Search Results for
"Higher education"

Conceptualisations of the knowledge economy are highly contested. They range from descriptive accounts that associate it with a particular understanding of Post-fordism as well as with specific currents in Neo-liberalism that emphasise the salience of digitalisation and immaterial labour. In the case of the latter, there is a resonance with discussions of the fourth industrial revolution that address the changing nature of waged labour and its pedagogic requirements (Avis, 2021). Unger (2019), in a largely abstract account, provides a suggestive analysis of the knowledge economy that articulates with the previous conceptualisations. These overlapping constructions form a backdrop to the chapter whose specificity lies in its engagement with higher Vocational education (HIVE). The question the chapter poses serves as a provocation and is unanswerable given HIVE’s complexity. However, it enables an exploration of several issues: the relationship of the knowledge economy to STEM-ification, vocationalisation, employability and professionalism. These are set within a policy context in which there is an affinity between Post-fordist rhetoric and the knowledge economy which bear upon pedagogy, knowledge and critical practice. Importantly the issues the chapter addresses enable the problematisation of some of the tenets of the knowledge economy and the tensions graduates of VET/HIVE encounter when facing un-under-employment. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

Background/purpose: Entrepreneurship training interventions (ETI) have rapidly grown in domestic and international higher education systems. There is evidence that education focusing on entrepreneurship programs can increase employability. Entrepreneurship has been the driving force behind this expansion as a survival approach for economic improvement in South Africa. This study aims to identify the types of entrepreneurship capacity development interventions that are available to unemployed youth. Human capital theory is used as a theoretical foundation to argue that poverty, unemployment, and inequality can be reduced through skill development. Materials/methods: 18 participants from three institutions were interviewed using a semi-structured interview technique: the Youth Business Advisory Centre (YBAC) in Eshowe, the Zululand Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ZCCI) in Richard's Bay, and the Small Enterprise Development Agency (SEDA) in Richard's Bay. The collected data were analysed using NVIVO version 12 and Microsoft Excel. Results: Findings revealed that the entrepreneurial capacity development programs available to the unemployed in KDC included, and were not limited to, mentorships, business expos, workshops, coaching, training, online courses, business seminars, and conferences. These programs focused on building critical entrepreneurial skills such as financial management, customer service, and digital marketing. Conclusion: The study recommends a mandatory computer literacy program before engaging the youth in other programs. The findings are valuable to policymakers who want to develop more effective entrepreneurial programs tailored to the unique needs of the unemployed. © The Author(s), 2025.

Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is an applied STEM program, first introduced nearly three decades ago, designed to enhance the STEM content of Career Technical education (CTE). Currently, more than 12,000 US high schools offer the program. Using data from three cohorts of public high school freshmen in Missouri, we investigate the impact of PLTW program offer (ITT), participation impacts on participants (TOT), and the impact of program offer on non-participants on initial post-secondary outcomes. We use a difference-in-difference (DiD) analysis for ITT and a principal score weighted DiD to estimate TOT and the impacts of program offer on non-participants. The parallel trends assumption is tested and not rejected. We find significant positive ITT impacts on STEM major declaration among students with higher STEM preparation levels. ITT impacts on college enrollment are less conclusive. We find no evidence that the program offer affected outcomes for PLTW non-participants. Over a range of estimation strategies, we find substantively meaningful and robust positive TOT effects on STEM major declaration. © 2025 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Introduction: Competency-Based education (CBE) has become increasingly important in Chilean higher education since the 2006 reform, which aimed to improve educational quality. However, implementing CBE effectively poses challenges, particularly in developing assessments that adhere to CBE principles and are consistent across all university courses. To address this issue, the Competency Assessment and Monitoring (C-A&M) model was created. This study evaluates the effectiveness of C-A&M in standardizing course assessments within the CBE paradigm at the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso (PUCV) in Chile. Methods: Two observational studies were conducted. The first study utilized a within-group design and included 20 Engineering courses. The second study employed a between-groups design, examining the perceptions of 109 instructors from various faculties, including Law, Economic and Administrative Sciences, Philosophy, and education, among others. Results: The within-group study emphasized the need for better course assessment and alignment of learning objectives with competencies. It found a positive correlation between C-A&M and the effective implementation of CBE in university courses. The between-groups study showed a minor effect size but suggested a similar relationship. Discussion: Assessment based on CBE principles is not being effectively implemented at PUCV. Key areas for improvement include the evaluation plan, aligning learning objectives with competencies, and coordinating training with these objectives. The application of C-A&M has led to significant improvements, indicating a positive correlation between its use and these enhancements. © © 2025 Vargas, Arredondo, Heradio and Torre.

Students in higher or adult education often face a wide array of challenges as they learn skills for transitioning to the workforce. They and their educators may encounter critical topics including emotional intelligence, student-educator relationships, and feedback mechanisms as well as employability skills. As a result, it is crucial for educators to foster and for students to learn teamwork skills, social-emotional skills, and strategies for teaching and learning to increase engagement. Thus, innovative approaches are needed to address the evolving needs of students, educators, and institutions that support students as well as the faculty. Transformative Practices in Tertiary education: Bridging Theory and Practice empowers these diverse stakeholders with the knowledge and tools needed to transform higher education, making it more inclusive, effective, and responsive to the needs of today’s learners. It discusses methods for shaping educational policies and initiatives at various levels. Covering topics such as change navigation, global learning, and internships, this book is an excellent resource for educators, educational administrators, educational leaders, educational planners, policymakers, professional development facilitators, professionals, researchers, scholars, academicians, and more. © 2025 by IGI Global Scientific Publishing. All rights reserved.

