of Education: Evidence From a Systematic Literature Review

Lifelong career mobility and change options in knowledge occupations: career pathway implications of initial degree choices

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