The Future of Graduate Employment and Work and the Implications for Higher Education

1. The Future of Graduate Employment and Work and the Implications for Higher Education Contribution to the OECD/France International Conference “Higher Education to 2030: What Futures for Quality Accessin the Era of Globalisation?” Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers Paris, 8 – 9 December 2008 Ulrich Teichler International Centre for Higher Education Research Kassel INCHER-KASSELUniversity of Kassel, 34109 KasselGermanyTel. ++49-561-804 2415Fax ++49-561-804 7415 E-mail: teichler@incher-uni-kassel.de

2. The Educational Functionsof Higher Education • To transmit understanding of academic theories, methods and knowledge • Cultural enhancement and personality development • Preparing students for future work by conveying the “tools” and “rules” of conventional professional work • Prepare students to call into question the established “rules” and “tools” of professional work: to be sceptical and critical, to handle indeterminate work tasks, to strive for innovation

3. Higher Education Needs Knowledge on Graduates’ • Employment • Work • Knowledge utilisation as a feed-back in order to reflect the consequences of one of its core activities, i.e. those of knowledge transmission, in the domain of curricula, teaching and learning. This holds true irrespective of the extent to which the higher education systems as a whole, certain types of institutions, types of study programmes or fields or study have a • “vocational”/“professional” or • “academic” emphasis.

4. Growing Public Interest The public interest in the employment and work outcome of higher education has grown over the years in Europe as a consequence of • higher education expansion, because the expanding lower level programmes and graduates are expected in most European countries to be more directly prepared for the world of work (cf. in the Bologna Process the “employability debate” and the concern about the professional relevance of university bachelor) • growing utilitarian expectationsharboured with research to higher education (cf. in the Lisbon Process the call to make Europe the “most competitive economy” with the help of knowledge enhancement) • increasing pressures to provide evidence about proper processes and desirable outcomes (cf. the popularity of terms and measures such as “evaluation”, “accreditation”, “accountability” or “evidence-based policy”).

5. Two Major Ambivalences in the Worldwide Debates on Higher Education and the World of Work The quantitative ambivalence: • On the one hand: Expansion of higher education is beneficial for economic growth • On the other hand: “Over-education” (employment problems faced by graduates) The functional ambivalence: • On the one hand: Call for professional relevance of study programmes and study or for “employability” • On the other hand: Concerns about too little emphasis on academic learning, general education, and benefits beyond the labour market, about sub-ordination on current employers’ and neglect of critical function as well as of preparation for indeterminate work tasks and of innovation in general

6. Higher Education has to Look Forward for About 40 Years • Curricular innovation might need five years • Period of study might last five years • Graduates will be employed for about 30 years on average Potentials and Limitations of Long Term Strategies

7. Options of Higher Education vis-à-vis Long-Term Developments of Graduate Employment and Work • Quantitative: HE expansion and graduate employment • Structures: Diversity of HE systems and the composition of graduate employment and work • Functions: Increasing life-long learning/continuing professional education • Curricula I: Competences and job requirements • Curricula II: Preparation for labour market dynamics and uncertainties • Curricula III: Assumption of international convergence or persistence of differences between countries • Curricula IV: Internationalisation

8. Quantitative Options for Higher Education • OECD 1997 (Reconsidering Tertiary Education): Trend towards universal tertiary education • Growing relevance of tertiary education for associate professionals • “Over-education” or growing relevance for middle-level occupations?

9. Low Level of Over-education in Europe 2005 Occupation (ISCO88) by Type of Study Programme Source: REFLEX 2005; INCHER-Kassel

10. Low Level of Over-education in EuropeAppropriate Level of Education is Below Tertiary Education – (4-5 Years After Graduation; %) Source: CHEERS 1999 and REFLEX 2005; INCHER-Kassel

11. Structural Options of Higher Education Options • Types of institutions and programmes • Intra-institutional diversity or inter-institutional diversity in HE • Flat or steep “vertical” quality/reputation differences Issues • Types of “theoretical” vs. “applied” occupations? • Bachelor-/master-structure: intra-institutional diversity in some but not in all countries? • Are we moving towards an “elite knowledge society” or towards a “mass knowledge society”? • Tensions between “vertical” and “horizontal” diversity

12. Major Curricular Options Alternatives • Academic vs. professional fields of study • Academic reflections vs. reflections of the tensions between academic and professional problem-solving • “Theoretical” vs. applied approach • Specific vs. general Key issues • Do long-term views call for general education? • Do the country distinctions between professional vs. general emphasis disappear or continue?

13. Major Terms and Concepts of Competences Other Than Specific Knowledge(“Employability Skills”, “Key Skills” etc.) • Transfer of (academic) knowledge to professional work assignments (“problem-solving activities”) • Development of typical working styles (e.g. working under pressure, working independently without clear assignments) • Development of typical working values (“loyality”, “achievement orientation”) • Social skills (“leadership”, “team work”, etc.) • Supplementary knowledge (foreign languages, ICT, organisational knowledge, etc.) • Context awareness (“adaptation”, “reflection”, “risk tasking”, etc.) • Learning to manage one’s own career

14. Stability of Work Requirements:1999 – 2005 (arithm. mean) Source: CHEERS 1999 and REFLEX 2005; INCHER-Kassel

15. Possible Curricular Consequences • Strengthen disciplinary and professional knowledge • Strengthen knowledge transfer (“problem-solving abilities”) • Strengthen independent learning, reflection and critical thinking • Strengthen experiential learning (project, work experience in dialogue with the university, temporary study abroad, etc.) • Strengthen generic skills (general education!) • Strengthen personality development

16. Work Experience During the Course of Study(% of persons graduating in 1995) Source: REFLEX Survey

17. Relevance for Employers’ Decision to Recruit Graduates as Perceived by 1995 Graduates (%) Source: CHEERS Survey

18. Internationalisation • Employment of graduates abroad: less than 5 percent from OECD countries? • Sent abroad by employers: more than5 percent? • Study abroad at least temporarily: more than 10 percent? • What do we expect in the future?

19. The World of Work and the Responsibilities of the University • The subordinated university • The “ivory tower” autonomous university • The knowledgeable, reflective university • The pro-active university