Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Graduate development in European employment: issues and contradictions

Graduate development in European employment: issues and contradictions Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore to what extent there are variations in the development of graduates once in employment; to what extent these variations can be explained by differences in the higher education systems; and what the current moves towards greater harmonisation between these systems might mean for graduates' continuing professional development in employment. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from the graduating cohort of 1999/2000 across 11 European countries, five years after graduation. The views of higher education providers and employers on graduates in the knowledge society were investigated in a smaller sub‐set of countries. Findings – There are differences in the incidence and length of UK graduates' initial training in employment compared to all graduates which can be explained, in part, by the traditionally looser “fit” between higher education and employment in the UK (compared to many continental European countries). Five years after graduation, UK graduates enjoy similar levels of work‐related training as their European counterparts, although there are quite large differences between employment sectors. Originality/value – This article looks into what extent harmonisation of higher education programmes (arising from the Bologna process) will affect the relationship between higher education and employment, and in particular the role played by higher education and by employers in graduates' initial professional formation and continuing development; it will be of interest to those in that field. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Education + Training Emerald Publishing

Graduate development in European employment: issues and contradictions

Brenda Little
Education + Training , Volume 50 (5): 12 – Jun 27, 2008
Download PDF
12 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/graduate-development-in-european-employment-issues-and-contradictions-jYTftLKeqQ

References (2)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0040-0912
DOI
10.1108/00400910810889066
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore to what extent there are variations in the development of graduates once in employment; to what extent these variations can be explained by differences in the higher education systems; and what the current moves towards greater harmonisation between these systems might mean for graduates' continuing professional development in employment. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from the graduating cohort of 1999/2000 across 11 European countries, five years after graduation. The views of higher education providers and employers on graduates in the knowledge society were investigated in a smaller sub‐set of countries. Findings – There are differences in the incidence and length of UK graduates' initial training in employment compared to all graduates which can be explained, in part, by the traditionally looser “fit” between higher education and employment in the UK (compared to many continental European countries). Five years after graduation, UK graduates enjoy similar levels of work‐related training as their European counterparts, although there are quite large differences between employment sectors. Originality/value – This article looks into what extent harmonisation of higher education programmes (arising from the Bologna process) will affect the relationship between higher education and employment, and in particular the role played by higher education and by employers in graduates' initial professional formation and continuing development; it will be of interest to those in that field.

Journal

Education + Training – Emerald Publishing

Published: Jun 27, 2008

Keywords: Higher education; Graduates; Continuing development; United Kingdom; Europe

There are no references for this article.