Purpose: This study is to examine and develop sector skills strategies and action plans for the textile and apparel (T&A) sector. Design/methodology/approach: The paper used a participatory action qualitative method anchored on the Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) framework, utilising the workshop-based approach with 24 key…

When comparing lifelong learning systems in Europe, Swedish vocational education has been characterised as a statist, school-based ideal type, with strong emphasis on egalitarianism and social citizenship. However, the popularisation and expansion of higher vocational education (HVE), a post-secondary training form that has a mandate to train…

Whether enough highly qualified STEM workers are being educated and trained in the UK is an important question. The answer has implications not only for educators, employers and policymakers but also for individuals who are currently engaged in, or are considering entering, education or training in this area. Set against a policy backdrop that…

There is a widening gap between traditional higher education and the needs of the industry workforce. Higher education has lately been criticized for having too few voices playing a role in most curricula development, with the voices being used consisting largely of career academics (Nature Editorial, 2023). Both industry and academia have found a…

This study examined higher education workforce development practitioners' views on incorporating innovation ecosystems into workforce models to address U.S. workforce pipeline gaps and evolving labor market needs. While current programs have some success, they often fail to prepare graduates with knowledge and specific skills for rapid entry into…

Purpose: The present study aims to investigate the reasons for the gap between academic education and the required skills of the labor market in Iran. Design/methodology/approach: For this purpose, the authors adopted a thematic analysis method. The participants in the study were connoisseurs from universities and research institutes in Iran, who…

Purpose: This article aims to investigate whether there is a relationship between education for the labor market in the post-pandemic stage and the educational quality of universities, taking as a sample a group of Latin American countries and their main trading partners. Reference is made to the Global Competitiveness Report 2020 of the World…

There are hundreds of local labor markets fuel the American economy, and each one is driven by the needs of the local area's mix of industries and the skills of its workers. For each labor market to operate at its peak potential, these needs and skills must align. Achieving alignment requires local education and training providers to convey…

Due to the current status of English as a lingua franca in numerous domains, increasing attention has been directed toward the economic potential of English. However, research on languages other than English from an economic perspective remains limited. This study aims to address this gap by examining the labor market demand for Japanese language…

Businesses use data to enhance operational performance, creating demand for professionally trained data/business analytics graduates. Universities offer a variety of academic programs in response to the increasing labor market demands. Yet, research on how well educational offerings adapt to market demand is scant. This paper aims to evaluate how…

This study examines the crucial role of English proficiency in engineering careers, specifically within multinational corporations, addressing disparities between industry expectations and graduates' language skills in non-native English-speaking countries. It aims to bridge this gap by aligning engineering English courses with international job…

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…

This paper investigates the impact of human capital, social capital, career planning behavior, protean career orientation and core self-evaluations on students' academic and life satisfaction in China, with the mediation effect of perceived employability and moderation effect of perceived labor market conditions. Data were collected by…

This paper evaluates the impact of an English and Business Computer Science program in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the world's second-largest French-speaking country after France. The program addresses the gap between academic training and market needs by combining English language proficiency with essential business and computer…

In Chapter 1 I investigate the supply of college majors and how this facet of institutional behavior influences student outcomes and costs in higher education. As a first contribution, I identify a decades-long trend in 4-year postsecondary education in the United States--the production of bachelor's degrees measured by their concentration across…