International audiencePurpose - In France, the vocationalization of higher education has resulted in an increase in the number of graduates and created new opportunities. The access of these vocational bachelor graduates to the labour market raises the issue of their professional prospects amid changing economic and social circumstances. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach - To provide insights into these issues, the employment situation of bachelor graduates during the first years of active working life will be compared with other tertiary graduates entering the labour market in the same years, using econometric models that estimate the effects of vocational courses "all other things being equal", incorporating a range of individual characteristics. Findings - Overall, vocational bachelor graduates experienced fewer difficulties in seeking to enter the labour market during difficult economic circumstances. They did not achieve upward social mobility with a lower probability of obtaining a managerial/professional occupation three years after graduation. These results confirm that diplomas continue to play a central and hierarchized role in France. Originality/value - The originality of this paper is to highlight the labour market transition of vocational bachelor graduates during a period of economic crisis, inquiring on the social benefit of this new diploma in France: what were the impacts of the changing economic conditions and influx of vocational bachelor graduates on their labour market transition and their chances of upward social mobility

Revue française de sciences sociales | janvier-mars 2012Enseignement supérieur : les défis de la professionnalisation L'insertion professionnelle après des études supérieures : des diplômés plus égaux que d'autres… Employability after higher education: some graduates are more equal than others… Berufliche Eingliederung nach dem Hochschulstudium: manche Abschlüsse sind gleicher als andere… La inserción profesional después de los estudios superiores: algunos graduados más iguales que otros…

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International audienceThis research investigates the determinants of international mobility of Ph.D.s upon graduation. It is based on a survey of 400 young Ph.D.s who graduated in France between 2003 and 2008, half of whom were still abroad more than six years after graduating. The impacts of personal, occupational and scientific characteristics on the successive mobility decisions after graduating were scrutinized. The findings show that motivations for going abroad relate principally to the difficulty in finding employment on the French labour market. The choices as to longer term expatriation are more fragmented and can be less readily unravelled. By contrast, readiness to return to France is often accounted for by family factors

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