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Modern educational environment in the system of vocational education focuses on the requirements of labour market and those of employers to the content of graduates’ professional competencies. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to develop practical guidance on the arrangement of cooperation between labour market and regional vocational education system.

Participative approach allowed considering the cooperation between labour market and regional system of vocational education as the process aimed at creating management tools for formation, use, development of human resources. The research involved 300 teachers, 400 students, 100 employers, who found out the effectiveness criteria for the cooperation between labour market and vocational education system.

The findings reveal national models characteristics and universal tools for cooperation between vocational education institutions and enterprise. National models characteristics allow identifying the most advantageous cooperation tools; comparing suggested tools with the experience of others and thereby assessing their relevance and implementation risks.

The research results allow us to plan strategies for further studies of this problem, which are related to the development of models for cooperation between labour market and vocational education system.

The identification of universal tools for cooperation between vocational education institutions and enterprise promotes the integration of national vocational education systems into national educational space. The materials of the paper can be useful for university leaders and professors; employees of centres for professional advancement and retraining in selecting and structuring the content of academic and teaching staff’s advanced training.

The revealed criteria contribute to vocational education programmes integration, connection between professional and educational standards, students’ professional identity.

The effectiveness of the cooperation between labour market and vocational education system will be improved by studying national models and identifying the most advantageous cooperation tools (modular training, voluntary social/ecological year, educational resources integration, state and public management, clustering vocational education institutions and industry companies). This will allow comparing the suggested tools for collaboration between labour market and vocational education system with the experience of others and thereby assess their relevance and implementation risks. Improving the cooperation between labour market and vocational education system will be successful provided that universal tools for cooperation (socio-economic, educational, practical, innovative and technological) are identified, which promotes the integration of national vocational education systems into national educational space. The effectiveness of cooperation between labour market and vocational education system will increase on condition of criterion assessment (clustering, subjectivity, transdisciplinarity), promoting vocational education programmes integration, connection between professional and educational standards, students’ professional identity, students’ engagement in the development and implementation of research and production projects, stepped formation of professional competencies.

Vocational and technical training have long been critical elements of skill development. An emerging realisation is that such training js an integral element of economic development of a nation, a region, a city, or a local community. In manpower terms, vocational‐technical training is the means for developing a competitive workforce that is continuously being restocked by renewing its skills and readying new entrants for competitive employment.

Educational mismatches constitute negative impacts on labor markets in most countries, Thailand is no exception. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the degree of educational mismatch in Thailand and its impacts on labor market outcomes.

This study analyzes data obtained from Thailand’s Labor Force Survey to estimate the likelihood of horizontal and vertical mismatches and their impacts on labor market outcomes.

Estimation results reveal the existence of a high level of both vertical and horizontal mismatches in the labor market. The vertical mismatch tends to be most prevalent in the case of graduates with degrees in the social sciences, while the existence of the horizontal mismatch is mostly found in the case of graduates with backgrounds in the physical sciences. Samples with a degree in health science seem to be least impacted by both types of mismatch. Education-job mismatches, either vertical or horizontal mismatches, are found to cause negative impacts on workers’ employment. Findings indicate that workers who encountered either horizontal or vertical educational mismatches tended to have lower monthly incomes than did those without such mismatches. Vertical mismatches seemed to result in lower incomes than did the horizontal mismatches. Furthermore, both types of mismatch are found to not have any significant impact on workers’ employability.

Nevertheless, due to different types of mismatches such as skill mismatch or personality mismatch, this paper only quantifies degree mismatch on the context of Thailand only. Nevertheless, different structure of labor market can show different findings.

Both horizontal mismatch and vertical mismatch can be mitigated with strong collaboration system between colleges/universities and employers. Therefore, the government should further promote better cooperation between universities and the private sector (industry-university linkages) by encouraging more exchanges between high-level executives and students of the private sector and higher-education institutes. More opportunities for students to practice their skills in real workplace settings should be provided, and students should also be able to gain credits from participating in such training. In Thailand, at present there are only a few degree programs that require students to complete an internship.

