A recent report in the ‘Monitor’ section of Industry and Higher Education, which referred to the disagreement between industry and academic leaders on key issues in education as a ‘cultural gulf’, prompted reflection on the widespread perception of the inadequacy of educational systems to develop in their graduates skills appropriate for the workforce. It is argued in this paper, from the perspective of an academic teaching accounting and communications, that these perceptions are based, in part, on the language commonly used to describe competency-based education. Language issues plus the distinct cultural differences between education and work, contribute to a disparity between educational objectives on the one hand and employer expectations on the other.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) work values of millennial undergraduates and their priorities among key CSR dimensions as a basis for the design of CSR curricula that will enhance students' social responsibility values and their job choice decisions. Design/methodology/approach -Respondents were 238 senior undergraduates studying in three discipline areas at an Australian metropolitan university. Their CSR values were explored in the context of a hypothetical job choice scenario. Findings -While the majority of students rated CSR values highly in the job choice scenario, a larger majority were willing to trade this off for greater extrinsic benefits. Among millennial job-seeking students, workplace practices were rated the most important CSR dimension with environmental issues ranking last. Significant differences were found between gender and discipline. Research limitations/implications -Quantitative analysis only; use of cross-sectional, single-source data. Practical implications -In the context of greater extrinsic rewards, CSR values (particularly environmental concerns) are not front-of-mind in millennial students' job choice decisions. This, coupled with high levels of indecision among business students may provide an important theoretical and practical basis for the development of CSR curricula in business courses in Australia. Originality/value -The study offers a unique insight into the CSR values of millennial business students vis-à-vis humanities and science students in a job choice context. These findings are important for designing effective business programs to shape the social responsibility behaviours of the next generation of managers and leaders.

This study examines the relationships among the extent of use of technical language in an advisory context, the understandability of the advice offered, perceptions of the adviser's expertise and trustworthiness, and the subsequent persuasion effects. The responses of 186 participants, randomly assigned to view one of two videotapes (one tape low in the use of technical terms, the other high), were analysed using structural equation modelling. The results indicate that the overuse of technical language in a lay client consultation reduces clients' understanding of the advice offered. Lowered advice understandability negatively affects clients' perceptions of the professional adviser's expertise and trustworthiness and, subsequently, client's intention to seek the professional's advice.

The study reported in this paper investigates aspects of the teaching experience of academics teaching accounting at Australian universities. Twenty-four academics were interviewed about their conceptions of teaching, their students' learning and their teaching approach in relation to the accounting classes they were currently teaching. Four qualitatively different ways of conceptualising teaching and five for learning and teaching approach were identified within the data. Broadly, these are interpreted as falling under one of two orientations—teacher-centred/content and a student-centred/learning orientation. The key differences identified between them relate to whether teaching in the discipline is viewed primarily as a matter of transmitting facts and procedures or of encouraging students to develop their own accounting concepts and perhaps to even change their world view in the process. The results are discussed in relation to some of the practical realities of day-to-day teaching and to possible future avenues for research.approaches to teaching, accounting, phenomenography, conceptions of teaching and learning,

The role of institutional factors in students' intentions to persist with or withdraw from their studies is well established in the literature. More recently, the influence of factors external to the institution has been highlighted as well. This study investigates the relationship between levels of engagement of first-year students undertaking a core business subject at a large university in Australia and their departure intentions. It was found that their propensity to persist was positively associated with their reported involvement and engagement with their studies but negatively associated with certain external factors -time spent on paid work, commuting and caring for others. One important implication of these results is that factors that sit largely outside the ambit of an institution's control may be placing significant, but perhaps unrecognised, constraints on the ability of that institution to improve retention rates.