scholarly journals Youth Employability: Fostering University-Industry Links in Syllabus Design

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 172-184
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Mokua Maroko ◽  
Larry Mutinda Ndivo

The potential of young people to be agents of social and economic progress continues to be undermined by massive unemployment. According to statistics on the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender affairs website, youth unemployment in Kenya stands at 61%. This is very alarming yet according to the Global Youth Development Index and Report of 2016. Young people are a force for peace, democracy, equality and good governance, a catalyst for global consensus-building, and an essential resource for sustainable development and poverty eradication. It is interesting that among the unemployed youth are certificate, diploma and degree holders! Is there a disconnect between academic training and resultant qualifications on the one hand and youth employability on the other? Why are the youth unemployed when social media platforms, print and electronic media, and the internet are full of job advertisements day in day out? My hypothesis is that syllabi for the implementation of academic programmes in the Universities are devoid of employability skills which are a critical link in the University-Industry interface. To explore the hypothesis, this paper began by describing the 21st Century employability skills which are self-management and taking responsibility, working effectively with other people, business and customer awareness, decision-making and problem-solving, initiative and enterprise, communication and literacy, numeracy, and using ICT. Focusing on teaching in selected higher education institutions, this paper further reviews selected job advertisements to identify the salient skills that industry players seek in job applications. Next, the paper evaluates university course syllabi with the aim of establishing how these skills have been integrated. The paper recommends that University-Industry stakeholder engagement is integral to syllabus design and implementation in addition to fostering youth employability.

Author(s):  
Ineta Luka ◽  
Tamara Pigozne ◽  
Svetlana Surikova

Globalization, the development of new technologies, an ageing population, and the economic situation will continue influencing the skills mix; therefore, special attention has to be paid to young people to develop a skilled workforce responding to the current and future labour market needs, as well as to promote lifelong learning. The present study explores different concepts of employability and analyses employability skills of young people (aged 15-29) focusing on the most significant skills and the possible ways of enhancing their development. A survey of 405 youngsters and 81 representatives of institutions conducted in Latvia resulted in developing certain recommendations on how to increase youth employability in the Latvian labour market. Both theoretical analysis and the survey conducted highlight the most significant employability skills necessary to be competitive and successful at present and in the future.


Author(s):  
Pauline Leonard ◽  
Rachel J. Wilde

This chapter outlines the key aims of the book: first, to explore what it is like for young people to undergo employability training as a pathway into work in the UK; second, to investigate the strategies and motivations of local policymakers and training providers, whose mission it is to achieve employability skills development indifferent regions of the UK; and third, through the lens of a Post-Foucauldian governmentality approach, to contribute theoretically to understanding of both policy and practice of youth employability training in the UK context. Each of these aims is introduced and the structure of the book’s chapters is presented.


2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katariina Salmela-Aro ◽  
Ingrid Schoon

A series of six papers on “Youth Development in Europe: Transitions and Identities” has now been published in the European Psychologist throughout 2008 and 2009. The papers aim to make a conceptual contribution to the increasingly important area of productive youth development by focusing on variations and changes in the transition to adulthood and emerging identities. The papers address different aspects of an integrative framework for the study of reciprocal multiple person-environment interactions shaping the pathways to adulthood in the contexts of the family, the school, and social relationships with peers and significant others. Interactions between these key players are shaped by their embeddedness in varied neighborhoods and communities, institutional regulations, and social policies, which in turn are influenced by the wider sociohistorical and cultural context. Young people are active agents, and their development is shaped through reciprocal interactions with these contexts; thus, the developing individual both influences and is influenced by those contexts. Relationship quality and engagement in interactions appears to be a fruitful avenue for a better understanding of how young people adjust to and tackle development to productive adulthood.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Ndwakhulu Tshishonga

This article examines the socio-economic implications that the controversial sub-culture of skhothane has on the development or underdevelopment of youth at Ekurhuleni and surrounding townships. It interrogates skhothane within the post-modern expressive youth culture. In the township(s) of Ekurhuleni, skhothane is regarded not only as a controversial sub-culture but also as a lifestyle whereby young people compete in acquiring material goods with the ultimate purpose of destroying them. This practice co-exists alongside youth unemployment and underdevelopment which is exacerbated by poverty, rising unemployment and gross inequalities. The author argues that the practice of skhothane sub-culture does not only undermine the policies and programmes aimed at the socio-economic upliftment of young people, but turns the youth into materialistic consumers. In this article, young people are viewed as victims of post-modern lifestyles who are socialised under an intergenerational culture of poverty and underdevelopment. It uses primary data from selected interviews with skhothane members and general members of local communities and secondary sources from books, accredited journals and newspapers.