As for social policy recommendations, to reduce both horizontal and vertical mismatches in practices, it is essential that the education sector promote a life-long learning framework that allows workers whose jobs do not match their educational background (or with their educational attainment) to receive the training and develop the skills required by employers.

Comparing to other literature in these areas in which survey data from the authors are relied, this paper, however, uses the Thai Labor Force Survey, which is the national representative sample data set. The results found from this paper are therefore useful to be reliable on implying appropriated policy recommendations.

The purpose of this paper is to view the actual problems of the Russian system of higher education: lack of connection between labor market and market of educational services, decline in the quality of higher education in the country, reduction of intellectual potential of the youth, commercialization of higher education, etc.

The author offers approaches to complex evaluation of university education from the positions of social and economic effectiveness on the basis of the matrix of criteria; modern tendencies and perspectives of the development of educational environment are determined, as well as factors facilitating the achievement of the maximum effectiveness of educational activities in Russian universities.

The author offers her own vision of the main determinants of the growth of the effectiveness of university education within the framework of Russia’s integration into the global educational space.

The paper views the actual problems of the Russian system of higher education: lack of connection between labor market and market of educational services, decline in the quality of higher education in the country, reduction of intellectual potential of the youth, commercialization of higher education, etc.

Employability has been the focus of much activity at both research and policy levels within higher education. Initially focused primarily on undergraduate students, in the past few years this area has broadened to include the employability of doctoral candidates discussed within a larger debate on development of researchers. Despite a strong focus on this aspect of researcher development, discourse in this area still lacks evidence of the views of postgraduate researchers themselves on the issues of employability. In an attempt to address this gap, this paper seeks to explore the perceptions of social science doctoral candidates on a range of employability‐related issues.

Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 15 full‐time doctoral candidates in different social science disciplines at a single UK university.

The paper presents the views of social science doctoral candidates on three aspects of employability: the concept of employability and its meaning for doctoral candidates; the way they perceive their own employability skills, knowledge and attitudes; and their awareness of labour market requirements. The study highlights the importance of original motivations, goals and expectations of doctoral candidates related to doing a PhD degree with their perceptions of employability and the skills, knowledge and attitudes they expect to develop.

The current paper helps to shed light on the ways doctoral candidates perceive employability and identify the gaps in their awareness of the skills, knowledge and attributes required by the labour market. Addressing an important aspect of doctoral education related to development of employability, the paper argues that in order for the researcher development initiatives to be successful there is a need to account for the role of “personal”, namely motivations, intentions and views of the participants of the learning process.

Global participation in higher education has expanded greatly since the late twentieth century. The implications for the cultural, social, and economic fabric of societies have been substantial. To explain transitions from elite to mass higher education systems, theoretical insights from Technical-functionalism, Neo-institutionalism, World Academic System, and Credentialism perspectives have been put forward. It is the contention of this paper that there are emerging and complementary factors driving steadily growing participation in “high-income” universal higher education systems. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

With reference to Ulrich Beck’s concept of the “risk society”, it is discussed how higher education participation is increasingly a response by young people (and their families) seeking to mitigate heightened instability in work and employment under a “risk regime”. Publicly available data from national and supra-national organisations are used to evidence trends and support the arguments put forward by this paper.

Participation is perceived as quasi-compulsory to “survive” amid concern that those without higher education attainment are being “left behind” in modern labour markets. This environment has contributed to more students from more diverse backgrounds viewing higher education as the only viable option to secure a livelihood regardless of rising private costs of participation and rising uncertainty over graduate employment outcomes. The expansion of higher education has therefore potentially developed a self-perpetuating dynamic as the perceived cost of non-participation escalates.

It is shown that to better understand higher education participation in “high-income” countries with universal higher education systems, one needs to consider the conceptual idea of “survivalism”, that underlines risk and the vulnerabilities of modern societies.

