The workforce of today and tomorrow, particularly graduates are likely to experience more challenges as the availability of permanent jobs are getting sparse. This is partly due to automatisation as well as technological development. However, with automatisation and technological development, new types of occupations have emerged, mainly related…

The general context of precariousness of employment affects youth in Spain. Delving deeper into the axes that traverse this uncertainty, we present part of a cross-sectional study on the perception of young people in the city of Toledo, in which an ad hoc questionnaire was used for data collection to compare the results at the Spanish and European…

This article applies Paul Gomberg's theory of contributive justice to the problematic of working-class graduates' access to skilled and meaningful work in the UK. I begin by outlining Gomberg's argument for the importance of quality work as a key social good. I then draw upon a range of sociologically-informed literature to offer a two-fold…

The Netherlands has a binary higher education system in which academic education and higher professional education at EQF levels 5-8 co-exist. There is also secondary vocational education at EQF levels 1 up to 4. In this paper, I analyse policy documents resulting from the Bologna Process and argue that under neo-liberal conditions, higher…

In the last decade the number of new higher education enrollments per year faced a 66% increase, from 2.2 million enrollments in 2010 compared to 3.6 million enrollments in 2019. This growth is concentrated in the distance learning courses, which boomed 379% in the period and is expected to maintain this trend until become the main higher…

Purpose: This article provides empirical validation of the Graduate Capital Model, adopted at a UK Russell Group University as a tool to analyse and support the career preparedness of both undergraduates and postgraduate students. An overview of employability capitals and how the development of these will potentially result in positive employment…

Approximately one-third of countries in the world are regarded as small states. There are also subnational jurisdictions, or small territories, that share similar characteristics of small states. Their small size renders them vulnerable to changes in the global economy, and this, in turn, has an impact on trade, business, and employment. In this…

Extracurricular activities (ECAs) and their impact on student employability has become a focus of the higher education sector, with a recent emphasis on experiences such as global exchange and skill acquisition that prepares graduates for the workforce. Despite the initiatives and effort put into supporting the general student population, students…

The aim of this article is to show the increased relevance of soft skills in a continuously changing environment. A research was carried out to examine and compare students' and employers' perceptions regarding the importance of soft skills in different European countries. Results show that 86% of respondents indicate an increased emphasis on soft…

The main purpose of this article is to analyse to what degree master's degree education in Norway enhances employability through enhancing or signalling generic competence, or through enhancing specialised competence. Using multiple correspondence analysis on the links between educational group, economic activity and sector, educational groups…

While debate continues about how to define and measure employability, most accounts revolve around a deceptively simple idea--whether or not a person obtains a job depends on their acquiring certain skills and attributes in college that are desired by employers in the labor market. The narrative advanced by this perspective raises two critical…

In a time where employability issues are at the top of political agendas and employment prospects represent the most important predictor of satisfaction with higher education, the question about how higher education institutions can better prepare their graduates for the labour market becomes increasingly important. Taking the career construction…

This study aims to examine employers' expectations of knowledge and skills in accounting graduates before hiring them. Using a qualitative approach on accounting practitioners and academics, this study shows that the expectations employers place on accounting students in the Industry 4.0 environment is set to change significantly, particularly in…

The aim of establishing the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) marked the development of the Bologna process since its beginning, while it exercised a decisive influence on the content of the higher education policy initiatives undertaken over the years. One of the most important goals of the relevant policy making was to bridge the…

Across Europe, assumptions are often made within the academic literature and by some social commentators that students have come to understand the purpose of higher education (HE) in increasingly instrumental terms. This is often linked to processes of marketisation and neo-liberalisation across the Global North, in which the value of HE has come…