This study investigates the role of soft skills, particularly self-discipline, communication skills, interpersonal relationships and the over-optimism, in the post-college transitions of HVET students in China. The primary objective was to explore how these competencies influence students’ ability to navigate employment and further education trajectories. The research adopted a longitudinal qualitative methodology, including interviews during 15 months with 26 HVET graduates who took different post-college pathways: the school-to-work transition and the college-to-university transition. Data were collected through follow-up semi-structured interviews to capture participants’ lived experiences, challenges, and strategies in managing interpersonal relationships, setting post-college goals, and adapting to new environments. The study highlighted the pivotal role of soft skills, particularly self-discipline and emotional intelligence, in facilitating HVET students’ post-college transitions. Self-discipline supported effective goal-setting and perseverance, while Emotional Intelligence (EI) fostered better communication and conflict resolution, easing workplace integration. Conversely, low self-regulation and over-optimism led to unrealistic expectations, contributing to challenges during the transition. The findings suggest that enhancing soft skills training, with a focus on self-regulation and emotional management, is crucial for improving transition outcomes and helping students navigate the complexities of entering the workforce. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Integrated industry engagement has become a vital aspect of higher education, particularly ensuring curricular relevance in postgraduate programmes. This is especially significant in the complex field of Tourism and Hospitality (T&H), where equipping students with both hard and soft skills is essential for navigating the evolving workplace. Informed by Experiential Learning Theory (ELT), this paper examines the enhancement of tourism education in two postgraduate T&H courses. These courses incorporated interviews with key industry figures as part of their assessments. Employing duoethnography, the research involved analyzing the reflections of two T&H educators, along with a review of assessment outcomes and course evaluations. The findings reveal that incorporating industry interviews enriches classroom discussions and bridges the gap between theory and practice. Furthermore, this approach fosters technological proficiency and improves the overall quality of students’ assessments, resulting in a more practical and insightful learning experience within T&H courses. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The contemporary transformations occurring within the socio-cultural framework of society necessitate demands for an innovative paradigm in higher education, prompting the evolution of fundamentally novel techniques and pedagogical strategies. These methods should be focused on developing students’ personalities, stimulating their creative activity, developing the ability to navigate the information environment, and forming universal skills for setting and solving problems in their professional and personal lives. Additionally, innovative approaches to organizing an educational approach are required from the point of view of the transition to an economy with a low level of environmental burden, which is known as a green economy. The research aims to determine the peculiarities of implementing green education and designing individual work of bachelor students. The authors applied methodological principles rooted in the research conducted by Russian and international experts in the domains of economics and pedagogy, along with guidance from international ecological organizations. The research object is the theoretical foundations and educational and methodological techniques for the use and functioning of individual work in the conditions of training green personnel. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.

The assessment of competencies in the training of future physical education teachers is crucial to ensuring their preparedness and the quality of their professional performance. Various methods are available to measure these competencies, which are essential for understanding the development of specific skills in the educational field and their impact on teaching practice. This study aimed to analyze the types of instruments used to assess competencies during the training process of future physical education teachers. A systematic review of published articles was conducted, covering all available years up to the search date (August 2024) in the WoS, Scopus, SportDiscus, and ERIC databases. The review followed the PRISMA statement. Out of a total of 820 studies, 33 relevant documents were identified and classified into four categories: a) Questionnaires/Surveys; b) Rubrics; c) Observation Scales; and d) Knowledge Tests. The review highlights that although questionnaires and rubrics are commonly used, they are insufficient for evaluating competencies in physical education teacher training. This underscores the need for more dynamic tools, such as simulations, case studies, or performance-based assessments. Furthermore, combining questionnaires with methods that capture performance in real contexts enhances evaluation accuracy and provides a more comprehensive understanding of teacher development. © 2025, Campus EDUCA SPORTIS S.L.. All rights reserved.

Contribution: Results and conclusions on the use of a hybrid Project-Based Learning (PBL) approach to teaching programming in a higher education computing department. Background: PBL is a pedagogical approach that facilitates “learning by doing” and can create compelling educational experiences that enhance a student’s intrinsic motivation. Engagement can increase because students design their own unique projects, which have personal meaning and importance. PBL facilitates working with industrial clients to solve problems, which can create powerful extrinsic motivation. However, PBL can fail when students lack the experience and confidence to work as independent learners. Research Questions: 1) Can a hybrid PBL approach mitigate these problems by using a range of additional initiatives? These include, a wide range of on-demand learning resources, student mentoring, students collaborating with teachers to grade their own work, regular feedback milestones and scaffolding of learning via streaming. In this case streaming means offering students pathways through projects that require more or less independent research and project management. Methodology: A mixed methods study of a new hybrid approach to teaching programming. Findings: This article summarizes the author’s experience of implementing hybrid PBL within a university computing department, associated with improved student attainment and describes best practice, the advantages and the pitfalls. © 1963-2012 IEEE.