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Changing Perspectives: The Professional Relevance of Higher Education on the Way Towards the Highly‐Educated Society
Author(s) -
Teichler Ulrich
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
european journal of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.577
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1465-3435
pISSN - 0141-8211
DOI - 10.1111/ejed.12146
Subject(s) - employability , multitude , relevance (law) , higher education , diversity (politics) , work (physics) , knowledge society , public relations , knowledge base , sociology , politics , thematic analysis , pedagogy , political science , economic growth , social science , economics , law , mechanical engineering , qualitative research , world wide web , computer science , engineering
Higher education has been one of the major thematic areas of the E uropean J ournal of E ducation over the years, and the relationships between higher education the world of work have been one of the 10 major themes in this area. The multitude of related articles shows substantial changes of the situation and the related discourse. The employment and work situation of graduates underwent changes in the course of expansion, the respective political climate had its ups and downs, and the knowledge base on the impact of study conditions and provisions of graduate employment and work improved over time. This notwithstanding, we note a constant return to the persistent questions as to whether we have too few or too many graduates. In recent years, higher education has been increasingly exposed to greater instrumental expectations. The paradigms of ‘knowledge society’ and ‘knowledge economy’ reinforce a call for higher education to serve more directly the ‘employability’ of graduates. As views vary strikingly regarding issues such as specialisation vs. general competences, preparation for predictable tasks vs. preparing for an unexpected future, etc., higher education could keep a diversity of options in the best ways to ensure professional relevance.