Higher Education and Employability

In response to many demands about their role within society, in the past few decades universities have reviewed and changed curricula and teaching methods, and created, improved, or diversified initiatives to link with reference territories. In this ongoi

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Higher Education and Employability

Abstract  In response to many demands about their role within society, in the past few decades universities have reviewed and changed curricula and teaching methods, and created, improved, or diversified initiatives to link with reference territories. In this ongoing effort, universities need to address the issue of their own “new role” and identity within a continuously changing society. This chapter outlines the key themes of the “changing university” by focusing on the employability issue, looking at emerging employability models, and reporting on the current debate about the role of the university within the social system. Keywords  Employability models • Career centres • Accountability • Mission

4.1   Higher Education and Employability 4.1.1   “The Change” in Practice Higher-education institutions have reacted to new demands in different ways, according to their systems, geographical location, and capacity to embrace input. Universities are per se providers of forms of knowledge, credentials (they are legitimised to issue degrees), and supplementary learning (e.g. through career services) (Tomlinson 2013). Concerning forms of © The Author(s) 2020 G. Paviotti, ‘Regional Universities’ and Pedagogy, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53680-0_4

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knowledge, the university provides curricula to transmit, transform, and create new knowledge in a specific field. Universities also have freedom in proposing “legitimate” degrees: the university degree is a credential. Curricula can include direct relations with the labour market, by formulating degrees answering new learning needs (e.g. Chyung et al. 2006), or can focus on the liberal arts, which are not directly linked with specific professions (e.g. Fallows and Stevens 2000). In some cases, though, new curricula are developed more to attract students than to respond to research-based knowledge or labour market requests (Rae 2007). Also, alongside hard skills provided through curricula, universities support the development of transversal skills, usually through active pedagogies and work-based learning. Finally, supplementary learning opportunities are offered, through university centres or other extra-curricular activities. Students, though, can perceive these opportunities as “unconnected” to the degree (Rae 2007). All these dimensions have been considered by several studies that provided different frameworks for higher-education institutions for employability purposes. In 2003, Yorke proposed the following ways to assess employability integration in the curriculum, acknowledging that the distinctions among them are not clear-cut: –– Employability through the whole curriculum.1 –– Employability in the core curriculum, for example, by applying the USEM model (see below), embedding employability in core modules of the curriculum. –– Work-based or work-related learning, such as internships. –– Employability-related modules within the curriculum. –– Work-based or work-related learning in parallel with the curricul