“Still haven't found what I am looking for”: rural black students' perceived work readiness and assessment of labor market access

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinashe Harry ◽  
Willie Tafadzwa Chinyamurindi

PurposeSouth African Black graduates experience a transition challenge between the higher education context and the labor market system. The study focuses on rural Black students' perceived work readiness and assessment of labor market access in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachFocus groups and unstructured individual interviews were conducted with 30 final-year students enrolled at a historically Black university in South Africa.FindingsFour main narratives were found to affect rural Black students' perceptions of work readiness and their assessment of labor market access in South Africa. These include: (1) language of instruction within the higher education system, (2) challenges around access to career counseling and guidance services, (3) dealing with a curriculum system not relevant to the lived experiences of Black people and finally, (4) challenges inherent within higher education institution attended by Black students. A thread among these four appraisals appears to be the rural Black students' concern around the entire education system from basic to higher education.Originality/valueThe paper sheds light and presents an understanding of perceptions of an educational system and issues around work readiness and labor market access in South Africa.

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 456-480
Author(s):  
R.B. Galeeva

Subject .This article discusses the need to bring into line with the future activities of specialists the content of their preparation, the formation of a system model of higher education, which takes into account today's and prospective requirements of the labor market. Objectives. The article aims to research the labor market in four regions of the Volga Federal District of the Russian Federation: the Republic of Tatarstan, Mari El Republic, Chuvash Republic, and the Ulyanovsk oblast, as well as discuss problems and prospects of interaction of universities with enterprises and organizations of these regions. Methods. For the study, I used the methods of logical and statistical analyses, and in-depth expert survey. Results. The article analyzes the state of regional labor markets, presents the results of the expert survey of labor market representatives and heads of the regional education system, and it defines possible ways of harmonizing the interaction of universities with the labor market. Conclusions. The article notes that although the number of employed with higher education is growing, at the same time there is a shortage of highly qualified personnel in certain professions, on the one hand, and unskilled workers, on the other. Also, the article says that the universities do not prepare the necessary for the regions specialists in a number of professions or they provide a set of competencies different from the requirements of the labor market, so it is necessary to form and develop effective directions of cooperation between educational institutions and employers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 155 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaela Slotwinski ◽  
Alois Stutzer ◽  
Roman Uhlig

Abstract In the face of recent refugee migration, early integration of asylum seekers into the labor market has been proposed as an important mechanism for easing their economic and social lot in the short as well as in the long term. However, little is known about the policies that foster or hamper their participation in the labor market, in particular during the important initial period of their stay in the host country. In order to evaluate whether inclusive labor market policies increase the labor market participation of asylum seekers, we exploit the variation in asylum policies in Swiss cantons to which asylum seekers are as good as randomly allocated. During our study period from 2011 to 2014, the employment rate among asylum seekers varied between 0 and 30.2% across cantons. Our results indicate that labor market access regulations are responsible for a substantial proportion of these differences, in which an inclusive regime increases participation by 11 percentage points. The marginal effects are larger for asylum seekers who speak a language that is linguistically close to the one in their host canton. Summary Inclusive labor market access regulations substantially increase the employment chances of asylum seekers, in particular if the language distance is short.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lombuso Precious Shabalala ◽  
Sisa Ngcwangu

