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Student work is becoming more prevalent throughout the world. More students are not only working but doing more hours per week, which very likely affects their academic performance. This paper provides a systematic literature review (SLR) of 347 papers, focusing on the: indicators of academic performance, relation between student part-time work and academic performance, and drivers of students' decision to work. Researchers note both positive and negative relations between student work and academic performance, with the positive connection less reported. The positive relation primarily involves students' improved ability to link theory with practice, while the negative impact of work on academic success is associated with more time devoted to work. The common tangible key driver of students' decision to work is meeting financial needs, and the intangible drivers include gaining work experience and developing practical skills. This paper's contributions lie in systematising positive and negative impacts of student work on academic performance and providing a better understanding of the drivers of students' work engagement. The results can ultimately serve as bases for further research on student work's impact on academic performance, as well as incentives for higher education institutions to rethink the possibilities of better integration of student work into curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach: This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings: Adolescents with parents who attain higher education levels, have highly skilled jobs, come from affluent families and have urban hukou are more likely to have higher employability skills than those with lower SES backgrounds. They also tend to improve their employability skills than those without these characteristics. Originality/value: The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates the importance and role of authentic assessments, that replicate industry practice, within Higher Education marketing programmes. We answer the call from employers, that students need to gain much-needed employability skills, and we illustrate how such assessments can be created to enable the development of employability skills. We provide an overview of four case studies, to illustrate different forms of authentic assessments, the theory which was used to underpin the designs, the skills developed during the assessments, and the outcomes of the assessments. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced a move to online assessments, it is timely that we reflect on the value of authentic assessments and adjust our practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study aims to ratify skills necessary to bridge the gap between the existing models and emerging needs of a technology-enabled workspace; especially in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach: This paper extends the ongoing debate on a relevant employability framework suitable both for higher education institutes and corporates. To remain resilient to future catastrophes similar to the ongoing pandemic, the relevancy of established employability skills to suit the changing scenario needs to be established. Findings: The partial least squares (PLS) technique has been used to present a framework confirming the importance of digital competencies, business fundamentals and behavioral skills. In-depth discussions with specialists ratified the proposed framework and recommended potential changes in curriculum and pedagogy. Research limitations/implications: This study validates an explicit and comprehensive employability skill framework and useful recommendations in teaching strategies, which may provide a broad skill base for graduates to prepare for the volatile business environment in the long run. Practical implications: The study has been able to put forth significant employability skills as deemed significant by the three stakeholders. This will provide guidance to higher educational institutions (HEIs) to come up with a broad skill-base for the fresh graduates and prepare them for the volatile business environment and encourage life-long learning to remain productive in the long run. Originality/value: The study is unique as it incorporates the perceived importance of the competencies assumed by each stakeholder, namely, employers, faculty and management graduates, which was unfortunately lacking in earlier researches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study aimed to investigate one of the search’s core issues, ‘employability skills’, and their relationship. It also attempted to recognize the valuable contributions of writers, journals, governments, and institutions worldwide in pursuing employability skills. The quantitative study of bibliographic content is known as bibliometric analysis. Furthermore, it provides a broad view of a study subject that may be subdivided into publications, authors, and journals. This study offers a bibliometric summary of recent research on employability skills. Data was taken from the Scopus database between 2003 and 2022 and examined using VOSviewer software, open refine, tableau public, and Microsoft Excel. The data from the Scopus database are 1,070 documents. Researchers observed that researchers mainly focus on employability skills, higher education, engineering education, curricula, employment, and vocational education. Education and Training journal is the most appropriate journal for contributions, followed by Higher Education, Skills, and Work-based Learning journal, and then the Higher Education Research and Development journal. This study informs researchers by providing insights into basic background knowledge about employability skills for visual and quantitative research. Therefore, this method can observe the research gap in employability skills and more indepth academic discussions. The study demonstrates how employability skills research has arisen and progressed, as well as prospective future research agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review empirical research on the measurement of employability, conducted in a 23-year period from 2000 to 2022. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic and extensive search of the literature was conducted to select a set of studies that fit the inclusion criteria and addressed the research questions. These studies were conducted worldwide and published anytime from 2000 to 2022. The process of data extraction involved a tabulation of common themes across the studies. Thereafter, the data from the studies were analysed and interpreted to arrive at the findings. Findings: The findings of this paper show variations in the measures of employability with respect to location, data points, domains and indicators of employability applied. Based on the type of indicators of employability applied, the studies can be categorised as those applying subjective indicators, objective indicators or a combination of the two. Research limitations/implications: The paper observed that there has been a great focus on measuring employability using subjective indicators. However, in order to help individuals face the unpredictability of fractious labour markets, going ahead, this measure will not be sufficient. Empirical research needs to focus on applying holistic measures of employability combining both subjective and objective indicators. Originality/value: This paper presents a detailed categorisation of measures of employability. Thereby, the paper provides useful insights to help practitioners choose a suitable measure of employability for future studies. The paper also makes a case for widening the scope of present measures to apply the construct of employability effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects upon the journey of the author in facilitating collaborative teaching and learning practices for developing employability