In Chapter 1 I investigate the supply of college majors and how this facet of institutional behavior influences student outcomes and costs in higher education. As a first contribution, I identify a decades-long trend in 4-year postsecondary education in the United States--the production of bachelor's degrees measured by their concentration across…

Purpose: Academic achievement is not a determinant of college graduates' work readiness, but it requires adequate knowledge and skills to be accepted to work in companies. The purpose of this study is to describe the phenomenon of recruitment in Islamic banking, the obstacles faced by applicants and recommendations for Islamic economics…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show the effects of the six competence areas of Garcia-Aracil and Van der Velden (2007) on new graduates' labor market success measured by salary. Design/methodology/approach: The paper starts with a literature review about the role of competencies in higher education. Then the Graduate Career Tracking…

Purpose: With a focus on Chinese higher education students, the purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between students' perceived employability and their levels of academic engagement and stress. Design/methodology/approach: The study engaged 1,155 students from three universities in China. Students responded to an online survey,…

In this study we investigate the educational attainment of the labour force in the United States. Our data analysis, based on Bureau of Labour Statistics data in more than 700 occupations, produced two important findings. First, we observed that the Overeducation Ratio (share of employees that are overeducated), which began to rise in the United…

European Union policies emphasise the importance of entrepreneurship and self-employment to maintain economic growth, a solution influenced by the USA and research from schools of business. There are expectations of higher education graduates that they are innovative, will start businesses and will employ others. However, transferring a solution…

This study aims to analyse (1) the support system in carrying out vocational education, (2) the readiness of faculties and departments to administer vocational education and (3) the suitable implementation model of vocational education for UNNES. The research data were collected through interviews, observations and focus group discussions. The…

The study examines the prevalence of emergent professional identity (PI) among different groups of higher education students as well as the determining factors in the formation of PI. Drawing on evidence from a survey among Australian and UK students (N = 433), from two institutions and across a range of disciplines, empirical and conceptual…

The lack of diversity in STEM professions is an ongoing concern for the US both in terms of social justice and in having a globally competitive workforce. This study provides information for campus leaders to be proactive in considering a wide array of identities to meet the needs of students beyond attending to structural forms of diversity. Data…

Graduate employability has become a central part of the policy debate on the relevance and value of higher education in Europe, often associated with meeting the economic demands of society. This has led to a sense of institutional vulnerability to the vagaries of market forces and public opinion, leading some higher education institutions to…

Recent work has broadened the scope of school effectiveness research to consider not only academic achievement but also other outcomes, especially college attendance. This literature has argued that high schools are an important determinant of college attendance, with some contending that high schools matter more for college attendance than for…

This paper addresses the limited empirical analysis of higher education students' perceptions of contemporary labour market demands. It explores their perspectives on the health of the graduate labour market, what factors determine these and how their perceptions relate to self-perceived employability, career proactivity, career control and…

While there is a rich literature on the school-to-work transition in developed countries, an equally robust literature is lacking for post-communist countries. We analyse the patterns of labour market entry of higher education graduates in several formerly communist countries by drawing on the HEGESCO data set, which provides information on the…

Fear of the coronavirus has shut down all but essential businesses. Economists have projected that unemployment could rise as high as 20%, compared with 3.5% this past February 2020. A survey conducted in mid-April by Strada Education Network found 62% of Americans worried about losing their jobs and 34% believed they would need more education to…

We investigate whether excessively optimistic beliefs play a role in the persistent demand for doctoral and postdoctoral training in science. We elicit the beliefs and career preferences of doctoral students through a novel survey and randomize the provision of structured information on the true state of the academic market and information through…