The global mobility of students is on the rise and the recruitment of international students is high on the agenda of institutions in higher education. By communicating a distinctive corporate identity on their websites, universities can distinguish themselves from competitors and generate a positive image to attract talented international…

This study qualitatively investigates solutions to lecturer-related problems caused by the relatively recent introduction of a teaching-research mission at Swiss universities of applied sciences (UASs). It thereby makes an empirical contribution to the debate on organizational actors in higher education. The investigation is informed by a…

In recent years Norway and Switzerland have introduced local training agencies (TAs), local intermediary organisations consisting of firms involved in apprentice training. In both countries, the starting point for the formation of the TA was roughly similar: enabling more firms to participate in apprentice training. Despite similar tasks, TAs have…

This article aims to bring back into circulation Bourdieu's concept of 'refuge school' to analyse transnational migration for higher education, of privileged students who cannot access the most academically selective institutions. Through the case study of Swiss Hospitality Management Schools (SHMS), I investigate the discursive strategy…

In dual vocational education and training (VET) systems, school-leavers in their mid-teens who wish to pursue vocational certificates through in-firm apprenticeships are subjected to the training providers' quite selective hiring-processes. Previous research shows that youth with weak school performances are one of the groups that have the largest…

Children of immigrants from non-EU countries face particular problems to access apprenticeship training in German-speaking countries. In this context this article asks how recruiters in small and medium sized companies (SME) make sense of national and ethnic origin when hiring new apprentices. The author proposes Boltanski and Thévenot's theory of…

We developed the Geographical Proportional-to-size Street-Intercept Sampling (GPSIS) method in order to obtain a sample of nightlife-goers which accounted for the diversity of spaces, patrons and locations within two Swiss cities. Popular nightlife zones were identified and quantified using social media data and local experts' knowledge. Young…

The vast majority of studies concerning the implementation of quality assurance in higher education institutions have been conducted from a national perspective, with few cross-national studies. This study aimed to explore the implementation of quality assurance standards in Europe from a comparative perspective. A questionnaire based on…

This paper investigates the conditions under which stakeholders in the higher education system in multilingual Switzerland link expectations of students' future economic to the development of human capital. Drawing on ethnographic data collected in a project focusing on mobile students crossing linguistic borders within Switzerland, I examine how…

In the Swiss vocational education system, which is often called a "Dual System", trainees enter into an apprenticeship contract with a training company. On average, 25% of those contracts are terminated prematurely (PCT). This article examines the relationship between training companies' selection methods and PCTs. The investigation is…

Traditionally, European doctoral education has principally taken place within the binary relationship of professors and their doctoral students according to the "apprenticeship model." However, in the last one to two decades, this model has been questioned. Governments and higher education institutions (HEIs) reform doctoral education by…

There remains uncertainty in scientific discussions regarding the governance of universities in new public management regimes in terms of who actually "rules" in the university. Apparently, a strengthened management leadership is confronted with continuing elements of academic self-regulation and professional autonomy in knowledge…

This study investigated the relationship between policies related to the recruitment, selection, preparation, and certification of new teachers and (a) the quality of future teachers as measured by their mathematics content and pedagogy content knowledge and (b) student achievement in mathematics at the national level. The study used data…

The number of dual career couples in academia is growing due to the increasing proportion of women with a doctoral degree and the greater propensity of women to choose another academic as their partner. At the same time, international mobility is required for career advancement in academia, creating challenges for dual career couples where both…

The Bologna reform aims to enhance several dimensions of the universities' activities, by favouring mobility and mutual recognition of higher education degrees across Europe, with the objective to create a European Higher Education Area. The radical changes induced by the Bologna Process affect universities' productivity both directly (for…