Purpose This paper aims to present the results of an investigation on how a reciprocal relationship between the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) in South Africa and the surrounding communities can be used to accelerate the implementation of sustainable development goal 4 (SDG 4). The aim of this paper is to establish stakeholder perceptions on the role of higher education institutions (HEIs) in the development and implementation of sustainable community engagement (CE) projects geared towards the acceleration of SDG 4. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative methodology was adopted. This consisted of a presentation at UMP, an educational tour of the campus and discussion sessions with 3 education officials and 19 high schools representatives from Ehlanzeni District Municipality, Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Content and narrative analysis were used to analyse the data obtained during the discussions. Findings The key findings indicate that a reciprocal relationship between HEIs and their surrounding communities can be used to accelerate the implementation of SDG 4 by positioning HEIs to take the lead with initiatives and implementation of CE projects. Research limitations/implications For HEIs to be in a better position to take a leading role in CE, they must guide without imposing, else it may lead to stakeholders losing interest. Practical implications The importance of a mutual working relationship between HEIs and communities becomes paramount, as it may lead to the realisation and acceleration of SDG 4 through CE. It is suggested that HEIs prioritise CE and also involve communities from the conceptualisation of any project. Originality/value The paper raises awareness and demonstrates the importance and possibilities of using CE towards the acceleration of the implementation of SDG 4 by HEIs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerald Ozee Fernandes ◽  
Balgopal Singh

PurposeThe higher education system has been entrusted globally to provide quality education, especially to the youth, and equip them with required skills and capabilities. The visionaries and policymakers of the countries around the world have been working relentlessly to improve the standard of the higher education system by establishing national and global accreditation and ranking bodies and expecting measuring performance through setting up accreditation and ranking parameters. This paper focuses on the review of Indian university accreditation and ranking system and determining its efficacy in improving academic quality for achieving good position in global quality accreditation and ranking.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed exploratory research approach to know about the accreditation and ranking issues of Indian higher education institutions to overcome the challenges for being globally competitive. The accreditation and ranking parameters and score of leading Indian universities was collected from secondary data sources. Similarly, the global ranking parameters and scores of these Indian universities with top global universities was explored. The performance gaps of Indian university in global academic quality parameter is assessed by comparing it with scores of global top universities. Further, each domestic and global accreditation and ranking parameters have been taken up for discussion.FindingsThe study identified teaching and learning, research and industry collaboration as common parameter in the accreditation and ranking by Indian and global accreditation and ranking body. Furthermore, the study revealed that Indian accreditation and ranking body assess leniently on parameters and award high scores as compared to rigorous global accreditation and ranking practice. The study revealed that “research” and “citations” are important parameters for securing prestigious position in global ranking, this is the reason Indian universities are trailing. The study exposed that Indian academic fraternity lack prominence in research, publication and citations as per need of global accreditation and ranking standards.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of this study is that it focused only on few Indian and global accreditation and ranking bodies. The future implication of this study will be the use of methodology designed in this study for comparing accreditation and ranking bodies’ parameters of different continents and countries in different economic development stages i.e. emerging and developed economies to know the disparity and shortcomings in their higher education system.Practical implicationsThe article is a review and comparison of national and global accreditation and ranking parameters. The article explored the important criteria and key indicators of accreditation and ranking that would provide an important and meaningful insight to academic institutions of the emerging economies of the world to develop its competitiveness. The study contributed to the literature on identifying benchmark for improving academic and higher education institution quality. This study would be further helpful in fostering new ideas toward setting up of contemporary globally viable and acceptable academic quality standard.Originality/valueThis is possibly the first study conducted with novel methodology of comparing the Indian and global accreditation and ranking parameters to identify the academic quality performance gap and suggesting ways to attain academic benchmark through continuous improvement activity and process for global competitiveness.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
S. Bespalyy ◽  
◽  
Ye. Ifutina ◽  

