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Introduction: Work-based learning (WBL) bridges the gap between academic theory and exposure to real-life situations where students’ knowledge is filtered and applied to relevant workplace environments.

Purpose: This study aims to examine students’ and employers’ voices on their perspectives of WBL. It focuses on students reading for an undergraduate degree in Bachelor’s in Commerce in two majors, with a specialisation in Public Policy at the University of Malta.

Methodology: Questionnaires were sent to students to obtain their views on the experience and benefits of WBL. This was followed by structured interviews conducted with employers and undergraduate students to provide an overview of their respective work-based experiences. WBL providers were asked to draw up reports on the students’ performance. The feedback which emerged from the structured interviews on the nature of these experiences was analysed. These tools helped to calibrate and refine the nature of these practices.

Findings: The study’s findings show that WBL experiences help students increase technical knowledge, improve their soft skills, and learn new tools, sought after by employers. Feedback emanating from employers’ perspectives serves to temper the University course curriculum to ensure that it is relevant to the requirements of modern-day society.

Students in full-time higher education are increasingly combining work with study. This can present challenges and conflicting priorities which may result in stress and compromised academic performance. However, working can also afford students a better quality of life and enhanced employability. The growth of student employment creates implications for universities and employers. In this chapter, we report the results of our research which explored experiences of students at a business school in a large UK university who were working while studying. We examine the experiences and perceived consequences of combining employment with full-time study and seek to understand why students work during their degree program, the challenges and benefits of balancing work and factors which may help and hinder their efforts. The chapter builds on the existing knowledge base about the effects working has on students’ academic performance and well-being, and considers how universities, employers and social circumstances may support students in managing their complex lives.

Increased emphasis on offering quality education underscores the need for developing a rigorous process for assessing academic programs in higher education. In this chapter, we develop a practical and rigorous framework for comprehensive assessment of academic programs. This framework generates in-depth communication between the academic departments and the university administration. It provides a useful tool for advancing the university mission, setting priorities, allocating resources, and identifying future areas of potential growth. This data-driven framework covers a wide range of qualitative and quantitative variables. To ensure a smooth and efficient implementation of the assessment process we present the critical stages in the development of a successful program assessment framework − from determining the assessment criteria, establishing the organizational climate, appointing the assessment committee, preparing program self-studies, to collecting and analyzing data. We present real examples from the author’s home institution to illustrate and support the reader’s understanding of the framework.

The study's objective was to address the factors impacting the employability attributes of fresh graduates in the Kingdom of Bahrain while considering the various challenges. This study used a quantitative approach which employed the questionnaire tool, and data were collected by using a convenience sampling method. The study sample comprised n = 385 respondents from different industries, including manufacturing, banking and finance, hospitality, healthcare, oil and gas, and real estate sectors of Bahrain. Data gathered from questionnaire were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), where descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze the data. The results of the study showed for the major Hypothesis 1 that the demographic variables have no significant statistical impact on employment attributes of the new fresh graduates. Moreover, findings suggest that null hypothesis for major Hypothesis 2 has been rejected as applied academic skills and critical thinking skills have no significant impact on employability attribute of fresh graduates in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Null hypothesis for major Hypothesis 3 has been accepted as findings suggest that technology use skills (β ₁ = 0.080), system thinking skills (β ₂ = 0.210), communication skills (β ₃ = 0.402), and information skills (β ₄ = −0.100) which are an antecedent of workplace skills, have significant statistical impact on employability attribute of fresh graduates in Kingdom of Bahrain. Lastly, null hypothesis for major Hypothesis 4 has been accepted as findings suggest that interpersonal skills (β ₅ = 0.229) which are an antecedent of effective relationship have significant statistical impact on employability attribute of fresh graduates in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Education to an international standard that can provide successful careers has arguably been the main drive of many parents to allocate scarce financial resources to the education of their progenies. Competition for high-calibre degrees has seen an explosion of opportunity in the private education sector. As many Global South countries do not have the equivalent control of standards provided in the United Kingdom (UK) by the Quality Assurance Agency, this can lead to dissatisfaction with the qualifications received in the Global South. This chapter aims to explore the factors influencing participation in higher education in the Global North versus the Global South, particularly where these relate to or vary by locality, and the relative influence these have on the propensity of the learners living in these areas to progress into higher education in local universities. The conceptual framework and methodology provided in this chapter show the differences between transnational education (TNE) as primarily a standalone or independent activity supported by a UK higher education institution (HEI)/provider versus being a collaborative effort between a UK host university and a South/Southeast Asian HEI university partner. The methodology provides a strategy for UK host institutions to best provide carefully aligned independent or collaborative partnerships with the partner country regulatory bodies. The chapter concludes with the author’s personal reflections and recommendations based on decades of collaborative and independent university provision of TNE. These reflections are focused on design-based courses in selected South/Southeast Asian HEI partnerships with the College of Architecture and Design at Birmingham City University.

