This study investigates and compares the learning trajectories of nine Taiwanese university graduates from a Power Mechanical Engineering (PME) program and nine from a cross-disciplinary Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) program. Participants had received their degrees 4-7 years prior to the study. The findings suggest the relative advantages…

This book presents the most comprehensive discussion of emerging trends in higher education in the Asia Pacific, ranging from graduate attributes to integrated workplace learning, with an in-depth focus on work readiness, employability and career development. It draws on the relationship between graduate attributes and employability, as well as…

The university graduate unemployment rate reached a record high of 6% in 2009 in Taiwan; paradoxically, business managers complained that they could not find enough qualified employees. The mismatch between knowledge taught in universities and the requests of the job market has been criticized as the main reason for the escalation of the…

Vocational education and training (VET) is a major policy topic for countries all over the world, who are eager to learn from the best examples where participation in VET is high and youth unemployment is low. Policymakers want to know how strong VET systems manage challenges like rapid technological change, matching labor market demand for…

Educational authorities in Taiwan have been expanding the higher education sector since the 1990s to meet the demands of economic transformation and to meet cultural expectations. Consequently, the higher education system of Taiwan has evolved from an elite system to a universal one. The rapid expansion of higher education is also characterized by…

To address the changing needs of the labour market better, higher education institutions have increasingly aimed to enhance their teaching quality and the learning experiences of their students. Therefore, a key concept of the missions of contemporary educational institutions is to improve students' employability after graduation. Although…

In the last two decades, we have witnessed a rapid expansion of higher education in Mainland China and Taiwan, recording a significant increase in higher education enrolments in these two Chinese societies. The massification of higher education in China and Taiwan has inevitably resulted in an oversupply of university graduates, with growing…

Higher education is one of the most crucial indicators for national overall competitiveness. But the issue of education equity has remained a concern throughout the world. Many studies in Taiwan show that family income, parents' education level, and place of origin impact children's higher education enrollment opportunities. This paper analyzes…

An expansion in higher education in combination with the recent global economic recession has resulted in a high college graduate unemployment rate in Taiwan. This study investigates how the high unemployment rate and financial constraints caused by economic cutbacks have shaped undergraduates' class choices, job needs, and future income…

During the past decade, many enterprises have been re-directing their resources into critical business areas to keep up with economic and market changes. They have adopted electronic business (EB) systems, such as supply chain management, enterprise resource planning (ERP), and enterprise application integration (EAI), to ensure seamless…

Three major models of vocational education and training provision for the 16- to 19-year-old age group have been identified: schooling model, which emphasizes full-time schooling until age 18; dual model, which involves mainly work-based apprenticeship training with some school-based general education; and mixed model. Germany is an exemplar of…

Career development has taken on global significance as individuals prepare for work that increasingly crosses borders. Internationally, individuals and career practitioners helping them are grappling with such issues as development of cultural competencies for cross-cultural work. Issues vary in different sociopolitical contexts. As Eastern Europe…

Vocational training (VT) in Taiwan is categorized into public training (PT) and enterprise training (ET). PT is provided primarily by 13 PT centers, and ET is provided in various ways. A review of the state of VT in Taiwan established that VT policies and practices are being influenced by increasing emphasis on the knowledge-based economy and…

This document contains 18 papers from the human resource development and manpower training section of an international conference on vocational education and training (VET) for lifelong learning in the information era. The following papers are included: "Use of Social and Economic Modeling to Plan Vocational Education and Training"…