Search results

Educational institutions are investing heavily in the internationalization of their campuses to attract global talent. Yet, highly skilled immigrants face persistent labor market challenges. We investigate how immigrant academics experience and mitigate their double precarity (migrant and academic) as they seek employment in higher education in Canada.

We take a phenomenological approach and draw on reflective interviews with nine immigrant academics, encouraging participants to elaborate on symbols and metaphors to describe their experiences.

We found that immigrant academics constitute a unique highly skilled precariat: a group of professionals with strong professional identities and attachments who face the dilemma of securing highly precarious employment (temporary, part-time and insecure) in a new academic environment or forgoing their professional attachment to seek stable employment in an alternate occupational sector. Long-term, stable and commensurate employment in Canadian higher education is out of reach due to credentialism. Those who stay the course risk deepening their precarity through multiple temporary engagements. Purposeful deskilling toward more stable employment that is disconnected from their previous educational and career accomplishments is a costly alternative in a situation of limited information and high uncertainty.

We bring into the conversation discussions of migrant precarity and academic precarity and draw on immigrant academics’ unique experiences and strategies to understand how this double precarization shapes their professional identities, mobility and work integration in Canadian higher education.

This study examines the perceptions of human resource (HR) professionals regarding the use of micro-credentials in the job market. The research explores the role of micro-credentials as emerging credentials in job requirements, continuing education, soft skills acquisition, job application evaluation (JAE) processes, qualification preferences in recruitment, salary/pay scale determination and promotional opportunities.

A quantitative research methodology was used to collect data through questionnaires distributed to 124 HR professionals.

The study finds that HR professionals recognize the value of micro-credentials in enhancing a candidate’s resume and aligning with their career objectives, as they offer personalized skill-building opportunities. However, some recruiters question the legitimacy of micro-credentials, perceiving them as informal and questioning their practical transferability.

This study highlights the importance for HR professionals to remain updated on emerging trends, adapt to the changing dynamics of the professional workforce and incorporate this into their recruitment and promotion policies. It also emphasizes the need for further investigation into the legitimacy of micro-credentials and their impact on the job market and presents the potential benefits of their integration into HR practices.

Early research on overqualification suggested that overqualification is primarily associated with negative attitudes and behavior. As a consequence, hiring practitioners were advised against hiring overqualified job applicants. However, recent studies have revealed that there are several potential positive consequences of overqualification. Given this change in perspective on overqualification, we examine how hiring practitioners nowadays look at overqualified job applicants, and what their considerations are for hiring an overqualified job applicant or not.

We have interviewed 33 hiring practitioners to examine their attitudes and considerations toward hiring overqualified job applicants.

Results show that hiring practitioners are aware of potential positive as well as negative consequences of overqualification and consider a variety of factors to assess how beneficial hiring an overqualified candidate will be. These factors fall under three categories: Individual considerations, interpersonal considerations and contextual considerations.

We show that overqualification is not a stigma anymore and that the decision to hire an overqualified job applicant or not depends on a mixture of factors that are carefully considered. Two of these three considerations transcend the individual level (i.e. the overqualified person), whereas most research and theories on the consequences of overqualification do not go beyond the individual level. As such, our findings call for more theory and research on interpersonal and contextual factors shaping the consequences of overqualification.

Offsite construction (OSC) is a modern method of construction (MMC) that involves manufacturing and assembly of buildings. Industry 4.0-driven technological advancements have accelerated OSC uptake causing many skilled construction workers requiring re-skilling or up-skilling. Quantity surveyors currently play an important role throughout a construction project life cycle, and hence, their knowledge on OSC projects is vital for the continuity of quantity surveying (QS) profession. The purpose of this paper is to critically review QS education in an OSC perspective and to propose strategies for up-skilling.

This research includes a detailed literature review of QS and OSC to evaluate how OSC affects the QS profession. Publicly available information on the university websites on accredited QS and construction management degrees was reviewed to identify OSC and MMC references, specifically the content listing and learning outcomes.

