Skip to main content

Employers and Universities: Conceptual Dimensions, Research Evidence and Implications

Higher Education Policy volume 34, pages 132–154 (2021)Cite this article

The relationship between universities and employer organisations has been given significant attention in the context of a changing graduate economy and the policy imperative to enhance post-university returns. This article presents a conceptual analysis of this relationship in the context of structural changes on both sides and its bearing on the nature, form and outcomes emerging from this relationship. Three key conceptual domains relating to theories of human capital, signalling and institutionalism are outlined to show the dynamics of the university–employer interplay and employer behaviour towards recruiting graduates. This is then further illustrated by an outline of salient research evidence from employers’ perceptions of graduate employability and approaches to recruitment. The article shows that a set of largely contextual and cultural dimensions underscores much of this relationship and this transcends the supply–demand and skill mismatch accounts which pervade policy approaches on how this relationship should operate in practice. Implications for higher education institutions and key stakeholders in this relationship are further illustrated.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Akkermans, J. and Kubash, S. (2017) ‘Trending topics in careers: a review and future research’, Career Development International 22(6): 589–622.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andrews, J. and Higson, H. (2008) ‘Graduate Employability: ‘soft’ skills versus ‘hard’ Business knowledge’, Higher Education in Europe 33(4): 411–422.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arrow, K. (1973) ‘Higher Education as a filter’, Journal of Public Economics 2: 193–216.

    Google Scholar 

  • Association for Graduate Recruiters (2016) The AGR Graduate Recruitment Survey 2016, Manchester: Association of Graduate Recruiters.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailly, F. (2008) ‘The role of employers’ beliefs in the evaluation of educational output’, Journal of Socio-economics 37(3): 959–968.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bathmaker, A.M., Ingram, N. and Waller, R. (2013) ‘Higher Education, Social Class and the Mobilisation of capitals: recognising and playing the game’, British Journal of Sociology of Education 34 (5/6): 723–743.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. (1993) Human Capital: Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education (3rd Edition), Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolden, R. Connor, C. Duquemin, A., Hirsh, W and Petrov, G. (2009) Employer Engagement with Higher Education: Defining, Sustaining and Supporting Higher Skills Provision, London: HEFCE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bridgstock, R. (2017) ‘The University and the Knowledge Network: a new educational model for twenty-first century learning and employability’, in M. Tomlinson and L. Holmes (eds). Graduate Employability in Context: Theory, Research and Rebate, Basingstoke, Palgrave, pp. 339–358.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, P. and Hesketh, A. (2004) The Mismanagement of Talent, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, P., Lauder, H. and Ashton, D.N. (2011) The Global Auction: The Broken Promises of Education, Jobs and Incomes, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1989) ‘Social space and symbolic power’, Sociological Theory 7(1): 14–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bryson, J., James, S. and Keep, E. (2013) ‘Recruitment and Selection. In: S. Bach and M. Edwards (eds). Managing Human Resources: Human Resource Management in Transition. Chichester: Wiley, pp. 125–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Burke, C. (2015), Culture, Capital and Graduate Futures: Degrees of Class, Routledge, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • CBI (2013) Changing the Pace, London: CBI/Pearson Education and Skills Survey, CBI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke, M. (2017) ‘Re-thinking graduate employability: the role of capital, individual attributes and context’, Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1294152

  • Collini, S. (2012) What are Universities For?, London: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Connelly, B., Trevis Certo, S., Duane Ireland, R. and Reutzel, C.R. (2011) ‘Signalling Theory: a review and assessment’, Journal of Management 37(1): 39–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (2016) Success as a Knowledge Economy: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice, London: BIS.

  • Eraut, M. (2007) Early Career Learning at Work: Insights into Professional Development During the First Job, Swindon: Economic and Social Science Research Council.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fugate, M., Kinicki, A.J. and Ashforth, B.E. (2004) ‘Employability: a psycho-social construct, its dimensions and applications’, Journal of Vocational Behavior 65(1): 14–38.

    Google Scholar 

  • Figueiredo, H.,Biscaia, R., Rocha, V. and Teixeria, P. (2017) ‘Should we start worrying? Mass higher education, skill demand and the increasingly complex landscape of young graduates’ employment’, Studies in Higher Education 42(8): 1401–1420.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant-Smith, D. and MacDonald, P. (2018) ‘Ubiquitous yet Ambiguous: an integrative review of unpaid work’, International Journal of Management Reviews 20(2): 559–578.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, F. and Henseke, G. (2016) ‘Should governments across OECD countries worry about graduate under-employment?’, Oxford Review of Economic Policy 32(4): 514–537.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, L., Moon, S. and Geall, V. (1997) Graduates’ Work: Organisational Change and Students’ Attributes, Birmingham: QHE.

    Google Scholar 

  • Helyer, R. and Lee, D. (2014) ‘The role of work experience in the future employability of graduates’, Higher Education Quarterly 68(3): 348–372.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hinchliffe, G. and Jolly, A. (2011) ‘Graduate Identity and Employability’, British Educational Research Journal 37(4): 563–584.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, L. (2013) ‘Competing perspectives on graduate employability: possession, position or process?’, Studies in Higher Education 38(4): 538–554.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hora, M. (2018) ‘Hiring as Cultural Gatekeeping into Occupational Communities: Implications for College Students, Faculty and Careers Advisors’, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Center for Education Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Humburg, M., van de Velden, R. and Verhagen, A. (2013) The Employability of Higher Education Graduates: The Employers’ Perspectives, Maastricht: Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market.

