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‘At the Frontier of Graduate Surveys’

Assessing participation and employability of graduates with master’s degree in nine European countries

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Abstract

Compared with the problems one encounters when trying to use ‘graduate employability’ as a measure of the quality of higher education, recognising how the definitions of ‘employability’ are dependent on the type of the data used in analysing the phenomenon in question is a totally different matter. This article demonstrates how the understanding of graduate employability varies when the viewpoint of the analysis changes from cross-sectional to longitudinal. Indicators obtained from the educational and working careers of graduates with master’s degree in nine European countries are used to illustrate differences between the two views on employability. The article shows that longitudinal indicators are useful in displaying the limitations of the higher education system when trying to improve the employability of graduates.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit for the Sociology of Education, University of Turku, RUSE Hämeenkatu 1, FIN-20014, Finland

    Matti E. Lindberg

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  1. Matti E. Lindberg
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Correspondence to Matti E. Lindberg.

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Lindberg, M.E. ‘At the Frontier of Graduate Surveys’. High Educ 53, 623–644 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-005-1672-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-005-1672-4

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