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This paper explores student and graduate internships. The roles and motivation of the intern and the academic, employer and professional associations that sponsor internships are considered. An examination of the “Career Starts” Program created by the Public Service Commission of the Province of Nova Scotia, in Canada serves as a case study to consider the application of internships, practical issues and objectives associated with such a program, and the experience of individual interns. This case is interesting, as a “collective agreement” element currently limits intern access to full time employment within the government. The impact of this limitation is contrasted with conventional programs established as a “recruitment pool”. Internships are seen as a critical component of individual development and for succession planning for professional and management staff, as well as development of specialized skills. Internships are seen as providing a bridge between academic preparation, and full participation in work or a professional association that provides benefits to the intern, the academic institutions and employers or professional bodies.

The work compares across cohorts and different levels of education the early-stage evolution of several labour market outcomes, with the aim of studying whether and to what extent education matters for the level, growth and stability of earnings.

By using a rich longitudinal dataset developed from merging survey and administrative data, this article describes the evolution of the early career – five years following the education completion – in Italy comparing differently educated workers born between 1970 and 1984.

The authors find evidence of an "education premium” during the first five years after education completion in terms of faster school-to-work transition, higher employability and higher earnings; moreover, education is associated with positive, faster and more volatile earnings growth, while for those experiencing a downward trend education does not appear to play any role. However, no clear-cut changes across cohorts in the association between the various outcomes and the level of education emerge, thus signalling that no continuous rise of skill premia in the first phase of the working career across cohorts characterises the Italian economy.

The main originality consists in investigating the early career stage by cohort and by the level of education with a focus on many multi-year individual outcomes. Besides investigating the evolution of aggregate outcomes for differently educated individuals born in different cohorts, the authors also focus on individual earnings dynamics along the five years after the education completion.

Trade fairs have crucial socio-economic, cultural and political impacts. This paper aims to explore these multi-faceted effects at the local level from a citizens' perspective.

The economic, social, environmental and socio-cultural effects of trade fair activity are studied by employing the case study of Thessaloniki International Fair. These impacts are examined based on the views of people in the local community of the host area, conducting a fieldwork survey with questionnaires.

The analysis, based on descriptive statistics, factor analysis and induction statistics, indicates that the economic, environmental and socio-cultural effects of trade fair activity on the city are largely viewed positively by residents of Thessaloniki. Differences in representations of fair's impacts are evident in what specific groups, according to age, educational level and occupation, expect from trade fair activity.

While fairs' effects have been examined by studies in economics, sociology and politics, providing useful insights about the inter-linkages between trade fairs and host cities, they tend to pay little attention to citizens' perceptions on fairs' socio-economic implications. This paper enriches the literature on trade fairs' effects by adopting a citizens' perspective, being among the first studies to focus on representations, perceptions and views of residents of the host city to examine fairs' socio-economic implications.

A five category self-reported health indicator together with the self-reported prevalence of diabetes and heart disease for older Canadians, are examined using data from five cohorts of men and women from the 2001 Canadian Community Health Survey. Consistent with other studies we find that smoking and dietary behaviors are highly correlated with general self-reported health, diabetes, and heart disease. Individual standardized weight, the body mass index, was negatively associated with health outcomes for all age groups, but became less important with age as socioeconomic variables became more important. Socioeconomic variables explained more of the variation in health outcomes than the combined effects of tobacco use and excessive weight problems. In addition, there is compelling evidence that obesity could overtake smoking as the leading cause of health problems in Canada.

