Within the UK, sandwich courses, i.e. degree programmes that include a year spent on a work placement, usually during the third year of a four-year course, are increasingly offered by higher education institutions to maximise the proportion of their graduates moving into employment and, particularly, jobs that are deemed 'graduate-level'. Indeed,…

This brief highlights key findings from the implementation of the TechHire and Strengthening Working Families Initiative (SWFI) programs and offers considerations for practitioners. The programs provided training for high-tech jobs as well as support services to people with barriers to training and employment. Presented especially for a…

Digital technology has been found useful in bridging the gap between school and work placements. In earlier studies we have interviewed vocational teachers with creative ideas on addressing this issue, but they encountered obstacles and could not always proceed as they wanted. The aim of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of the…

Using Multilevel Job Demand-Resources theory, this research explores how crisis influenced perceptions about academic work engagement at individual, team, and organisational levels. The COVID-19 crisis led universities to make significant changes in response to health and fiscal impacts. Changes included restructuring, job shedding, and pivoting…

Completion of work placements by undergraduate students is recognised as positively influencing graduate employment outcomes. However, it is less clear whether all students can access placements equitably. We analysed an extensive institutional data set, spanning six years, involving 26,506 undergraduate students to explore the extent to which…

Purpose: Students experience a range of benefits by participating in work-based learning (WBL) including increased employability skills, career development learning and enhanced industry networks. However, some approaches to WBL are not easily accessed by all students, with placement-based models placing demands on students to attend a physical…

Students from diverse backgrounds report that time pressures, financial responsibilities, caring commitments, and geographic location are barriers to their uptake of work integrated learning (WIL). Through interviews with 32 students and 15 educators who participated in online WIL, we investigated whether online WIL might be one way of overcoming…

Preparing students for employment involves encouraging ownership of their employability and engagement in opportunities that can help them improve it. Industrial placements play an important role in this but declining numbers of students are undertaking them. Using data collected over a three-year period at a Business School in a UK university,…

This brief summarizes findings on strategies for helping hard-to-employ populations--especially cash welfare assistance clients and disadvantaged parents with child support obligations--become employed. It begins with an overview of the unique needs of these two groups, followed by a review of strategies that have successfully boosted their…

Small businesses have been sparking much of the recent job growth in New York City. However, there is a major disconnect in the city's workforce development system when it comes to working with small businesses. This report outlines a number of steps that policymakers, business leaders, and workforce providers could take to make workforce programs…

This issue brief summarizes the economic conditions in rural communities since the Great Recession and highlights the educational attainment of rural men. It then describes the barriers to attending college that rural men face and these promising efforts that Hinds Community College and the Louisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS)…

Background: Many emerging disabilities that affect today's rehabilitation consumers are linked to lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, smoking, substance use, and obesity. Lifestyle-related disabilities have dramatically increased in incidence and prevalence over the past two decades. Rehabilitation counselors play an important role in…

Given the recent focus on the employability and earnings of university graduates in the UK, there is a need to explore the employability initiatives offered by higher education institutions (HEIs). Work placements and work experience offered through HEIs aim to improve students' job readiness, and ability to secure suitable jobs after graduation,…

Academic work-based learning (WBL) has an over a century-long history in Nigeria. The current WBL programs are the Students' Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) and the Graduate Internship (GI). They are sponsored by the federal government with the aim to improve employment outcomes. However, there is still a gross mismatch between the…

This article explores the varied learning experiences among third-year students undertaking a structured work placement module in the furniture and wood manufacturing industries. Using situated learning theory, the article considers the outcomes of in-depth interviews with 10 students and offers an insight into the multifaceted interactions…