2016 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-20
Author(s):  
Łukasz Albański

Young people are confronting a world in which they may not achieve economic strides their parents did. Almost all will have been awarded university degree, worth far less (in the terms and conditions of their employment) than that of their parents, if they themselves graduated from university. In the article the author discusses the relationship between higher education and stratification. The concepts of meritocracy and credentialism are considered and a particular attention is paid to an equal/unequal access to education dilemma. Discussed is why a liberal arts education is losing ground and why it is being made a scapegoat for graduate unemployment. Does the nightmare of Weber’s “iron cage of rationalization” come true and is the contemporary university in the service of an economic order with all the related technical requirements of machine production? In the second part of the article the role of meritocratic discourse and educational credential inflation is considered as well as the growth of menial jobs for young people as a case in Poland. Key words: education at post-secondary level, liberal arts, youth unemployment, inequality, Poland.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 393
Author(s):  
Giedrė Kvieskienė ◽  
Ilze Ivanova ◽  
Karmen Trasberg ◽  
Viktorija Stasytytė ◽  
Eglė Celiešienė

NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) youth rates in Europe are generally higher in rural regions than in urban areas and the share in rural regions is constantly increasing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, young people became even more vulnerable as they experienced social exclusion and mental health problems. The objective of this paper is to analyse NEET youth-related statistics in Europe and distinguish positive initiatives for young people in rural areas of the Baltic countries to encourage positive emotions and willingness to learn. Statistical analysis and case study methods were employed. Data on youth unemployment, NEET youth by age and gender, and poverty and social exclusion of young people, is analysed. Social policy initiatives in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, mainly from rural municipalities, are presented and discussed. This research determines the key issues related to NEET youth and proposes initiatives to overcome existing problems among young people. Such social initiatives aim to promote positive social emotions of youth, promote their inclusion in society, and foster regional sustainability.


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-26
Author(s):  
Mark Light ◽  
Jessica Falkenthal

The manner that young people and adults are communicating with each other is rapidly changing in society that is, in part, driven by the latest technology. As a youth-driven program, we must engage in new strategies and methods by which we communicate with youth members, volunteers, families, and the community at large. Social and mobile media are a growing and popular venue for much of our target audience and youth development practitioners must learn how to leverage these networks to create positive youth development in online environments. If we ignore and don’t engage in the opportunity to be connected to youth online, then youth are left to make their own paths online and set the online norms. As youth organizations, we also must seize the opportunity to be online mentors and use the resources that are available and being used by our target populations.


Author(s):  
Armanda Keqi ◽  
Bora Kokalari ◽  
Sabina Beqiri

Young generations are those who make lives livelier and happier, who design the future and make the change, the ones with full hope and enthusiasm to go further and make the impossible possible. As every country of Europe, Asia or America, Albania as well is surrounded by a very fruitful young ladies and gentlemen's. This paper aims to analyse the changes of the youth development in Albania during the transition period. The young development in Albania has faced many problems, such as the difference between the levels of development of the youths that live in the other cities of Albania with the ones of the capital. Rural areas and small towns are closed where a portion of youth in minor are totally dependent from family, and they are exactly that with their weak hands are inclined to do the heavy work to keep their family one more day alive. Youth at the opening of the borders, generally tended to leave towards legal immigration either as tourist or in illegal opportunities addressing major countries like Britain, Greece, Italy, Belgium etc. Albania needs to make arrangements which will be financed by businessmen, private universities in cooperation with the state to offer young people opportunities to work together and to be closer to each other and to show their skills in conversation competitions. At the same time the state has other open universities in backward areas which will provide young entrepreneurs' with more opportunities for young people to graduate and to serve different areas. Meanwhile, there is needed a strategy to separate the fields in which there is a need to have more expert in the field which is required to work also which would come more to help the country's economy with the addition of experts. Albania is a country blessed where high mountains finish in seas, where groundwater resources are numerous, and with a conductive climate to produce almost all kinds of fruits and where vegetation is very diverse. If the youth will be directed towards learning of foreign languages and in recognition of their territories, traditions and customs, thus, we would make a big step because tourism market is precisely the kind of market where young people will find themselves more comfortable than ever, where the labour force will be insufficient paid and where the demand for products would be required as the number of tourists would be great and just the requirements would change in terms of application areas during the summer as it would be for beaches and seasonal fruits, while during the winter for skiing and mountain tourism.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 106-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Van Baren ◽  
Marieke Meelen ◽  
Lucas C.P.M. Meijs

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award is a youth achievement Award program that aims to engage young people in purposeful activities focused on gaining knowledge, broadening horizons and accumulating a diversity of experiences. The program promotes positive youth development through an experienced based learning approach and is known to play a vital role in providing opportunities for young people to develop essential life skills, complementing their formal education. Comprised of three levels (Bronze, Silver and Gold) and four sections (Service, Skills, Physical Recreation and Adventurous Journey) the Award is designed to provide a balanced programme of personal development. The Award operates worldwide in over 140 countries and territories, through the International Award Association. This article will discuss The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award program and its non-formal educational framework. Participants reported that it has enabled them to grow in confidence and in their ability to contribute positively to their communities.


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