scholarly journals Getting Closer to the Needs of the Labour Market

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49
Author(s):  
Zsuzsanna Tóth ◽  
Marietta Balázsné Lendvai ◽  
Judit Beke

A key measure of higher education’s success is the extent to which it can provide the labour market with graduates that excel not only in terms of their professional training but also in terms of their soft skills. To that end, the competences of students entering university must first be diagnosed. This paper presents a pilot study of such a measurement system, together with first-year results obtained by a rural university faculty. Equipped with better information about its freshman students, such a university can begin to address the revealed competence deficiencies actively, and, over the course of an entire training cycle, further improve the labour market value of the young people when they come to graduate. Provisional recommendations are made at the end of this paper; however, further data analysis, once undertaken, may lend further support to the practical approach outlined here.

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 782-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ines Albandea ◽  
Jean-François Giret

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to construct soft-skill indicators and measure their effects on graduates’ earnings using survey data from a sample of master’s degree graduates in France. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a quantile analysis to measure the effects of soft skills on income. Findings Certain soft skills explain a proportion of the earnings of recent master’s graduates. In particular, they influence the highest salaries and are important for the most highly skilled jobs. Research limitations/implications Most of these soft skills are measured using declarative responses and may result from the feeling of having skills rather than actually possessing the skill. Moreover, this paper only looks at graduates who are employed, and a deficit in soft skills may be more penalising for job seekers. Social implications While some young people take advantage of soft skills early and benefit from them in the labour market, it is likely that it is even more important for those less endowed with these skills to further develop them before entering the labour market. Originality/value This research illustrates the heterogeneous nature of the skills that young post-secondary graduates acquire. French diplomas do not seem to homogenise all of the skills that young people develop through their academic and professional experiences.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-16
Author(s):  
Luigi F. Donà dalle Rose ◽  
Anna Serbati

Nowadays, there is a growing awareness that higher education is called to help young people to develop their personal and professional future. The university mission is not only to increase opportunities for employability and for better matching of labour market requests and graduates’ skills, but also to prepare people to positively live in local and global communities as well as to actively contribute to personal and community well-being. Therefore, a more holistic approach to education is required, which overcomes the traditional idea of promoting logical, cognitive and linguistic intelligence and which promotes multiple intelligences, including emotional, interpersonal, creative skills. Scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education and educational research have shown that there is a variety of strategies and methods that can foster not only the development of knowledge, but also soft skills. This Issue offers some perspectives and innovative experiences in different subject areas within this framework and moves towards more general visions of educational issues.Published online: 31 May 2018


2021 ◽  

Oxfam’s Youth Participation and Employment (YPE) project helped Hind, a young woman in Morocco, to enter the labour market. Though she is educated, her skills were insufficient to get a job. The Amal Al Mansour Association, a YPE partner, helped her with practical training in developing soft skills and accessing the formal labour market. With support from the Association, she got a job in the retail sector. Her current job is a stepping-stone to achieving her personal and professional goals. She wants to obtain her law degree and find a stable job in line with her qualifications. In the context of the COVID-19 crisis, the number of available jobs has decreased, and it is hard to get a full-time salaried position. Hind is hopeful that the YPE programme can help young people in Morocco through advocating for decent work for vulnerable young people.


2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-18
Author(s):  
Arūnas Pocius

The paper analyses employment, activity and unemployment trends in Lithuania by sex and age, with thefocus on the monitoring of the labour market situation of different demographic groups. The possibilities of integratingwomen and men, elderly and young people into the labour market are evaluated using key labour market indicators. Differentunemployment estimation methods are used for the assessment of changes in the labour market situation of differentdemographic groups in Lithuania. Statistical data analysis is supplemented by the results of individual research.


Author(s):  
Volodymyr Starosta ◽  
Olena Popadych

The problem of motivating an individual to be active in the society is always relevant in different fields of science, since the availability of appropriate motives determines appropriate response of each person. The purposeful formation of students’ study and professional motivation is one of the main tasks in higher education, and identifying different aspects of such motivation in first-year students gives an opportunity to have feedback and improve the living conditions of young people. In this article it has been established that student’s educational motivation can be considered as a complex system of factors and motives (goals, needs, interests, tendencies, successes, etc.) that are constantly changing and are mutually influential; it makes students acquire knowledge, development and develop their abilities, skills, personal qualities, a positive attitude to their future profession and the world around. The purpose of this work is to study the indicators and peculiarities of the motivation to study of first-year students. At this stage, among the main tasks is the determination of indicators and dynamics of motivation of first-year students at the classical university based on the example of the Uzhhorod National University using the results an electronic questionnaire for first-year students. The article reveals a peculiarity of students’ motivation to study, which lies in the fact that it is not only polimotivated, but also one of the important results of the adaptation process (that is, the process and result of adaptation as a factor of motivation) and at the same time one of the mechanisms/factors of adaptation of young people to the educational process in higher education. The Empirical research proves that at the university, the majority of students (over 70%) have optimal motivational complexes during all the academic years under research, which contributes to successful professional training. There is also a general tendency for both the university as a whole and for most faculties, namely higher indicators of internal and external positive motivation in comparison with indicators of external negative motivation.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-89
Author(s):  
Inna Pododimenko

