For what it’s worth: European Arts & humanities graduates’ employability and their engagement in society

Abstract

How do European Arts and Humanities (A&H) graduates contribute to their economies and societies? This paper aims to answer this challenging research question by analysing data from the 2018 pilot Eurograduate survey of graduates. The article explores the monitoring of employment dynamics and considers the labour market outcomes of A&H graduates compared to other graduate groups. Our analysis enables an understanding of the utilisation of A&H graduates’ knowledge and skills in the current employment market (job-qualification match) and more specifically, their contribution to legal, social and cultural occupations. The dataset variables enable an exploration of the multiple contributions made by A&H graduates to other aspects of contemporary society. Specifically, we examine graduates’ volunteering activity during and after their degree, alongside other forms of civic engagement, including political and social action. The findings contribute to the broader debate on the value and impact of A&H degrees beyond measurements of graduate earnings.

The role of higher education in sustainable creative careers: Exploring UK theatre graduates and theatre careers

“…While Comunian et al (2010) highlight a potential comparable level of demand and supply in the CCIs, they also found a high level of mismatch, with many creative graduates not able to secure a creative occupation and even unable to secure a graduate-level job. Similar research across Europe (Comunian et al, 2023) highlights that while creative graduates might not have as strong employment outcomes as other graduates, they are much more engaged in society and contributing to political and social agendas than others. Further investigations using HESA data highlight that in specific sectors, such as in the case of music, the institution from which the student graduates greatly influences his or her employment outcome (Comunian & Faggian, 2014).…”

“…We believe that framing creative and cultural careers within the capabilities approach connects otherwise punctual findings and their implications in the much broader scope of individuals' lifespans, highlighting the interconnectedness among each of their life stages' capabilities. Moreover, doing so stresses that, in turn, these stages' duration and trajectories profoundly depend on all the complex interactions that individuals are able to exercise within their range to support the corresponding capability (Comunian et al, 2023). In other words, as the workers' capabilities are connected, so are the institutions and policies behind their growth.…”

“…as part of an interconnected ecosystem, cf. Benghozi and Salvador, 2014) and capability framework (Comunian et al, 2023; Dent et al, 2022), rethinking strategies and modes of working within the sector and how they connect across other sectors of the economy and local creative and cultural ecosystems (De Bernard et al, 2021).…”