Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore graduate students’ perception of how soft skills are developed at a transnational university in Vietnam, and how these soft skills contribute to their perceived employability. Design/methodology/approach This study utilized a qualitative case study method. In depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 graduate students at Vietnamese–German University. Findings Findings suggest that faculty utilized classroom-based practices to provide students the opportunity to enhance soft skills that are perceived to contribute to employability, such as skills related to independent work, interpersonal relationships and the ability to work in global contexts. In addition, interacting with international faculty played a large part in providing students the opportunity to develop their independent skills, critical thinking, communication and cultural competence. Practical implications Implications include multiple approaches, including faculty training, curriculum development and learner preparation. Institutions must consider how their curriculum contributes to the development of soft skills and how international faculty are prepared to engage meaningfully with students, particularly within specific global and political contexts. In addition, graduate students must also be prepared to engage in a classroom that promotes group work, class presentations and independent work. Originality/value This study provides insight on how a transnational institution can foster soft skills for employability in graduate students in Vietnam. Considering the growth of collaborative transnational institutions in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, findings and implications from this study provide recommendations on how to better prepare graduates for employability within a global economy.

No abstract

Using a critical lens, this article discusses some of the most common recommendations for human resource and community college leaders on how to respond to budget cuts to student affairs and support services at community colleges. Student affairs and support services are often the first to experience budget cuts in higher education, yet little is known about the impact of—as well as responses to—declining budgets to such services in community colleges. As part of this critical analysis, we frame recommendations using resource-based perspectives to better understand institutional actions in the face of budget cuts, such as identifying sustainable alternative financial resources and increasing efficiency of existing financial and human resources through increased coordination with other community college units. We also discuss how these best practices can also lead to other challenges in times of financial crisis that institutional leaders should consider.

No abstract

For many migrants, mediated communication and other forms of contact can provide a means to maintain some semblance of family life across distance. For others, economic and other constraints can make meaningful long-distance connections challenging or impractical. This chapter highlights how some migrants reconfigure family life not by bridging physical distance with biological kin but by developing close connections in their host communities. The authors draw from their research on Philippine rural-to-urban migrants who work as yayas (i.e., live-in, domestic workers caring for children) and how they build family life with peers in their neighborhoods and with their employers in the context of paid domestic work. The chapter highlights how culturally embedded notions of family are reflected in these fictive kinships and how indigenous notions of obligations and family life can provide protections and benefits but also make yayas more vulnerable to abuse in the workplace.