The aim of the chapter is to investigate the changing structural position of post-secondary schools in Poland, seen from the perspective of the expansion of higher education from one side and the current reform of vocational education from the other. Do post-secondary schools enhance opportunities for those who might not otherwise consider further education, especially when we consider lower cost, open admissions and greater accessibility in comparison with higher education institutions? Or do they play a role of a ‘discounted’ and ‘undervalued’ education for those who could not manage to enter three-year-bachelor cycles in tertiary education and thus were forced to lower their initial educational aspirations? The opening up of higher education to new student populations was done by the rapid expansion of the private (paid for) sector and the fee-paying courses in the public sector. Liberal educational policy not only opened an opportunity for the privatization in higher education, but also expanded the market-driven provision at the post-secondary level. The discussion on the relevance of post-secondary vocational qualifications must be seen within the context of the continual inflation of diplomas/degrees and the unemployment of graduates after finishing higher education. Since 2010, there has been a reverse process initiated at the governmental level in Poland: reform schemes to increase the participation of young people in vocational education and training. However, the structural position and functions of post-secondary schools, as well as their role in the employability of young people, are not subject to any open discussion at the political level. This sort of status quo concerning post-secondary institutions means that their institutional identity issues are resolved and their structural position defined predominantly by market forces.

The purpose of this paper is to examine Graduate Certificates in colleges in Ontario, Canada, and their distinctive ability to generate intrinsic student engagement in specialized skills development, and a culture of progression and scholarship.

This is a review of selected literature on student engagement. While extrinsic motivation, such as employment, has most often been discussed this paper purposefully considers intrinsic motivation and factors that build deeper engagement in students. This paper compares and contrasts the literature, and its link with the features of the Ontario College Graduate Certificate in Canada. More specifically, it examines the background and development of the credential in the context of the movement towards competency-based education.

This paper postulates that colleges can uniquely provide applied and intrinsically engaging programming through credentials like the Graduate Certificate. The Graduate Certificate helps heighten graduate skills engagement, a culture of progression and scholarship, and ultimately competitiveness in today’s workplace.

The findings of this paper have implications for colleges to distinguish themselves amongst post-secondary institutions as providers of specialized skills development in higher education, especially as competency-based education grows in importance. It also puts in to question how this type of engaging design can be further built in to post-secondary graduate curriculum.

This paper illuminates innovative practice at the post-graduate level, as an example of a skills-based scholarly activity. It helps position colleges as providers of effective, competency and outcomes-based higher education. This paper can add value to practitioners looking to build similar programming, by combining this Graduate Certificate design with evidence-based factors that build student engagement, particularly intrinsic motivation.

The Government of Canada is adopting the pedagogical practice of Work Integrated Learning (WIL) to help youth develop the career ready skills needed to transition from school to work. As a result, colleges and universities are receiving funding to grow academic programs that link theoretical learning with practical work experience. However, there is limited research about the resources available to students with disabilities who engage in WIL. From an environmental scan of disability supports for WIL on 55 Canadian post-secondary institutions’ websites and survey results from WIL professionals we ask: Do post-secondary institutions in Canada help students with disabilities become career ready? The data reveals that 40% of schools have no reference to disability services for any career related activities and only 18% refer to disability supports for WIL. Survey respondents report they are not being trained nor have access to resources to support students with disabilities in WIL. The authors therefore recommend changes to public policy and resource allocation to ensure colleges and universities provide disability services for all WIL programs, train practitioners about career related disability management, and hire professionals who specialize in supporting students with disabilities in WIL.

The authors conducted an environmental scan of 55 Canadian post-secondary schools with a student population of 10,000 or more and identified services and resources publicly advertised online for students with disabilities in relation to employment and/or WIL activities. From this broad search, codes were developed based on general themes found in the recorded information, such as the location of information and the type of resources and services advertised for students with disabilities. During the environmental scan, the authors also collected names and emails of people listed as working in career and/or WIL departments who received an anonymous survey about their experiences working with students with disabilities.

As the Government of Canada expands WIL to improve labour market outcomes for youth, the research findings of the authors provide valuable evidence that post-secondary institutions are not supporting youth with disabilities to become career ready. Surprisingly, 40% of post-secondary institutions have no reference to disability supports for career related activities and only 18% reference supports available for engaging in WIL on their websites. In addition, WIL practitioners are not receiving the resources nor training to support this demographic to transition from school to work. This research can provide direction on resource allocation; specifically, the need for disability related supports and dedicated professionals for students who engage in WIL programs in higher education.