In an ever-interconnected world dominated by discourses on the internationalization and marketization of higher education, concerns related to language and employability have been the focus of recent debates. There is, however, a dearth of research investigating how these dimensions relate to one another in recent comparative and international higher education research. By focusing on how issues related to language and employability have been presented in recent higher education research worldwide, this chapter aims to contribute to our understanding of this concern. To achieve this goal, we conducted a scoping literature review using the Web of Science, Scopus, and the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) databases, considering the years 2011–2020. The findings, perhaps not surprisingly, suggested that language skills are perceived to be valued by both graduates and employers though the discussions predominantly focused on one language, English. The research focus on English for employability in Anglophone contexts is understandable. However, the fact that the trend is observed in contexts where the language is not the primary or official language seems to indicate the influence of internationalization of higher education and global labor markets primarily dominated by English. The literature also suggested that (English) language training in higher education programs needs to move from solely linguistic and qualification-related content areas to a broader sphere of English for communication purposes that cover both specialized disciplinary content and broader generic employability skills. Considering this finding, we suggest that higher education systems and institutions incorporate recent developments in English for occupational purposes in their curriculum. We also recommend that there needs to be a shift from the overwhelmingly English language-dominated discussions to more inclusive research that assesses the impact of other dominant languages on employability-related concerns.

Collegiality is the modus operandi of universities. Collegiality is central to academic freedom and scientific quality. In this way, collegiality also contributes to the good functioning of universities’ contribution to society and democracy. In this concluding paper of the special issue on collegiality, we summarize the main findings and takeaways from our collective studies. We summarize the main challenges and contestations to collegiality and to universities, but also document lines of resistance, activation, and maintenance. We depict varieties of collegiality and conclude by emphasizing that future research needs to be based on an appreciation of this variation. We argue that it is essential to incorporate such a variation-sensitive perspective into discussions on academic freedom and scientific quality and highlight themes surfaced by the different studies that remain under-explored in extant literature: institutional trust, field-level studies of collegiality, and collegiality and communication. Finally, we offer some remarks on methodological and theoretical implications of this research and conclude by summarizing our research agenda in a list of themes.

Purpose: This chapter addresses the skills shortages in Kosovo’s labour market, emphasising the service sector. The labour market economy is very dynamic, and Kosovo, with the youngest population in Europe, also has the highest unemployment level among youths. Therefore, we aim to analyse the mismatches of the skills demand in the labour market.

Methodology: The scientific methods used in this chapter are quantitative methods applying analytical and critical approaches based on economic theory. In this chapter, we analysed secondary data from Labour Force Surveys (LFS) and official reports such as the World Bank and UNDP. We have also conducted primary research with the employees of SMEs in the service sector, with specifically related questionnaires for descriptive issues.

Findings: The logit model used in this research has shown goodness of fit and yielded significant results. Based on the empirical findings, we have found a need for some main soft skills such as communication skills, language skills, ICT skills, and additional training to help gain employability skills. These findings suggest that there is a need for more skills in the service sector, significantly impacting the employees’ job performance and the job seeker’s level of employability.

Significance: Noticeably, countries that are still in the transition process face inequalities in the labour market and have a very high level of unemployment. The findings can be used in analysing demand-side management of the labour market and mismatching of skills in transition economies by policy makers.

The communications industry faces a recruitment crisis. Despite the pivot to hybrid working and the ever-increasing number of young people opting to study the discipline, over half of recruiters in the public sector and three quarters of those recruiting for agencies struggle to fill vacancies. This chapter examines these trends from a radical feminist perspective, arguing the communications industry is squandering young, female talent by failing both new entrants and mothers returning to work after childbirth. This analysis is based on a series of surveys undertaken between 2020 and 2022 to examine the expectations and lived experience of women, and in particular communications students and mothers, working in or aspiring to work in the sector. Over 73% of the women surveyed had experienced gender-based discrimination and harassment, and 66% had been forced to choose between their careers and having a child. Of the young entrants to the profession surveyed, 88% believed becoming a mother would negatively impact their career, while 32% had experienced discrimination while undertaking their student placement. Analysis of these data indicates the sector faces a crisis of its own making by failing to provide a workplace culture worth working in. The chapter concludes only a direct challenge to male hegemony can redress the gender imbalance, free up talent to meet skills shortages and provide lasting change for women working in communications. It offers a series of recommendations for how professional bodies can address these issues and empower young women to achieve the career outcomes they deserve.

This study aims to analyze factors that influence the utilization of remittances by Indonesia Migrant Workers (TKI) and to analyze the role of stakeholders in the implementation of financial inclusion. This research used a mixed method, regression analysis, and Matrix of Alliances and Conflicts: Tactics, Objectives, and Recommendations (MACTOR). This study found that the factors that influence savings are training variables, education, and a dummy variable for widow status. The results when remittance as dependent show that the regional origin, dummy variable for receiving remittances, for training, and for determining the use of remittances by TKI themselves had an effect. The implementation of financial inclusion is needed in the economic development of TKI, and the main actors are migrant workers, assistants, economists, and Bapermas. Actors who have the potential for ambivalence are workers who do not participate in mentoring and do not join BUMDes.