Taught postgraduate employability: EvidenceNet select bibliography

• Bigger S (2007) ‘Encouraging the use of evidence to inform practice among teachers early in their careers’ ESCalate funded project 

This project explored how to support teachers early in their careers, and how Masters level study can be professionally relevant newly qualified teachers are confident in academic study but are still building their confidence in classroom skills. 

•   BIS (2010) One step beyond: making the most of postgraduate education BIS
  

This review address the nation's future requirements for postgraduate (PG) provision, covering both taught masters courses and research degrees, and how this provision can best meet the needs of business, academia, public services and the wider economy.

• Bosley S and Young D (2006) ‘On-line learning dialogues in learning through work’ Journal of Workplace Learning 18(6) 355-366 

This paper describes a study of online, asynchronous dialogues between tutors and nine work-based postgraduate learners on learning through work programmes.

• Brown, P., A. Green and H. Lauder (2001) High Skills: Globalisation, Competitiveness and Skill Formation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

This book is based on the High Skills project, a comparative study of high skills strategies in Britain, Germany, Japan, Korea, Singapore and the United States, and including data from interviews with over 250 key stakeholders.

• Challinor J (2010) ‘Learning and leading at a distance’ Conference paper presented at Responding to Employers: Moving into the Mainstream; An Employer Engagement & Employability Conference, de Montfort University, 11 June 2010 

This paper presents case studies of students on a Postgraduate blended learning programme in Leadership in Scotland who have chosen to study an optional module on Leading Virtual Teams.

• CoLab project (2006) 

This collaborative project between PALATINE, Manchester Metropolitan University (Cheshire) and Coventry University School of Art and Design, aimed to develop graduate to postgraduate to emergent professional support for the development of enterprise capability and entrepreneurial creative practice. A report based on the project can be found here

• Kemp S (2008) ‘Embedding employability and employer engagement into postgraduate teaching: a case study from “environmental management systems”’ Higher Education Academy, York 

This paper investigates whether the practice of embedding employability and employer engagement into the curriculum can lead to beneficial outcomes for students, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), participant organisations, and employers in general. The practice is evaluated through the case study of a specialist postgraduate module in Environmental Management Systems (EMS) at the University of Southampton. 

• Knowles L and Hensher D (2005) ‘The postgraduate business curriculum: the frontline in the war between professionalism and academic irrelevance’, International Journal of Management Education, 4(3)

This paper presents the key arguments for change in postgraduate business curricula put forward by the various stakeholders of business education in an attempt to guide business educators through the maze of competing calls for improvement in both the academic relevance and professionalism of the business curriculum. 

• Marsden K and Luczkowski J (2005) ’Implementing work-based learning within masters’ courses in design: A research evaluation of curriculum’ Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education 4 (2), 135-146

This articles locates the importance of design as a key aspect of the creative industries and suggests how the postgraduate design curriculum can provide a viable opportunity for developing important employability skills. It also discusses the background to, and definitions of, workbased learning, and concludes with an analysis of some the challenges and benefits involved with developing an effective and alternative mode of learning. 

• Maxwell G, Scott B, Macfarlane D and Williamson E (2009) 'Employers as stakeholders in postgraduate employability skills development' Glasgow Caledonian University 

This article explores the position and views of employers as a critical stakeholder group in postgraduates’ employability skills.

• Martin E and McCabe S (2006) Part-time Work and Postgraduate Students: Developing the Skills for Employment? Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism Education 6(2)

This paper seeks to explore the experiences of hospitality and tourism postgraduate students undertaking part-time work in the UK and considers the skills they develop through paid employment in relation to future employability.

• McEwen L et al (2005) ‘Evaluating the 'postgraduateness' of vocational taught Masters environmental courses: student perspectives’ Planet 14 

This paper reports on a survey of students on taught vocational courses, and suggests that postgraduate taught provision can be strengthened by exploring areas of commonality with staff perceptions of ‘postgraduateness’ and skills development. 

• Mistry J, White F and Berard A (2009) ‘Skills at Master's level in geography higher education: teaching, learning and applying’ Journal of Geography in Higher Education 33(1), 123-148

   An EvidenceNet summary of this article is also available here.   

The perceptions of 'skills' at taught Master’s level between course directors (teaching of skills), alumni (learning and use of skills) and employers (the skills requirements) were compared within the field of development and environment studies. The findings underline some of the commonalities and discrepancies between what is taught, what is learnt and what is required in terms of skills. 

• O’Connor C (2009) ’Postgraduate learning and employability’ Paper presented at the Eighth Conference of the CLTR, 3 June 2009, Edge Hill University    

This paper considers what  will  constitute  a  more  sophisticated  approach  to  the  range  of  skills,  attributes  and  cultural  trends  that  graduates  undertaking  higher  degrees will need to engage with in the near future; and interrogates the questions of  how Higher Education will foster them and how they will be utilised by an increasingly demanding global labour market.

• Rothwell A, Jewell S and Hardie M ‘Self-perceived employability: Investigating the responses of postgraduate students’ Journal of Vocational Behavior 75(2), 152-161

This paper reports the further testing of a research instrument to examine the expectations and self-perceptions of employability of business students at post-graduate level

• UKCES (2009a) The Employability Challenge: Full Report

This document is the UK Commission’s opening statement in the debate of employability skills. They have started at the grass roots, by looking at what just over 200 organisations are currently doing to develop employability skills. This document boils this practice down to core principles which they hope to see developed and adopted more widely.

• UKCES (2009b) High Performance Working: A Synthesis of the Key Literature. Wathupon-Dearne: UKCES.

This Evidence Report synthesises the key recent research evidence on the theme of High Performance Working (HPW), setting out clearly the current state of knowledge on the topic, and identifying research gaps and policy questions.

• Universities UK (2009) Taught postgraduate students: market trends and opportunities London: Universities UK

This report on the taught postgraduate market is the first in the series of UUK’s specific studies of the different student markets, focusing on research postgraduates. The report concludes that it may be difficult to maintain the rate of growth that the taught postgraduate sector has achieved in the recent past and argue that individual student contributions and employer support may not be sufficient to sustain this market over the next few years without increased public support.

• Urwin P and Di Pietro G (2005) ‘The impact of research and teaching quality inputs on the employment outcomes of postgraduates’ Higher Education Quarterly 59, 275–295

This paper analyses the extent to which the quality of teaching and research inputs, as measured by Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) scores, can account for variations in the employability of taught postgraduates.

• Wilson G, Walsh T, Kirby M (2007) ‘Reflective practice and workplace learning: the experience of masters of social work students’ Reflective Practice 8(1), 1-15 

This article reports on a two-year study of master of social work students' experience of reflecting on their practice in workplace learning in Northern Ireland. Using practice illustrations from the research, the paper explores the status of reflective practice in social work alongside other competing paradigms including evidence-based practice and competence-based approaches to learning.

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