This study aims to explore how higher education institutions respond to the challenge of incorporating soft skills into their curricula. It employs a mixed-methods approach in which the quantitative analysis of the disciplines addressing this issue is complemented by a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with four higher…

There is an ever-increasing demand for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to engage with the challenges of the changing labour market contexts and trends, such as the Fifth Industrial Revolution and the new normal. However, a major criticism is that higher education institutions do not often prepare graduates for real-life contexts. For that…

Young people in the Nordic countries have many options and face obligations to participate in career guidance and counselling (guidance). In Finland, young people are subjected to multiple institutionalized guidance practices especially in educational transition phases. Guidance has various objectives as a public policy, thereby setting a…

Youth unemployment remains a major political and socioeconomic challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, particularly given the region's young population. Literature points to two key barriers facing youth employment in the region, skills deficiencies and weak fundamentals that inhibit job creation and growth. Labor supply challenges are…

The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent industry representatives deem employees' readiness as satisfactory for the implementation of Industry 4.0 elements, to determine how the availability of related positions in the market is perceived and, on that basis, to identify the implications for the education system in terms of structure…

This study examines the role of microcredentials in supporting learning for employment. The study collected information through an online survey among mostly European VET providers, national authorities, employee and employer organisations, in-depth country case studies and interviews, as well as Cedefop's ReferNet network. While the topic has…

FinTech refers to a set of new technologies employed to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services. This study aims to provide some insightful information to: (a) universities on how to offer their FinTech education, and (b) graduates so that they can make an informed decision on whether they should start their FinTech career…

Industrialised countries are currently facing the knowledge-to-digital economy transition. That transition is strictly defined by how the labour market is organised and operates in the national economy. Some old to new phenomena are determinants of those dimensions, such as educational mismatch, credential inflation, and job polarisation. These…

This paper compares the employment outcomes of liberal arts graduates from Dutch university colleges with those of their peers who pursued conventional, subject-specific bachelor's degrees. Using data from the Dutch National Alumni Survey, the analysis includes 14,933 respondents who completed a master's programme at a research university, with…

The rapid worldwide expansion of enrolment in higher education (HE) has led to greater diversity among students, with more first-generation learners, HE returnees, and disadvantaged groups. Yet, inequalities in participation persist and have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. The implementation of flexible learning pathways (FLPs) can help HE…

This study examined the extent to which experiential learning and career guidance activities, as strategies for equipping students with transferable skills, are used by Higher Education (HE) in two African countries, Nigeria and South Africa to prepare students for the volatile labour market. The contributions of the two strategies to students'…

Purpose: South African Black graduates experience a transition challenge between the higher education context and the labor market system. The study focuses on rural Black students' perceived work readiness and assessment of labor market access in South Africa. Design/methodology/approach: Focus groups and unstructured individual interviews were…

This paper reports a study about the perceptions of the academic community, employers and civil servants regarding graduates' employability skills in East Africa. Specifically, it focuses on the mismatch between skills acquired in Higher Education (HE) and those in demand by employers, and explores factors influencing the situation. A mixed method…

This paper explores how teenage thinking about jobs and careers relates to adulthood labour market outcomes. The OECD working paper "Career Ready? How schools can better prepare young people for working life in the era of COVID-19" (ED613604) identifies career certainty, alignment and ambition as relevant indicators related to career…

In the last eight months, Europe's recovery agenda has become clearer. The focus on digitalisation is sharper and other developments already in train have accelerated. Questions of training and qualification are back into the spotlight -- in an EU labour market now smaller as a result of Brexit. As usual in times of labour market disruption,…