skills in General Education Mathematics courses at the undergraduate level. The paper discusses similar experiences of STEM faculty members who have experimented with collaborative learning and teaching for enhancing student experience. The research also discusses how specific employability skills can be developed during various stages of the collaborative teaching and learning model designed for the purpose of the study. Team formation and work in teams are discussed in detail. Finally, the paper concludes with the possibilities of future SoTL research for employability purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, several publications and media outlets have highlighted how the skills and interests of autistic individuals may benefit organizations. However, there is scant empirical research on the topic. The present study's authors conducted a systematic review to find which potential employability skills, strengths, and interests of autistic individuals available research has highlighted. Data extraction methods identified 51 papers related to skills in this population. The skill sets autistic individuals may possess and the research behind these findings were organized, evaluated, and summarized. Based on these findings, investigators discuss implications for employment counseling and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employability skills are the capabilities and qualities employers look for in candidates while assessing them for employment. In case of engineers, employers demand generic and technical skills from engineers ready to join industries. This paper aims to explore the perception of Indian employers on the issue of the employability skills of engineers. Specifically, it aims to determine whether the skill requirement of engineers will change or remain the same in the post-COVID 19 era. This study used the interview method of qualitative analysis in which 16 interviews of human resource managers of different multinational companies were conducted. The findings reveal a sudden and significant paradigm shift in the required set of employability skills for engineering professionals. Digital skills have dominated over other technical and generic skills in the list of employability skills that recruiters demand. The findings can be used to spread awareness among engineering graduates about the changing demands of the workplace. Secondly, higher education institutions can rethink and revise their curriculum to develop digital skills. Lastly, the use of in-depth interview method can help future researchers to develop questionnaires from the extensive data and replicate the research questions to understand the change in demand of employers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite significant recent changes to the doctoral training environment, particularly provision of employability skills during candidature, there is a paucity of research investigating best practice in this area. This paper describes a case study in how various pedagogical theories, curriculum co-creation, lifelong learner, adult learning, cognitive load, spiral learning, reflective practice, and community of practice theories, were applied at an Australian university to develop and implement a Graduate Certificate aimed at increasing work readiness by delivering research and employability skills training to PhD candidates. Outlined are the rationale, student interest and theoretical basis underpinning this program, and its integrated suite of work-integrated learning (WIL) activities. Comparison against an emerging framework for high quality WIL demonstrated key alignments between the program and the quality WIL framework. These alignments highlight important considerations for comprehensive training of PhD candidates, together with recommendations for future research into WIL and employability training for PhD candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well documented that engineering practice is as much social as it is technical. Providing accurate course mapping and supporting teaching staff to scaffold engineering practice learning through whole of programme curriculum are key challenges. This study proposes a conceptual framework for engineering professional practice in an Australian context that is constructed through the triangulation of data collected from practitioner perspectives, literature, and reflection upon both authors' industry experiences. This employability skill development framework describes six key themes as graduate-level learning outcomes aligned to Australian accreditation requirements in a format that readily supports explicit inclusion of engineering professional practice in curriculum design. These key themes are illustrated along a continuum of personal, interpersonal, and contextual competencies and attitudes to communicate the interrelated nature of engineering employability skills. While this paper does not attempt to propose a universal framework, its potential broader relevance, future refinement, and evaluation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the digital transformation of businesses, digital marketing has been a prominent feature of organizations in the 21st century. Changing consumer behavior has also created a need for versatile hard and soft skills for marketing professionals. Inspired by the ongoing disruption to businesses across the world, this research focuses on employability skills in the field of e-commerce. A systematic review of the managerial research literature on digital marketing and e-commerce competencies has revealed a research gap regarding the investigation of the perceived importance of employability skills. The aim of this paper is to find out how important these skills are for future and current employees. The novelty of this study is the comparison between perceptions related to nonworking versus working young employees based on five key skill categories across 30 soft and hard skills. The study is quantitative in nature: a self-administered computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) method is used for data collection. The findings reveal that the examined skills are perceived as important from the employee point of view. In addition to exploring the perceived relevance of the employability skills categories, the study identifies differences among the skills that young workers consider important in terms of their work experience. The research results reveal significant differences by work segments in relation to soft skills, such as teamwork, stress resilience, planning, organization and time management, precision, and attention to detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preparing kinesiology undergraduates with the foundational knowledge required by professional organizations is no longer enough when considering the skills students are required to demonstrate upon entering the job market. Work-integrated learning, embedded through curricular and cocurricular activities, has seen extensive growth in the posteducation landscape of Canadian institutions. With increasing expectations from future employers, graduates in the field of kinesiology require more experiential opportunities to meet these expectations. The aim of this paper is to provide commentary on how the Bachelor of Kinesiology program at Capilano University underwent the necessary changes to incorporate a required professional practice stream to align with industry expectations. The authors discuss the development of laddering course learning outcomes, course content, reflection, and student evaluation. Additionally, they provide rationale for its inclusion in the second year of the program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University graduates not in employment and training in Azerbaijan lack relevant skills and knowledge that would make them eligible for post-graduation opportunities. The SABAH project aimed to address this problem. This article explores the perceived benefits of this advanced education program for students' eligibility for post-graduation opportunities, such as employment. 