The present paper makes use of detailed information gathered at university department level, combined with graduate survey data, to assess the impact of different kinds of employability skills initiative on graduate labour market performance. We find that structured work experience and employer involvement in degree course design and delivery have clear positive effects on the ability of graduates to secure employment in 'graduate-level' jobs. However, a measure of departmental involvement in explicit teaching and assessment of employability skills is not significantly related to labour market performance.graduate, employability skills, labour markets,

Research among prospective UK undergraduates in 2002 found that some students, especially from low social classes, were deterred from applying to university because of fear of debt. This paper investigates whether this is still the case today in England despite the changing higher education landscape since 2002. The paper describes findings from a 2015 survey of prospective undergraduates and compares them with those from the 2002 study. We find that students' attitudes to taking on student loan debt are more favorable in 2015 than in 2002. Debt averse attitudes remain much stronger among lower-class students than among upperclass students, and more so than in 2002. However, lower-class students did not have stronger debt averse attitudes than middle-class students. Debt averse attitudes seem more likely to deter planned higher education participation among lower-class students in 2015 than in 2002. Key wordsStudent debt, debt aversion, loan aversion, higher education, student funding were undertaken student funding policies have changed dramatically and debt has risen sharply bringing into question the findings' relevance for today's students and public policy. 3Now most students in England have to borrow if they want to enter higher education.Moreover, this paper exploits a unique dataset derived from a survey of prospective students in 2002 and another in 2015, allowing us to examine changes in students' attitudes to debt over time and the role played by these policy reforms and shifting political and ideological contexts. This is central for understanding the continuing socio-economic inequalities in access to higher education. The shifting higher education landscapeThis section discusses the shifting higher education policy landscape including changes in student funding between 2002 and 2015 and implications for student debt. Student funding policy changes 2002-2015The evolution of higher education funding systems, in England and elsewhere, is dominated by prevailing political and ideological currents, rather than purely economic and pragmatic considerations. Recently England, like many countries, has moved from a system where the costs of funding higher education are shouldered primarily by taxpayers, through government subsidies, to one where students pay a larger share. This cost-sharing approach, a global phenomenon, seeks to increase the total resources available to higher education, especially from non-governmental or private sources (McMahon 2009;Johnstone and Marcucci 2010).3

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This article reports on a detailed comparison of productivity, machinery and skills in matched samples of food manufacturing (biscuit) plants in Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and France. In comparing labour productivity levels, explicit account was taken of inter-country differences in the mix of product-qualities as well as differences in physical quantities produced per person-hour. Real ('quality-adjusted') productivity levels were highest in the German sample, an estimated 15 per cent on average above those in the Netherlands and France and about 40 per cent higher than in Britain. International differences in quality—as measured by value added per ton—were found to be at least as important as differences in crude tonnage produced per person-hour. The pattern o f productivity advantage could not be attributed to inter-country variation in the age and sophistication of capital equipment. However, there were important differences in workforce skill levels which could be linked to both relative productivity performance and the predominant choice of product strategy in each country. For example, in the German industry the mix of initial and continuing training received by employees supports a successful strategy of rapid growth in small-and naedium-batch production of elaborate, high value added biscuits which would be hard for the other three countries' indus-tries—and particularly Britain—to emulate. In Britain the greatest success is achieved by large highly-autonzated plants engaged in the bulk production of relatively uncomplicated varieties of biscuit. Given the present structure of work force skills in Britain, it is understandable that—as in many other branches of manufacturing—British biscuit producers tend to specialise in relatively low value added goods. However, the study suggests that some of the potential economies of large-scale production are lost due to excessive rates of emergency downtime and the limitations of narrowly-trained employees.

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