The strategy of an active labour market policy (ALMP) is popular, but its content is still far from clear. With this historical and contextual analysis, the author aims to capture the strategy’s core content. Development of the strategy has been full of paradoxes. However, the goal of improving the functioning of the labour market so as to promote full employment without accelerating inflation has remained, as have the central attributes of ALMP, its selectivity and supply‐side measures. Labour market circumstances have changed significantly since the creation of the strategy and many of its premises have been questioned. Although the strategy has been vital, it is today once again in crisis. However, encouraging employment development in some European countries shows that an active labour market policy can play an important role together with economic policy and the policy of the social partners.

This paper aims to explore structural and systemic influences in the development of competence models and qualifications systems at sectoral and national levels across Europe, considering the influences of different socio‐economic models of skill formation on the processes of design and provision of qualifications.

The paper is based on a meta analysis of three European projects that used literature review, documentary analysis and interviews with practitioners and policy makers.

The main methodological and practical challenges posed by varieties of competence and qualifications to inter‐country comparability of qualifications are shown to be related to different socio‐economic models of skill formation.

The research is limited to 13 countries and four sectors but these were carefully selected to maximise coverage of European diversity with respect to competence models, training regimes and approaches to qualifications. There is clearly a need for further research involving more countries and sectors.

The paper offers recommendations for improving the potential of the European Qualifications Framework to promote comparability of qualifications and hence mobility of labour. These recommendations will be of interest to policy makers and practitioners involved in using the EQF and similar instruments.

This is the first systematic attempt to explore the methodological and practical difficulties of establishing comparability between qualifications.

Achievement of objectives of education and training is one of significant factors influencing quality of life. Higher education institutions use different work, teaching methods and tools; however they are inadequate in many cases. Today higher education institutions have problems concerning sustention and rise of certain level of education by giving the job for graduates, using of new technologies that help to present, manage, evaluate and control knowledge. The main objectives of quality management system (QMS) at higher education institutions are as follow: to assure continuous improvement of education quality; to demonstrate performance results and relevant facts to the interested parties (customers of college or university, social partners, administrative institutions) showing the abilities of education institution to prepare high qualification specialists that fully correspond to changing requirements of labour market. The QMS at education institutions should be designed as continuous process, considering that the quality of final product is the result achieved in primary processes. The process shall involve all interested parties. Parameters and indicators of education quality can help to analyze the efficiency and effectiveness of existing QMS. The results of quality audits should be also taken into account when designing and implementing QMS at organization. Literature review showed that for the assurance of education quality three different approaches prevail: total quality management (TQM); requirements of quality awards and assessment models; and QMS corresponding to the requirements of ISO 9001 standard. The case study of QMS design and implementation at Vilnius Law and Business College is presented in the paper. The peculiarities, difficulties and obstacles of QMS implementation in the higher educations institutions are analysed in more detail in this article.

The study aims to assess the relationship between cultural capital, human capital, psychological capital, social capital and perceived employability of management graduates.

The data was analysed through variance based partial least square (PLS) structural equation modelling on 505 management students by an online questionnaire. The predictive relevance of perceived employability was investigated with PLS predict approach. Further, importance-performance map analysis (IPMA) was applied to assess important and performing dimensions of perceived employability.

The results indicate that social capital was found to be the strongest predictor of graduates' perceived employability. The proposed conceptual model was found to have a moderate to high predictive relevance. IPMA results suggested that investment in psychological capital leads to higher return in perceived employability of management graduates.

Data was collected using purposive sampling and confined to university students only.

Findings of the study provide empirical inferences in support of human capital, social capital and social cognitive theory. Practical implications offer important inputs to policy makers, higher educational institutes, career counsellors and universities.

This study provides novel inputs by a comprehensive model of graduate capital to determine and predict perceived employability of graduates in emerging economy like India.