The engagement of quality assurance in the recognition process of overseas qualifications became an emerging issue in Asian nations with the increased interest in student mobility in the region in the 21st Century. This study explores the links between quality assurance and qualification recognition, and approaches adopted within national…

Higher education institutions are increasingly expected to demonstrate the relevance of the education provided and establish tighter links with the labour market. The introduction of learning outcomes represents one such development. The article examines the extent to which various intermediary organisations are involved in decisions about…

Some countries have certifying institutions for competence acquired at the workplace. These institutions provide incentives for workplace training that may have favourable effects on productivity, earnings and labour market participation. We present evidence on the earnings effects of attaining vocational qualifications in adulthood through two…

This paper engages with an extensive body of research by David Raffe to explore what it means to say that a qualifications framework "works", in light of the limited evidence to support the claims made about this popular policy phenomenon. The framework regarded as the most successful, the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework, is…

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the effect of different educational orientations at the upper-secondary level on labour market outcomes across European countries. The study separates safety net effect and the diversion effect of Vocational Education and Training (VET). Using PIAAC data, we show cross-national differences in the early…

Vocational education and training has received substantial policy attention in recent years that is paired with the ambition for the UK to become a leading country for jobs, productivity and skills. Recommendations from two recent reviews form the basis for substantial policy reforms within the 14-19 curriculum. Discourse of employer engagement…

The link between higher education and employment is central to the understanding of social stratification and social mobility. We use three theories to analyse the importance of education and credentials in recruitment decisions in European graduate labour markets: human capital (HC), network capital (NC) and reputational capital (RC) theory.…

Previous research has documented substantial overqualification and an association with social disadvantage and fields of study. Overqualification persistence has been less studied. Persistence is more important than prevalence because skill and job matches are likely to involve lags. Our data set allows us to estimate the prevalence, the…

Policymakers are increasingly concerned that employees need both foundational skills, such as numeracy, and soft skills to take better advantage of new technologies and adapt to changing work. In this study, we examined the relationships between the use of soft skills and occupational outcomes among a nationally representative sample of adult…

This article analyses the development of the first national qualifications framework in Germany ("Deutscher Qualifikationsrahmen" or "DQR"). In this case, a qualifications framework, which is supposedly outcome-based, had to be adapted to a highly input-oriented qualification system. This raises the question, how clashing…

This article examines the importance of education in creating differences across European countries with regard to how young people experience job insecurity during their transition from school to work. On a theoretical level, two sets of educational system features which influence job insecurity are identified: institutional (stratification,…

Higher education institutions, communities, and employers experience challenges as young professionals continually adjust their workplace-participation views and behaviours. Higher education institutions face changes in student demand for job-oriented training, and the associated attrition from established programmes is costly. Communities find it…

The importance of people gaining new, and high-level, qualifications in adulthood has been much emphasised in policy rhetoric. It is widely assumed that adults should engage in learning throughout their working life in order to adapt to changing conditions in the labour market and to ensure that national economies remain competitive in a global…

'Employers know that they can hire worldwide now … so, there is limitless supply of people … who can do the job … . they're all qualified, most of them are actually over-qualified … . I'm a wage slave basically, I don't think we have very much social status … . we are replaceable workers … I mean, the employer holds all the cards really. We are…

This Introduction provides an overview of the distinctive contribution of the late David Raffe to educational research in the UK and internationally over a 40-year period. His wide-ranging research on post-compulsory education and training systems was enriched by the development of conceptual distinctions that have become part of the lingua franca…