A limitation of the methodology in scanning public sites is that universities and colleges could have services or supports advertised on sites that can only be viewed by the faculty, staff and students from that school. Thus, it is possible that employment information for students with disabilities is available for those with login privileges. The authors attempted to mitigate this limitation by collecting survey responses about programs and services from WIL practitioners who work at the schools. The authors also did not measure marketing of services on social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Instagram). Another limitation is that the WIL practitioner survey results are based on their perceptions. The sample size was not randomized, nor can the authors confirm it is a representative sample of all WIL practitioners in Canada.

As countries continue to grapple with how to deal with the intersectionality of disability on an already disadvantaged demographic in the labour market, they must ensure that students with disabilities have access to career ready activities while in school. The authors therefore recommend public policy and resource allocation, not only in Canada but at a global level, that ensures post-secondary institutions: (1) create disability management programs and resources for all WIL and career activities; (2) hire dedicated professionals who specialize in working with students with disabilities in WIL; and (3) provide mandatory training for WIL practitioners on how to support students with disabilities in programs that develop their career ready skills.

Preparing students with disabilities to be career ready when they graduate will benefit the Canadian economy. This wasted human capital not only negatively impacts a labour market with an aging demographic, it affects social service programs as Canadians with disabilities are one-third times more likely to live in poverty compared to Canadians without disabilities (Canadian Survey on Disability, 2017). The G20 report also stated that if employment rates for people with disabilities who are able to work were the same as for people without disabilities, economies around the world could increase their GDP by 3–7% (ILO and OECD, 2018).

There is no research in Canada to date that provides a national overview of the services in higher education advertised to support students with disabilities in WIL.

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.

The authors use a quantile analysis to measure the effects of soft skills on income.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The purpose of this foresight editorial is to explore the changing nature of the traditional post‐secondary institution under increased pressure at the intersection of expanding demand for access and the maturation of the internet to allow international delivery to meet this demand.

This is an opinion piece.

The cost of basic knowledge assets, with the rise of “big data” and the internet, are asymptotically approaching zero, questioning why the increasing demand for access cannot be met at lower cost at the gates of the “Ivory Tower”. This is and will continue to have increased impact on how basic baccalaureate knowledge is delivered and certified

The “bar” for job entrance has been raised beyond the secondary school diploma. At the same time, the removal of bottlenecks for post‐secondary certification, internationally, will change the nature of employment of graduates and also the entire infrastructure of the bachelor‐level institutional programs.

This is a contrarian foresight essay designed to provoke discussion at the systems level of education in general and post‐secondary programs in particular.

This article aims to present a synopsis of inertially‐driven future demographic, economic and technologic realities that will predictably alter the marketplace operating environment for post‐secondary education during the next 10 to 15 years. The article also seeks to explore a detailed scenario speculating on multiple implications for the university as it simultaneously confronts all of the predictably changing elements of its operating environment.

A convergence of published long‐term demographic, economic and technologic trends and forecasts is examined that has begun to produce structural and operational changes throughout the business world, setting in motion five fundamental transformations in the context of all enterprises: the globalization of the economy; the information of work; the disaggregation of organizations; the maturation of the workforce; and the reconfiguration of employment. The practical implications of these long‐term realities for industrial era universities are described, and a scenario for the future evolution of the “post‐industrial university” is presented, modeled on – and in consonance with – transformations already under way throughout corporate enterprise.

Reliably forecastable aspects of the University's operating environment, including a shortage of qualified faculty, stagnant personal income and baccalaureate markets, mounting competition from for‐profit schools and an explosion in new applied knowledge in every field and discipline are likely to coerce innovation and change in higher education in spite of institutional intransigence, necessity being the mother of invention.

A scenario based on multiple statistically valid forecasts does not constitute an infallible prediction of the future, but it does present decision makers and strategic planners with sound benchmarks for the pace and scale of change that may reasonably be expected, as well as raising issues and posing options that routine linear extrapolations are unlikely to have revealed.