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The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the status of recent Korean four-year college students’ acquisition of vocational qualification certificates (hereinafter “certificates” or “qualifications”), the factors that influence certificate acquisition, and the resulting employment and wage effects.

Regression analysis was conducted on the data from the Graduates Occupational Mobility Survey.

The results showed that females and medicine and education majors had higher rates of vocational qualifications, as did the students in provincial as compared to metropolitan areas and students with high grades. In terms of effects on labor market outcomes, vocational qualifications exert a moderate degree of positive influence on employment rate, wage at the time of initial employment, and current wage (i.e. there is a persistent wage effect).

This study will provide policy implications to decrease youth unemployment in Korea and worldwide as well as to build employment services supporting the acquisition of vocational qualifications across various disciplines.

This paper examines the development of an antecedent model of social partnership, the social “accord” employed by the Labor Government in Australia during the period 1983‐1996. The specific focus of the paper is upon the implementation of the Training Reform Agenda (TRA) in Australian manufacturing. The TRA was designed to provide for the upskilling of existing employees and the enhanced vocational preparation of new employees. This was a joint objective of government, business and union policy and one designed to encourage the growth of high‐wage, high‐skill industries. The achievement of this objective was, however, limited. Social partnership, in the case of the TRA, proved to be a way of legitimating a work change process which delivered greater gains to employers than it did to unions and employees. The partnerships formed under the aegis of the TRA had a limited lifespan and represented a contingent form of relationship between the partners, rather than a seachange in relations.

Many students do not benefit from mainstream education and are forced to leave it. Governments and non‐government organisations concerned with the social injustice and problems that such rejection could cause offer these students second‐chance education programmes. This paper aims to examine the effectiveness of such opportunities, using as a case‐study the Vocational Training Council (VTC) of Hong Kong, which offers programmes in vocational education and training (VET) but draws lessons for the offer of such programmes elsewhere.

The study uses a case‐study approach but sets it within the general literature on, and discussion of, second‐chance education. It concentrates on programmes that prepare students for the younger end of the labour market.

The VTC is effective because its programmes are easily accessible and have excellent student progression rates. Its graduates from lower‐level progammes perform as well as those with better academic backgrounds from other institutions in the VTC's higher‐level programmes, and also as well in the labour market. Reasons for this success include course design and implementation that avoid much of what put the young off mainstream education, the provision of a caring environment, the removal of the stigma attached to second‐chance education and VET, and the provision of a through‐train education system.

In assessing the effectiveness of the VTC, most attention is placed on the criteria where reliable data are available. This means that less evidence is presented on employment performance, a gap that will be filled by future research.

The findings enable policy makers in Hong Kong and elsewhere to improve the effectiveness of their second‐chance education.

The paper examines an unexplored area of education in Hong Kong, using a methodology that is applicable for similar studies elsewhere.

This article contains brief descriptive notes and observations on a number of recent developments which affect the relationships between education and engineering training. The first part is devoted to developments in education and the second to developments in training.

This study sets out to investigate the pattern of benefits from education along the earnings distribution and compares this pattern between general and vocational/technical education in Singapore, with a particular focus on male‐female differences.

Quantile regression methodology is used, which allows for estimates of education benefits that differentiate the contribution of the quantity and quality of education along the earnings distribution. The quantile regression estimates highlight where in the income/ability distribution the impact of education is more pronounced.

Finds that, while the pattern of returns to an additional year of education for general education follows that of other high income countries, exhibiting increasing returns to education as one goes from lower to higher income quantiles, the returns to vocational education exhibit much lower heterogeneity. Based on the findings, the vocational education system in Singapore has served women with secondary vocational qualifications particularly well. They earn more, have higher labor force participation, experience higher employment rates and are associated with a narrower gender earnings gap compared with women with general education. However, this is not the case for women with polytechnic qualifications, who earn much less than men with such qualifications.

The findings suggest that, by and large, Singapore's vocational education system at the secondary level has successfully addressed the needs of the industry and has contributed towards narrowing gender earnings differentials. It has also contributed towards less overall earnings inequality, because it results in less heterogeneity in the returns to education, compared with general education. However, the curricula of polytechnics need to be re‐examined to identify the cause of the sharply lower female benefits from this type of education.

