This paper examines the extent to which Neoliberalism features in undergraduate prospectuses of UK universities, using Michel Foucault's lectures at the Collège de France, and subsequent writers on Neoliberalism, as an analytical lens. Prospectuses convey an impression of the outcomes students might gain; the specific research question is, 'To…

This historical exploration of the development of the academic workforce in the UK and France was triggered by the observation of significant similarities in contemporary debates on casualisation, and segmentation despite their distinctive HE systems. We develop a quantitative history of academic staff to understand why the differences in the two…

This article explores how UK students and recent graduates experience the process of transitioning to the labour market, based on a secondary analysis of 1969 survey responses from current students and recent graduates using an online jobs board. It finds that gender, class and ethnicity all structure students' experience of transition in a…

This paper provides an overview of government policy on young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) across the four UK nations. The paper argues that policy in England on this topic is less well-developed and coherent than in the other UK nations, and that the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic will serve to amplify the…

This article provides evidence and insight on the demand-side of graduate employment and selection through an investigation of employers' conceptions of what constitutes hireable and employable graduates. Drawing on evidence from a qualitative study with a diverse range of employers in the UK, the article shows that employers understand graduates'…

The aim of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis of higher education and the graduate labour markets in selected European countries (France, Germany, Spain and United Kingdom) in the context of the expectations of graduates and prospective employers, and respective recruitment and selection practices. Expectations of graduating students…

We have performed comparative analysis on professional training of linguists at British and Ukrainian universities at administrative and managerial, legislative, organizational and pedagogical, systemic, conceptual, socioeconomic levels. As evidenced above, British and Ukrainian systems of professional training of linguists differ significantly,…

This paper aims to provide insights into the recruitment and retention issues faced by employers in rural areas. To this end, information gathered through interviews with employers and labour market intermediaries in the predominantly rural county of Lincolnshire, UK was used as a source of data and focal point to discuss the demand side of the…

The graduate class of 2009 is entering a particularly challenging labour market. The Association of Graduate Recruiters reported in July that graduate vacancies had plummeted by a quarter and that an average of 48 applicants were competing for each available job. The class of 2009 is also the first to have paid up to 3,225 British Pounds in top-up…

Reporting on research into two major employers recruiting to the financial services industry, this article draws on data collected from interns, recruitment professionals and graduate employees in their first year of employment. It poses a number of strategy- and outcome-related questions in an attempt to determine whether recruitment advisers are…

Purpose: The aim of this article is to illustrate how employers have used more innovative "localised" strategies to address what appears to be "globalised" problems of attracting and retaining high calibre applicants with the appropriate "work ready" skills. Design/methodology/approach: A series of interviews were…

Current UK skills policy is centred on the need to drive up qualification obtainment and make the system more employer-led with Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) being given the role of articulating the "voice" of employers. Through a study of recruitment and selection processes in the fitness industry, this paper explores employers'…

We analyse the role of private schools in the teachers' labour market. Private schools employ an increasingly-disproportionate share of teachers in Britain, relative to the number of their pupils. Their teachers are more likely than state school teachers to possess post-graduate qualifications, and to be specialists in shortage subjects.…

There is a crisis in the vocational training provision of the Channel Island of Jersey's construction industry that has similarities with the British situation. Unavailability and inappropriateness of skills, nonviability of current training and recruitment policies on the island, fragmentation of the training infrastructure, the demand-driven and…

A common strategy employed by wealthy industrial nations for dealing with short-term skill deficits is to recruit internationally; such was the case, around the millennium, when a teacher supply crisis occurred in the United Kingdom (UK). That immediate crisis is now over; yet irrespective of peaks and troughs, international teacher migration is…