Graduate employability, 'soft skills' versus 'hard' business knowledge: a European study

Jane Andrews

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

There is a growing awareness in the UK and mainland Europe of the importance of higher education to the development of a knowledge-based economy. European universities are increasingly required to produce highly mobile graduates able to respond to the ever-changing needs of the contemporary workplace. Following the Bologna Declaration (19991. 19 June 1999 . “The European Higher Education Area” (Bologna Declaration), Joint Declaration of the European Ministers of Education, Bologna, higher education across Europe has expanded rapidly. This has resulted in questions being raised about the quality of the graduate labour market and the ability of graduates to meet the needs of employers. This paper analyses graduate and employer perspectives of graduate employability in four European countries (UK, Austria, Slovenia and Romania). In doing so it adds to current debates in this area.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)411-422
Number of pages12
JournalHigher Education in Europe
Volume33
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2008

Keywords

  • UK
  • Europe
  • higher education
  • development
  • knowledge‐based economy
  • European universities
  • mobile graduates
  • contemporary workplace

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