Computer systems and technologies are changing our society significantly. These changes are interconnected with both social and production spheres. Innovative digital technologies have a huge impact on the labor market and professional activity, contributing to their transfer to the electronic environment. Using digital technologies, modern people set new goals and solve problems with an increasing speed of problem solving, capitalizing on the possibilities of collaborative distributed actions within networks. In this regard, new competencies of specialists are in demand. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to establish the impact of the fourth industrial revolution on the education system and the development of skills and thinking for learning. Methods: When conducting scientific research, economic and statistical methods were used. These methods were also used in comparative analysis, as well as in assessing data and indicators of the higher education system, taking into account the impact of the fourth industrial revolution. The analytical method was used to consider the characteristics and factors influencing the development of skills and thinking for learning in modern conditions. The abstract-logical method is used to identify problems affecting the development of the labor market under the influence of digital technologies. Results and their value: The result of the study is that conclusions are drawn about the upcoming changes. Automation and digitalization are likely to lead to significant unemployment in most countries, so adaptation innovation policies are needed to help offset unemployment due to digitalization. Governments need to invest heavily in higher education as an economic development tool for their citizens. Lifelong learning should be identified as a critical element of success in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. Curricula should develop digital skills and address workforce disruptions due to automation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dries Lens ◽  
Ive Marx ◽  
Sunčica Vujić

AbstractThis paper examines the labor market trajectories of refugees who arrived in Belgium between 1999 and 2009. Belgium offers a relatively easy formal labor market access to refugees and other types of migrants but they face many other barriers in this strongly regulated and institutionalized labor market. Based on a longitudinal dataset that links respondents’ information from the Belgian Labor Force Survey with comprehensive social security data on their work histories, we estimate discrete-time hazard models to analyze refugees’ entry into and exit out of the first employment spell, contrasting their outcomes with family and labor migrants of the same arrival cohort. The analysis shows that refugees take significantly longer to enter their first employment spell as compared with other migrant groups. They also run a greater risk of exiting out of their first employment spell (back) into social assistance and into unemployment. The low employment rates of refugees are thus not only due to a slow integration process upon arrival, but also reflect a disproportional risk of exiting the labor market after a period in work. Our findings indicate that helping refugees into a first job is not sufficient to ensure labor market participation in the long run, because these jobs may be short-lived. Instead, our results provide clear arguments in favor of policies that support sustainable labor market integration.


Author(s):  
Ирина Ивановна Широкорад ◽  
Олеся Михайловна Фадеева ◽  
Елена Геннадьевна Пафнутова

Система высшего образования развивается не в изоляции. Она находится в непосредственной зависимости от школьной системы и от рынка труда. С одной стороны, образовательные результаты, полученные в университете, зависят от уровня знаний и навыков, которые получили студенты на предыдущем этапе образования, с другой стороны, ожидаемое высокое качество жизни, которое является ключевой мотивацией для поступления в вуз для большинства населения, определяется состоянием и структурой рынка труда. Именно наличие спроса на продуктивную рабочую силу определяет результативность системы высшего образования. The higher education system does not develop in isolation. It is directly dependent on the school system and the labor market. On the one hand, the educational results obtained at the University depend on the level of knowledge and skills that students received at the previous stage of education, on the other hand, the expected high quality of life, which is a key motivation for entering the University for the majority of the population, is determined by the state and structure of the labor market. It is the demand for productive labor that determines the effectiveness of the higher education system.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 1185-1203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andre Calitz ◽  
Samual Bosire ◽  
Margaret Cullen

Purpose This paper aims to show that business intelligence (BI) is a key component of a sustainability-reporting framework for higher education institutions (HEIs). Design/methodology/approach Four questionnaires were administered to Registrars and managers at 21 South African HEIs and at selected international HEIs. The data analysis entailed both descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings The study confirmed that factors such as management buy-in, the availability of BI reports and the provision of reporting guidelines were positively related to effective strategic planning. The study shows that the use of BI by South African HEIs is still at a low maturity level. Research limitations/implications The case study used is the Nelson Mandela University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The implications are relevant for all 26 HEIs in South Africa. Practical implications HEIs must invest in technological tools, including BI to provide information in understandable and usable formats for management and other relevant stakeholders. Social implications BI reporting can assist all stakeholders to obtain the relevant and required information relating to HEI operations and strategic management initiatives and activities. Originality/value The study concludes that HEIs ought to invest in BI technologies that can assist the sustainability reporting process to ensure stakeholder satisfaction and regulatory compliance.


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