ERIC Number: EJ1452878
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1356-2517
EISSN: EISSN-1470-1294
Employability Development in Undergraduate Programmes: How Different Is Liberal Arts Education?
Teaching in Higher Education, v29 n8 p2184-2204 2024
This paper examines how students' employability develops during undergraduate studies at a Dutch liberal arts college compared to a conventional bachelor's programme in law at the same university. Drawing on the graduate capital model, the study focuses on six skills that enhance employability: creativity, lifelong learning, career decidedness, self-efficacy, resilience, and personal initiative. To measure employability growth, a cross-sectional pseudo-cohort research design is adopted, comparing first-, second-, and third-year student cohorts. The results show that liberal arts students make significant progress in five out of the six examined employability-related skills. Compared to the conventional programme, the gains in creativity and personal initiative particularly stand out, reflecting the differences between interdisciplinary and monodisciplinary learning, and self-tailored and fixed curriculum structures. This refutes the stereotype that a liberal arts degree does not prepare students for the labour market and points to the relevance of programme-specific features for employability development in higher education.
Descriptors: Employment Potential, Liberal Arts, Majors (Students), Universities, Foreign Countries, Creativity, Self Efficacy, Lifelong Learning, Resilience (Psychology), Career Choice, Self Motivation, Skill Development, Undergraduate Students, Student Attitudes, International Law, College Programs, Differences
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Netherlands
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A