Purpose: This study explores practitioners' perspectives on the perceived gap between university and practice beyond the hard and soft skill paradigm. Utilising Tomlinson's graduate capital model of employability (2017), we explored human, social, cultural, and psychological capitals to enrich the understanding of this issue and employability. It…

In recent years, various international organizations in the field of higher education have taken on the task of defining the skills that professionals in different disciplines should develop to succeed in the labor market. As a result, universities have started to transform their curricular structures. Consequently, the aim of this study was to…

The breadth of opportunities in biomedical engineering (BME) creates both a diversity of career options for students pursuing the degree and a potential hurdle in communicating the relevance of their skills when applying for specific jobs. This conundrum has driven research efforts seeking to understand what is valued by BME employers. Our work…

Purpose: This study examines the competencies delineated by the Chartered Professional Accountants (CPA) in Canada and explores the gap between what universities provide, represented by the students' confidence in the knowledge acquired--and what the accounting profession in Canada requires and deems necessary. Design/methodology/approach: Using…

In 2013, an urban college developed a mandatory soft skills course. Unique among postsecondary institutions, the course has been running since fall 2015. Research has now been conducted into the effectiveness of the course. A mixed-methods research study collected primary data and a literature review of the pertinent secondary data. Data sets…

Reports of 2022 employment rates demonstrate that while 65.4% of adults without disabilities are employed, only 21.3% of adults with disabilities are employed (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023). Researchers have reported that employees with disabilities are unable to maintain employment often due to difficulty fitting in socially at the…

Despite the technical competence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) graduates of the Department of Computer Science (DCS) at the University of Guyana, stakeholders' perception generally holds that they lack affective and behavioural (soft) skills. These soft skills are expected of them to lead and champion technological change in…

The study aimed at identifying the relationship between the competencies of Palestinian university graduates and the needs of the Palestinian labour market from the perspective of graduates and employers. The study adopted the descriptive analytical approach (quantitative). It found that the level of suitability of the competencies of Palestinian…

This study aimed to investigate essential employability skills for English as a foreign language (EFL) students in the Mekong Delta for the context of the 21st century. It was also to determine the similarities and differences between the important employability skills from the perspectives of the employers and EFL students. In this study, a…

It is increasingly vital, in the current era of ever-expanding remote work and learning, to develop blended methods for engineering education. This research aims to develop a blended, project-based information and communication technology (ICT) education model, conceptualizing a digital ecosystem based on stakeholders' experiences and…

The contemporary university is now characterised as a complex working environment wherein faculty must negotiate increasing demands for accountability, performativity, and productivity. A multiplicity of expectations adds to this complexity. Specifically, expectations set by employers in developing 'work-ready' graduates have compelled faculty to…

The sudden termination of nearly 40% of U.S. WIL experiences during the summer of 2020 caused employers to quickly adapt to virtual WIL experiences. What employers learned from these adjustments to their traditional WIL practices and perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of virtual experiences form the basis of this paper. Over 350…

Noncredit community college programs provide an important route for workforce development. They offer affordable and accessible short-term training options for individuals seeking access to middle-skills jobs. Absent the burdens of accreditation standards, they can respond nimbly to local labor market needs. However, they can also be varied and…

The paper brings together a range of debates on the left that address TVET's future in current context. At the heart of these debates rest two issues. The first addresses competing views of capital and the second focuses on the contradiction between the interests of capital and workers. The paper argues that capital is not all of a piece and that…

Purpose: This paper aims to analyze Northern Manitoba employers' indexes of employability skills that influence the UCN (University College of the North) students' employability in indigenous contexts. Design/methodology/approach: This study constructs the employability skills into six indexes from employers' perspective: reading comprehension,…