The assumptions made in the media regarding graduate skills and occupations are no longer valid within the changing educational context. This book traces seven key trends that shape the graduate labour market and reveals that their effects contradict the conceptualisation of the graduate labour market which dominates media and policy discourses.

The expansion of Higher Education has been one of the most important changes to affect Western labour markets. More than a third of all British workers are now degree holders. The graduate labour market is often understood as that part of the labour market characterized by high skills and high knowledge intensity and that is perceived to be needed and used in an increasingly complex economy. Higher education is presumed to be the developer of these advanced skills. Yet with the graduatisation of the workforce, comes growing concerns about, as well as misunderstanding, of what jobs graduates occupy, how they utilise their skills, and what the role of education is within graduate work and the competition for jobs. The book examines some of the assumptions placed on graduate work, graduate jobs, graduate skills, and graduate careers. It provides valuable insights how we can understand the meaning of graduate work within a rapidly changing economic, technological, and organizational context. Based on in-depth qualitative case studies of software developers, financial analysts, laboratory scientists, and press officers, the book shows that the graduate labour market is more heterogeneous than often is understood. What counts as graduate work remains contested and under constant reinterpretation and re-negotiation. Access to work, job performance, and career advancement are not necessarily driven by university qualifications and skills associated with Higher Education. The book begins to explore how and to what extent, those workers with university degrees are defined by their educational experiences, status, and qualifications.

Symposium on the patterns of change in the employment of university graduates in the UK - covers educational policy, labour market trends in respect of professional workers, occupational choice, the university graduate, the changing role of vocational guidance, the present and forecasted employment of graduates in industry, etc. Bibliography pp. 161 to 166 and statistical tables.

Debate surrounding the employability of graduates has been around for many decades, and interest in this area has grown particularly since the start of this century. Tackling this relevant area of scholarship, this book uses an innovative approach to analyse the relationship between the university and the labour market from different perspectives, taking into account both sociological and economic theories. Key areas explored include work transition, graduate employability, and the effects of public interventions/initiatives which are aimed at matching the competences of graduates to labour market needs. The chapters summarise several years of author original research, including study on the employability of graduates in Poland more specifically, and the effects of their public interventions to increase graduate employment and facilitate entry into the workforce (e.g. Commissioned Fields of Study, Competences Development Programme). More generally, university – labour market relations are analysed from three perspectives: micro (understood as individual characteristics shaping educational and occupational choices and decisions), and meso and macro (e.g. features of the education system and such as the strength of the signal sent by HE diplomas; the macroeconomic situation and the condition of the labour market and the state of debate on general and employability competences and its implications). The conclusions made are pertinent given ongoing debates around graduate mismatch in the labour market, as well as the questioning of tuition fees and the role of the university in society more broadly. The interdisciplinary nature of this book makes it of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the areas of sociology, economy, public policy, and also to practitioners designing educational interventions themselves.

In a time of too many graduates for too few jobs, and in a context where applicants have similar levels of educational capital, what other factors influence graduate career trajectories? Based on the life history interviews of graduates and framed through a Bourdieusian sociological lens, Culture, Capitals and Graduate Futures explores the continuing role that social class as well as cultural and social capitals have on both the aspirations and expectations towards, and the trajectories within, the graduate labour market. Framed within the current context of increasing levels of university graduates and the falling numbers of graduate positions available in the UK labour market, this book provides a critical examination of the supposedly linear and meritocratic relationship between higher education and graduate employment proposed by official discourses from government at both local and national levels. Through a critical engagement with the empirical findings, Culture, Capitals and Graduate Futures asks important questions for the effective continuation of the widening participation agenda. This timely book will be of interest to higher education professionals working within widening participation policy and higher education policy.

This book reports on the findings from a research study of vocational and higher education graduates’ employability challenges. The nature and extent of these challenges, their underlying causes, and effective strategies to address the problems in this area are all analysed from a multiple-stakeholder paradigm. The primary focus of the book is on governments; secondary, vocational, and higher education systems; and industry employers - rather than graduates themselves - in order to highlight the policy and strategy implications for governments, industry and educational systems. Readers will acquire comprehensive information on the nature and extent of graduate employability in terms of country-specific challenges, together with a deeper understanding of their complex causes, and the inter-relatedness between governments, educational systems, industry sectors, and potential employers. They will also be provided with a broad range of stakeholder strategies designed to effectively address these challenges within integrated national and regional approaches.

This book examines the nature of work that graduates perform as well as the labour market for graduates. It examines existing assumptions we have on the nature of graduate labour, arguing the work of graduates is not necessarily defined by their education.

In a world where there are increasing concerns about graduate underemployment and likely career trajectories, it is not surprising that there is a significant body of literature examining graduate careers in post-industrial societies. However, it has become increasingly evident in recent years that there is a stark disconnect between academics who research employment and education, and careers and employability professionals. Graduate Careers in Context brings these two separate groups together for the first time in order to provide a better understanding of graduate careers. The book addresses the problems surrounding the graduate labour market and its relationship to higher education and public policy. Drawing on varied perspectives, the contributors provide a comprehensive examination of issues such as geography, mobility and employability, before presenting and discussing the benefits of future collaboration between practitioners and academic researchers. The interdisciplinary focus of this book will make it of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the areas of education, sociology, social policy, business studies and career guidance and coaching. It should also be essential reading for practitioners who wish to consider their role and responsibilities within the changing higher education market.

Education, Work and Identity explores changing patterns of education and work, the dynamic relationship between these two institutions, and the wider social and economic contexts shaping them. It locates this in processes of social and economic change, in particular the shift towards globalization and the post-industrial economy. The book examines how these changes have reshaped individuals' educational, transitional and labour market experiences. It also explores key themes and approaches in understanding the education and labour market interplay, and the way in which education and work institutions shape people's orientations and identities around work.