Personal, Academic and Career Development in Higher Education

Factors influencing job attainment in recent Bachelor graduates: evidence from Australia

“…As Pegg et al assert, employability concerns a long-term strategy for enhancing professional well-being and career development prospects. According to well-established models (Dacre Pool and Sewell 2007;Kumar 2007), graduate employability requires developing a wealth of attributes, skills and knowledge which will assist graduates in applying their disciplinary knowledge in the workplace; as well as technical expertise, career development skills and engaging in extracurricular activities and work experience.…”

A reflection on adaptability, achievement motivation and success of Central and Eastern European students in one English university

“…Even though the students themselves seem to be critical of heavy theoretical, factual and impractical teaching in CEE universities, I see how the sound factual knowledge and broader perspective give grounds to comprehension, interconnectivity and reflective practice and allow students to successfully progress through their studies in order to achieve their goals. New, exciting and practical learning (offered by the University of Bedfordshire's curriculum) that is grounded in broad, general, sound knowledge can make the learning experience meaningful and contribute to the development of the skills, confidence and self-regulatory abilities (Raiker 2010;Atlay 2008) that are crucial for students' attainment, academic achievement and employability (Kumar 2007;Atlay, Gaian and Kumar 2008). Metaphorically, when a Central East European seed is planted in the rich soil of the University of Bedfordshire curriculum, it has ideal conditions to flourish and experience 'a deeply enjoyable intrinsically motivating experience' -a state of flow (Csikszentmihalyi 1975(Csikszentmihalyi /2000Elkington 2010).…”

“…Specifically, it considers how the university can respond to the individual learning needs of diverse students by creating an environment that encourages them to understand themselves and which supports the development of skills and attitudes vital for success (through personal development planning processes). It also advocates 'realistic learning' (Atlay 2008;Atlay, Gaitan and Kumar 2008;Kumar 2007) -learning that is meaningful (practical and relevant), active (requires engagement), challenging, reflective, collaborative and aimed at developing students as lifelong learners. The university has expressed its intention to provide various support structures and mechanisms for its continuously growing and diverse student population.…”

Power, pedagogy and personalization in global higher education: the occlusion of second-wave feminism?

“…Students are encouraged into the habits of personal autonomy, distinguishing their curriculum vitae from that of others, encouraged to see their extra-curricular as well as their curricular activities as contributing to their graduate outcomes and as a way of building potential cultural capital which will help them make their personal way in a highly competitive world. Kumar (2008), for example, advocates SOAR Á an acronym for Self, Opportunity, Aspirations and Results Á as a personalized way forward to achieving positive graduate futures.…”

“…We, however, are concerned with the silences and elisions and how feminist thought has been erased in the personalization literature. The discourse of personalization is ubiquitous and highly mobile, from computer systems, mobile technologies, and marketing strategies (Angelides, Mylonas, & Wallace, 2007), to new scripts for the public sector (Leadbetter, 2006(Leadbetter, , 2008, and new pedagogies in both compulsory (Department for Education and Skills, 2006;Leadbetter, 2006) and higher education (Clegg, 2004;Frame & Burnett, 2008;Kumar, 2008). The term has migrated from contexts where it has relatively clear, if fluid, meanings and effects (Angelides et al, 2007) to ones where it performs a nebulous rhetorical function.…”