    Google Scholar 

  • Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) (2016) How English Domiciled Graduate Earnings Vary with Gender, Institution Attended, Subject of Study and Socio-Economic Background, London: IFS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, D. (2015) ‘Employability skill development and work-integrated learning: barriers and best practice’, Studies in Higher Education 40(2): 350–567.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, D. and Wilton (2017) ‘Perceived employability amongst undergraduates and the importance of career self-management, work experience and individual characteristics’, Higher Education Research & Development 36(4): 747–764.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keep, E. (2012) ‘Education and Industry: taking two steps back and reflecting’, Journal of Education and Work 24(4): 357–379.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keep, E. and Mayhew, K. (2014) ‘Inequality–‘wicked problems’, labour market outcomes and the search for silver bullets’, Oxford Review of Education 40(6): 764–781.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindberg, O. (2013) ‘Gatekeepers of a profession: employability as capital in the recruitment of medical interns’, Journal of Education and Work 26(4): 431–452.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindberg, O. and Rantatalo, O. (2015) ‘Competence in professional practice: a practice theory analysis of police and doctors’, Human Relations 68(4): 561–582.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowden, K. Hall, S. Elliot, D. and Lewin, J. (2011) Employers’ Perceptions of the Employability Skills of New Graduates, Glasgow: University of Glasgow, SCRE Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCracken, M., Currie, D. and Harrison, J. (2016) ‘Understanding graduate recruitment, development and retention for the enhancement of talent management: sharpening ‘the edge’ of graduate talent’, The International Journal Human Resource Management 27(22):2727–2752.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacMillan, L., Tyler, C. and Vignoles, A. (2015) ‘Who gets the top jobs? The role of family background and networks in recent graduates’ access to high-status professions’, Journal of Social Policy 44(3): 487–515.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mann, A., Stanley, J. and Archer, L. (2014) Understanding Employer Engagement in Education: Theories and Evidence, London: Routledge Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mann, A. and Huddleston, P. (2017) ‘Schools and the twenty-first century labour market: perspectives on structural change’, British Journal of Guidance and Counselling 45(2): 208–218.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mason, G., Williams, G and Cramner, S. (2009) ‘Employability skills initiatives in higher education: what effects do they have on graduate labour market outcomes?’, Education Economics 17(1): 1–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morley, L. (2007) ‘The X Factor: employability, elitism and equity in graduate recruitment’, Twenty-first Century Societies 2(2): 191–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nilsson, S. and Ellstrom, P.E. (2012) ‘Employability and talent management: challenges for HRD practices’, European Journal of Training and Development 36(1): 26–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Office for National Statistics (2013) Graduates in the UK Labour Market. London: Office of National Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olssen, M. (2016) ‘Neoliberal competition in higher education today: research, impact and accountability’, British Journal of Sociology of Education 37(1): 129–148.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, M. and Bulut, E. (2011) Cognitive Capitalism, Education and Digital Labor, New York: Peter Lang Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Powell, W. and DiMaggio, P. (1991) The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Purcell, K., Morley, M. and Rowley, G. (2002) Employers in the New Graduate Labour Market: Recruiting from a Wider Spectrum of Graduates, London: Council for Industry and Higher Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rivera, L. (2012) ‘Hiring as cultural matching: the case of elite professional service firms’, American Sociological Review 77(6): 999–1022.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schon, D. and Rein, M. (1994) Frame Reflection: Towards the Resolution of Intractable Policy Controversies, New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultz, T.W. (1961) Investment in Human Capital, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, P. (2017) ‘Higher Education and the Knowledge Economy’, in R. Barnett, P. Temple and P. Scott (eds). Valuing Higher Education, London: UCL Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission (2015) A Qualitative Evaluation of Non-Cognitive Barriers to the Elite Professions, London: SMCPC.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spence, M. (1973) ‘Job market signalling’, Quarterly Journal of Economic 87(4): 355–374.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suleman, F. (2018) ‘The employability skills of higher education graduates: insights into conceptual frameworks and methodological options’, Higher Education 76(2): 263–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sweet, S and Meiksins, P. (2016) Changing Contours of Work, London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thurow, L. (1975) Generating Inequality, New York, Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tomlinson, M. (2017) ‘Forms of graduate capital and their relationship to graduate employability’, Education and Training 59(4): 438–452.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tymon, A. (2013) ‘The student perspective on employability’, Studies in Higher Education 38(6): 841–856.

    Google Scholar 

  • UKCES (2014) UK Commission’s Employer Skills Survey 2013: UK Results, London: UKCES, Evidence Report 81.

  • Walker, M. and Fongwa, S. (2017) Universities, Employability and Human Development, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilton, N. (2014) ‘Employability is in the eye of the beholder’, Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning 4(3): 242–255.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Southampton Education School, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK

    Michael Tomlinson

Authors
  1. Michael Tomlinson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Tomlinson.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Tomlinson, M. Employers and Universities: Conceptual Dimensions, Research Evidence and Implications. High Educ Policy 34, 132–154 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-018-0121-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-018-0121-9

Keywords

  • human capital
  • signalling
  • institutionalism
  • recruitment, employability