The paper contributes to the empirical literature with its use of the quantile regression methodology in evaluating the benefits of vocational versus general education for men and women.

Inability to pay for studies was mentioned by almost half the people questioned in an Open University sample survey as to the reasons why they turned down a place with the OU this year. Of the 1,500 people questioned, half would have chosen degree studies while the other half would have opted to sign on for a single ten‐month course as an Associate Student Similar surveys have been carried out among undergraduate applicants intermittently between 1974 and 1985. In 1982 there was a sharp rise in numbers giving money as a reason for declining a place, from 32 to 46 per cent. Other reasons why people turn down a place include ill‐health, moving house, family changes, increased work responsibilities, and unemployment. Financial assistance with fees is available to students on a means‐tested basis, and a special ear‐marked fund totalling £600,000 is also available to help the unemployed study at nominal cost. Fees can be paid by instalments; and many OU students are sponsored, in whole or part, by local education authorities or by their employers — particularly where studies relate to their work.

The purpose of this study is to determine the undergraduate students' performance in the Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya and the factors influencing the performance of the undergraduate students.

The performance of the undergraduate students in this study is measured by their cumulative grade point average (CGPA) in the final semester. In this study, the students' demographic profile, entry qualifications and the subjects taken by the students in pre‐university level are used as the predictor variable for the students' performance in the degree programme.

The result of the study shows that the predictor variables do explain the variance in the students' final CGPA. In addition, it was found that knowledge prior to entering the university such as economics, mathematics and accounting is crucial in assisting the students in undertaking the courses in both business and accounting programme. The study also found that female students perform better than male students; whilst Chinese students perform better than Malay and Indian students.

The implications of this study for the academics in universities and schools are also discussed in the paper. This paper, however, does not look into variables other than students' past performance prior to entering the university that may have an influence over the students' performance in the university. Hence, this aspect may be examined in future researches.

This paper will be useful to the academic communities, the public and other interested parties who are interested in improving students' performance during their periods of study in the universities.

In this chapter, Turkish educational system and institutional quality assessment initiatives of education are explained. And also, the relationship between educational quality assurance (QA) in Turkey and issues of effective schooling is summarised in terms of Turkish literature.

Education is widely accepted as a lifelong process. The school is an institution established in order to provide qualified education which contains complex and more abstract knowledge and ideas as well as literacy and simple numerical skills to the students. Each country has basically established education systems and educational institutions to ensure social integration, continuity and stability, and to sustain the social and cultural heritage of a society. Education in Turkey is one of the state’s basic functions according to the constitution and performed under the supervision and control of the state with the declaration of the Republic of Turkey. Ministry of National Education is responsible for the implementation of all education activities centrally managed in the Republic of Turkey. Higher Education Council (YÖK) is responsible for the management and thus the quality processes of the higher education institutions in Turkey. Two major attempts in this perspective are YÖK, which assesses the institutions with standards which are coherent with international accreditation institutions, and Higher Education Quality Council (YÖKAK), an independent and specific council which is established by YÖK. YÖK and YÖKAK are governmental-based quality-assessment institutions. Association for Evaluation and Accreditation of Teacher Colleges’ Educational Programs (EPDAD) is also an independent institution for quality assessment of education faculties which focusses on teacher training and education. The purpose of EPDAD is to strengthen the student learning in formal training and to ensure the quality standards for candidate teachers. Any undergraduate programme which meets the standards of EPDAD is accredited for three years. Standards of EPDAD are detailed in this chapter.

Reports on the results of a survey with training officers addressing education training needs of Australia’s Adult and Community Education sector. The responses show that training officers believe that this sector is rapidly growing, is important to the economic wellbeing of Australia and will benefit from course provision at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Discusses issues of course content and delivery, stressing the need for maximum flexibility in modes of study, etc.

The national priorities for action in adult learning are reviewed. A new structure of vocational qualifications is being established and there is major development in open and distance learning. High priority should be given to the development of leaders and managers, and those with technological qualifications. There is a need for more commitment to training from employers, trade unions and individuals.