Abstract The problem of professional training of skilled human personnel in the industry of information communication technology, the urgency of which is recognized at the state level of Ukraine and the world, has been considered. It has been traced that constantly growing requirements of the labour market, swift scientific progress require the use of innovative approaches to the training of future ІТ specialists with the aim to increase their professional level. The content of standards of professional training and development of information technologies specialists in foreign countries, particularly in Japan, has been analyzed and generalized. On the basis of analysis of educational and professional standards of Japan, basic requirements to the engineer in industry of information communication technology in the conditions of competitive environment at the labour market have been comprehensively characterized. The competencies that graduate students of educational qualification level of bachelor in the conditions of new state policy concerning upgrading the quality of higher education have been considered. The constituents of professional competence in the structure of an engineer-programmer’s personality, necessary on different levels of professional improvement of a specialist for the development of community of highly skilled ІТ specialists, have been summarized. Positive features of foreign experience and the possibility of their implementation into the native educational space have been distinguished. Directions for modernization and upgrading of the quality of higher education in Ukraine and the prospects for further scientific research concerning the practice of specialists in information technologies training have been suggested


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Andile Dube ◽  
Mokubung Nkomo

The study traces the pathways of young people who dropped out of school between grades 1 to 11 as they seek re-entrance to the education, training and development (ETD) system, or entrance into the labour market. Particular attention is given to the factors that determine the choices that drop-outs make in either re-entering the ETD system or entering the labour market. An analysis of the experiences of the interviewed sample of drop-outs is presented. The study employs a qualitative research methodology, using interviews to elicit the experiences of drop-outs and school managers. Through snowballing, 14 youths and three principals were selected from a township south of Durban. Individual and focus group interviews were conducted. The findings provide insights into the drop-outs’ perceptions regarding the value of investing in education. They are discussed further in relation to the respective theories used in the study. The concluding section suggests the need for investments in second chance education by government and the private sector, and proposes an integrated model to assist young people who re-enter psychologically and emotionally.


2005 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Paul Grayson

In order to test the general utility of models developed in the US for explaining university outcomes of Canadian and international students, a three year study is currently underway at four Canadian universities. As a first step in this research, a pilot study with two objectives was conducted at York University in Toronto. The first objective is to compare the experiences and outcomes of domestic and international students in their first year of study. The second objective is to test the applicability of a parsimonious general model of student outcomes derived from examinations of American students to Canadian and international students studying in Canada. The specific outcomes examined are academic achievement, credit completion, and program satisfaction in the first year of study.


Author(s):  
Anthony F. Heath ◽  
Elisabeth Garratt ◽  
Ridhi Kashyap ◽  
Yaojun Li ◽  
Lindsay Richards

Unemployment has a wide range of adverse consequences over and above the effects of the low income which people out of work receive. In the first decades after the war Britain tended to have a lower unemployment rate than most peer countries but this changed in the 1980s and 1990s, when Britain’s unemployment rate surged during the two recessions—possibly as a result of policies designed to tackle inflation. The young, those with less education, and ethnic minorities have higher risks of unemployment and these risks are cumulative. The evidence suggests that the problems facing young men with only low qualifications became relatively worse in the 1990s and 2000s. This perhaps reflects the dark side of educational expansion, young people with low qualifications being left behind and exposed in the labour market.


2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Pass ◽  
Carl W. Lejuez ◽  
Shirley Reynolds

Background: Depression in adolescence is a common and serious mental health problem. In the UK, access to evidence-based psychological treatments is limited, and training and employing therapists to deliver these is expensive. Brief behavioural activation for the treatment of depression (BATD) has great potential for use with adolescents and to be delivered by a range of healthcare professionals, but there is limited empirical investigation with this group. Aims: To adapt BATD for depressed adolescents (Brief BA) and conduct a pilot study to assess feasibility, acceptability and clinical effectiveness. Method: Twenty depressed adolescents referred to the local NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health service (CAMHs) were offered eight sessions of Brief BA followed by a review around one month later. Self- and parent-reported routine outcome measures (ROMs) were collected at every session. Results: Nineteen of the 20 young people fully engaged with the treatment and all reported finding some aspect of Brief BA helpful. Thirteen (65%) required no further psychological intervention following Brief BA, and both young people and parents reported high levels of acceptability and satisfaction with the approach. The pre–post effect size of Brief BA treatment was large. Conclusions: Brief BA is a promising innovation in the treatment of adolescent depression. This approach requires further evaluation to establish effectiveness and cost effectiveness compared with existing evidence-based treatments for adolescent depression. Other questions concern the effectiveness of delivery in other settings and when delivered by a range of professionals.


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