Out of the 315 degrees offered by 157 universities, only 69 degrees in 32 universities refer to OSC or MMC. OSC concept is explicitly referred in subjects related to construction technology, production management, lean construction, digital construction and MMC. As such, the research suggests including lean production principles, OSC techniques and design philosophies such as design for manufacture and assembly be added to the QS curricula.

This research is a comprehensive desktop study that does not involve empirical data-based evaluation. Research findings inform strategies to improve QS education and professional competencies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind that evaluates accredited QS degrees and learning requirements in an OSC perspective.

This study analyzed the impact on the persistence of Chilean university students who had received a government-guaranteed loan (CAE).

Using academic and administrative data from 2016 to 2019, provided by 11 Chilean universities, a discrete-time survival model was constructed. The model was based on data of 5,276 students in the 2016 cohort and included sociodemographic variables, academic background prior to entering university and academic performance once in university. As a robustness check of our results to observable confounding, the analysis was repeated using a control group constructed using propensity score matching (PSM).

The results reveal that students who receive a bank loan (CAE) were more likely to remain in undergraduate studies for at least the first two years of university, as opposed to their peers who did not receive financial aid. In addition, they show the importance of academic performance in retention.

The article advances in the identification of the impact of bank loans on permanence. Although previous research has evaluated the impact of the CAE, it has been conducted on small samples of students. These studies also lacked student records associated with their academic performance at the university. The present research overcomes both weaknesses, allowing us to estimate the impact of the CAE on a larger population of students that is representative of the system.

The job satisfaction of university graduates can serve as an indicator of success in their professional development. At the same time, it can be a measure of higher education systems’ effectiveness. The purpose is to assess the relationship of university graduates’ socio-demographic characteristics, aspects of their degree program, experiences in the labor market and current working conditions and their job satisfaction.

The data were collected from a survey conducted at 11 Chilean universities with 534 graduates. An ordinal logistic regression model was fit to calculate job satisfaction probabilities for different graduate profiles.

The results show that sex, field of study, gross salary and horizontal match are related to graduates’ job satisfaction. Men and graduates in education and humanities are more likely to report being satisfied with their current job. Those graduates receiving higher salaries and those who are horizontally well-matched report higher levels of job satisfaction.

This study contributes to expanding knowledge about the job satisfaction of university graduates. Specifically, based on the results obtained, it introduces the idea of aspiration fulfillment as a possible determinant of job satisfaction in different fields of study. This can serve as a starting point for research that delves into differentiated expectations for graduates from different disciplines.

This paper examines the influence of micro-credential learning on students' perceived employability. In addition, the study aims to explore different components that will help students to gain knowledge, enhance their careers and develop their human capital (social, cultural and scholastic capital). Hence, the study also analyzed the mediating role of human capital on the aforementioned association.

Explanatory research was conducted by utilizing a correlational research design. A questionnaire comprising of closed-ended items was utilized in the study. The data was analyzed by employing PLS-SEM technique.

Our findings stipulate that micro-credential learning is an essential component to improve students' perceived employability. The study identified that micro-credential programs have a positive relationship with students' perceived employability. Moreover, the findings that micro-credential learning significantly impacts students' human capital, i.e. cultural, social and scholastic capital. Additionally, human capital acts as a significant mediator in the relationship between micro-credential learning and students' perceived employability. Moreover, participation in micro-credential learning can ensure that students can identify diverse career directions, seek information about the labor market and educational system, attain relevant qualifications for their vocations, and develop a plan for their future.

Micro-credential programs are short and focused educational programs that offer specialized knowledge and skills in a particular area. These programs are becoming increasingly popular in the modern workforce to upskill or reskill quickly and efficiently. However, lack of empirical evidence is the ultimate gap in determining the importance of micro-credential learning; as the limited literature is unable to determine the importance of MCL on students' perceived employability. Thus, the study identifies the impact of micro-credential learning on students' perceived employability.