Purpose: Since new digital micro-credential technologies emerged a decade ago, there has been a rapid rise in micro-credentials in the education landscape. Much has been promised about these educational technologies, yet there is much confusion by key stakeholders in the digital micro-credential ecosystem. This confusion has led to significant…

The current historic COVID-19 Pandemic moment has thrown into sharp relief the need for flexible and rigorous higher education that meets upskilling and reskilling needs of global workforces. Discussions of micro-credentialing predate the Pandemic but have received increased focus as potentially assisting in addressing perceived skills gaps.…

Purpose: To gather insight into how graduating business students are preparing for the workplace and their future careers and how this has been impacted by COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 144 business students at an Australian university who had recently completed an internship and were nearing graduation took part in the study.…

Higher education is increasingly concerned with providing students with experiences that enhance employability. Sitting outside the curriculum, extra- or co-curricular activities that focus on career development, leadership, service or recognition can lead to positive employability and employment outcomes. The extent to which different student…

T his paper presents an assessment of suggestions in international research and media that the modern construction cadetship experience is exploitative and, on that basis, problematises the growing trend of work integrated learning (WIL) in the Australian construction industry. Field research, aligning with the methodologies of major studies in…

This study recognises how Industry 4.0 is influencing labour market demands of graduating students and how ongoing discord between employers and educators regarding their preparation is driving work-integrated learning across the sector. Stakeholder involvement in capability development requires expected performance standards to benchmark students…

Purpose: To identify a skilled micro-credentialled training pathway for agricultural careers. Design/Methodology/Approach: A survey consisting of open ended and Likert-type ratings questions regarding workforce skills requirements, training priorities and training delivery preferences was administered with 17 agricultural business managers and…

The explicit linking of institutional funding to in-curricular industry engagement and graduate employment affirms the strategic importance of enhancing graduate employability in Australia. Key strategies to enhance graduate employability and employment outcomes are work-integrated learning (WIL) (where students engage with industry as part of…

There is strong evidence that learning gained in, through and for work, whether it is through employment, voluntary, community, domestic or any other kind of work, helps to equip people with the capabilities that can improve their working lives, their employability and their life skills (Lester and Costley, 2010, Beehives, 2018, WEXHE, 2019).…

This study takes a retrospective look at the educational experiences of Indigenous health professionals who graduated from The University of Queensland's Indigenous Health Program between 1994 and 2005, to understand the enablers for growing an Indigenous health workforce capable of advancing the health of Indigenous peoples. Drawing on the…

Graduate attributes are now a fixture in higher education. They are perceived as statements of desirable graduate learning outcomes, yet this space is becoming increasingly crowded. In this study, we examine how universities contextualise their graduate attributes statements for the curriculum quality space. We analysed the way Australian…

Students with disabilities continue to experience barriers to accessing tertiary (i.e., postsecondary) education in Australia. Using the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) may help educators proactively address barriers through the design of more accessible and inclusive educational experiences. However, at present, references to…

Institutions of higher education in the twenty-first century are undergoing a transformation locally and globally from traditional pillars of learning to being more entrepreneurial in their core business. There is increasing pressure on universities to becoming more flexible and adaptable as organizations and in the graduate attributes, they imbed…

This paper considers how we can arrive at a concept of the good university. It begins with ideas expressed by Australian Vice-Chancellors and in the "league tables" for universities, which essentially reproduce existing privilege. It then considers definitions of the good university via wish lists, classic texts, horror lists, structural…

Curriculum delivery in higher education is changing rapidly, notably in the area of online delivery. Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Australia is no exception to this, and this article explores this growth with a particular focus on its implications for workforce planning for teachers. In this planning in Australia, ITE students are usually…