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Available literature overlooks the factors that affect employers’ opinions of the skills graduates bring to the labour market. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the perception of graduates’ skills and the employers’ anticipative and remedial strategies.

A qualitative multiple case study is used and data were gathered from interviews with human resource managers in ten firms in Portugal. The data set includes information on perceptions of graduates’ skills, solutions for the acquisition of skills, hiring and training policies, and practices associated with university–industry linkages.

Almost all the employers sampled are unsatisfied with graduates’ preparation in soft skills and other personal traits. Some report skill shortages and gaps in technical skills that result in training costs. The perception of technical skills varies according to anticipative and remedial strategies.

This is an explorative study with a very small sample of firms. However, it is a first step towards further research into whether the perception of graduates’ skills is affected by anticipative and remedial strategies implemented by firms within a particular human resource development system.

It is argued that the responsibility for graduates’ employability should be shared. Practitioners should learn how to interact with higher education, researchers should profit from insights into typologies of employers’ strategies on skill formation, and policy makers should understand that employers are heterogeneous and there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

Universities, employers and policy makers should understand that the employability of graduates presupposes shared responsibility.

The relationship between the strategies employers adopt to access skills and their perception of graduates’ skills is a quite underexplored topic.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the concept of graduate work readiness (GWR) from a stakeholder perspective. The research attempts to pull together the various multidisciplinary themes from the literature into a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between graduates and the labour market, considering the international dimension of what is a global phenomenon.

The critical review is divided into four distinct sections, the first is to contextualise the concept of GWR and graduate employability taking into account recent academic discussion, particularly in the EU and ASEAN; second, to explore the different perspectives of stakeholders in the “triple helix” of universities, governments and the corporate world; third, critically to assess the arguments that educational provision is poorly aligned with labour market needs; and finally, to investigate the implications of the fourth industrial revolution for graduate jobs and skills and propose an agenda for future research.

Despite the apparent consensus between stakeholders over the central importance of graduate employability, there is considerable diversity in how each imagines GWR is best assured.

Any review is limited by the extant literature and whilst it is not uncommon that most research has been done in North America, Western Europe and Australasia, this is a serious limitation. GWR is a global concern and this review shows the need for more research that extends beyond the dominant geographical focus and its attendant paradigms. The implication is that geography is important and local research is needed to develop solutions that fit specific cultural, economic and institutional contexts.

The paper highlights the need to reconcile different stakeholder perspectives on GWR and ensure that they work together on shared agendas to improve graduate transition to the labour market. At the same time, the profound changes being brought about by the fourth industrial revolution suggest that more attention should be paid to the employability of existing employees.

This review should prove useful to both academics and practitioners because it emphasises the need to treat GWR as a concept that varies according to context and stakeholder interests, rather than a homogeneous phenomenon.

This study aims to undertake a theoretical and technical exploration of the literature on Work Readiness (WR) through the implementation of a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis. The present study addresses seven distinct research questions: (1) an examination of the descriptive features characterizing the literature on WR, (2) an analysis of trends in annual scientific publications related to WR, (3) the identification of the most pertinent and high-impact sources contributing to WR, (4) the delineation of the globally cited articles exerting the most influence on WR, (5) the determination of the most relevant countries associated with WR, (6) an evaluation of the outcomes derived from Bradford’s Law of Scattering and Lotka’s Law of scientific productivity in the context of WR, and (7) the identification of the prevailing research avenues that hold significance for future studies on WR.

The present study employed Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and bibliometric analysis mapping techniques to analyze 521 articles extracted from the Scopus database. The analysis utilized Biblioshiny software and VOSviewer software as the primary tools.

The findings reveal that WR constitutes a steadily expanding subject discipline, showcasing a notable 9.12% annual growth in scientific production spanning from 1975 to 2023. Australia, the USA, and Canada emerged as the most productive countries within the field of WR, as evidenced by their cumulative scientific production. The thematic map of keyword analysis suggests several burgeoning pathways for future researchers in the WR domain, including workplace learning, functional capacity evaluation, graduate WR, digital literacy, blended learning, resilience, and curriculum.

This study contributes to the WR discourse by providing a comprehensive literature review. The findings of this study hold significance for graduates, universities, employers, the higher education industry, and the broader community.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether satisfaction of employers with skill competencies of fresh engineering graduates (EGs) in India is impacted by their expectations and perceptions. Applying Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT), the authors have also proposed and tested whether such effects on employers’ satisfaction are mediated by (dis)confirmation.

Data were collected through a survey of employers’ representatives using a structured questionnaire. The proposed mediation model has been tested on a sample of 284 with Confirmatory Factor Analysis by applying structural equation modelling in AMOS.

The structural model has been constructed with six latent constructs in accordance with extant literature. Excluding some observed variables, the structural model was found to have a good model fit. The measurement model is in accordance with ECT. Three of the four independent variables (two related to employers’ expectations and one to employers’ perception) exert significant influence on employers’ satisfaction, with (dis)confirmation as a mediator.

Industry–academia partnerships need to be an integral feature of any curriculum to bridge the gap between course curricula on one hand and employers’ expectations and perceptions on the other.

Past research on employability of EGs has mostly explored a direct association between employers’ perception and satisfaction. The authors study contributes to literature by examining the role of employers’ expectations in addition to their perception as precursors of their satisfaction, using the framework of ECT. Outcomes reported are of relevance to multiple stakeholders in technical education.

The continuous change with which companies are faced, requires an approach to implement the necessary changes to the organization's structure. Existing approaches represent sequential procedures, which do not meet the requirements to deal with the characteristics of continuous change. Furthermore, existing models for managing change only state what has to be done but do not explain how it can be done. Aims to remedy these shortcomings.

Based on existing models and on the criteria of the EFQM model, a control loop for the management of strategic change processes was developed. A quality gate concept was defined to measure the performance of the change process by measurements at the quality gates after each phase of the process.

The integrated methodologies and tools were validated in projects with various companies and adapted to practical needs.

A crucial point for the presented procedural model is the applicability of the integrated tools. Therefore, in an actual investigation project the tools are implemented in a multimedia training module to train the handling and application of the tools.

The procedural model and the training module will enable companies and their employees to plan and implement necessary change processes autonomously.

The procedural model is the first one to meet the requirements to deal with continuous changes, with which companies are faced. It describes the tools and methodologies to complete the phases of a change process.

Further discussion is provided on the findings of a postal questionnaire survey on current production management practices, reviewed in Part I. Recommendations are also made for a proactive approach by companies to improve their production management through the development and introduction of performance indicators and to improve the efficiency of the company by the use of appropriate production management techniques. Once a written outline of objectives, programme of work, timing and reporting mechanisms is in place, a management representative responsible for production is to be appointed. Overall, the findings suggest that a more professional approach is required to production management in the UK.