25 undergraduate students majoring in the fields of human resource management, teaching English as a foreign language, business administration, law, economic science and earth sciences were interviewed for this research paper. Two key dimensions of perceptions were highlighted: the search for novelties in university training and the future-oriented advantages of education programs. Data analysis is based on the concept that the SABAH program emerges as a 'change maker' in educational practice due to its novelty of bringing business partners to classrooms and arranging job placements tailored to students' personal and professional profiles. The study also concluded that integrating the international and intercultural dimensions of education in higher education delivery and engaging potential employers in teaching processes can help students develop the competencies needed for employment and facilitate graduates' access to post-graduation opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflection has been increasingly used to enhance student development in higher education, in both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Learner autonomy is essential on reflection, particularly on how learners interpret their learning experiences. The learner has to take initiatives in making meaning of their learning by examining their experiences, and purposefully exploring their learning. Reflection is a key component in active learning as students actively engage in the process of thinking about what they have learnt or experienced. Mezirow highlighted how reflection can mean many things, including awareness of a perception, thought, feeling, intention and action, taking something into consideration or simply imagining alternatives. And there are also multiple approaches to embracing reflection today, such as reflective essays, videos and online blogs, where reflective processes and approaches may differ particularly in relation to technological adoption. In a learning environment, reflective approaches are adopted with the aim for learners to transfer knowledge and experiences to practice. However, there is scarce literature on student perception of the different reflective approaches. The present paper therefore examines student perspectives on four different reflective approaches and how these different approaches are applied within the context of higher education. The four approaches chosen are written, audio, video and face-to-face based on current literature on how reflection is documented or presented in education) and the integration of the concept of multimodality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study emphasizes the importance of writing skills in English and analyses from various perspectives the reasons for the present-day students lacking good writing skills in English. The authors insist on reading of autobiographies for better enhancement of writing skills and the insistence is justified appropriately. The paper begins with the importance of writing skills in the present scenario, throws light on literature-based approach and a detailed description of the methodology adopted by the researcher including conduct of a pre-test for the selected students of engineering students from various branches of engineering (at the entry-level), a three-month session on reading of select autobiographies along with language activities for the selected students, and a post-test after reading the autobiographies (at the exit level). The statistical approach paired-t-test and one-way ANOVA have been used to examine the efficiency of the autobiographies that help to improve the writing skills of students in English based on the marks secured in the post-test. A comprehensive input was given on the autobiography reading session by the students selected for the experiment. The performance of the students in the tests bears testimony to the fact that reading of autobiographies remarkably enables learners to enhance their writing skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology has been responsible for the digitisation and automation of routine jobs. With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI) this trend is likely to continue into more technical or sophisticated work. This gives rise to the question; how can graduates and employees ensure they have a job in the future? A precondition for understanding lifelong learning is to clarify what kind of learning may take place throughout an employee’s career. This paper explores the concepts of employability skills, soft skills, and 21st century skills in an effort to identify where particularly human skills will still be essential. After reviewing research in the area of employability skills, mainly from a labour market perspective, the paper goes on to contextualise the training and development of employability skills in higher education. Following that, reasons for developing and introducing employability skills modules in higher education are discussed and based on the literature, recommendations are made for higher education institutions, tutors, students, and employees.

Building employability skills in Cambodia is emphasised in the development of higher education within the globalisation context. Given that English proficiency has increasingly become an important credential in the more internationalised Cambodian labour market, this paper examines the development and revision of an English language education programme at a renowned university in Phnom Penh to exemplify how an emphasis on employability skills development emerges with the global trends in curriculum in Cambodian higher education. It also discusses how revisions are made in response to the changing national context and how corresponding changes in pedagogical strategy appear at the institutional and classroom levels. This discussion documents and analyses the interplay between curriculum development and changes at global, national, and institutional levels in Cambodia – a fast-growing country that actively engages with globalisation and regionalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how students’ employability develops during undergraduate studies at a Dutch liberal arts college compared to a conventional bachelor’s programme in law at the same university. Drawing on the graduate capital model, the study focuses on six skills that enhance employability: creativity, lifelong learning, career decidedness, self-efficacy, resilience, and personal initiative. To measure employability growth, a cross-sectional pseudo-cohort research design is adopted, comparing first-, second-, and third-year student cohorts. The results show that liberal arts students make significant progress in five out of the six examined employability-related skills. Compared to the conventional programme, the gains in creativity and personal initiative particularly stand out, reflecting the differences between interdisciplinary and monodisciplinary learning, and self-tailored and fixed curriculum structures. This refutes the stereotype that a liberal arts degree does not prepare students for the labour market and points to the relevance of programme-specific features for employability development in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how authentic assessment can be implemented to enhance opportunities to develop employability skills through problem-solving tasks. Based on the eight key tenets of authentic assessment (Ashford-Rowe, Herrington and Brown, 2014), this paper presents formative and summative assessment case studies which were created in partnership with external stakeholders on three separate degree programmes at an undergraduate college-based higher education provider. The case studies report on the development of employability skills through authentic learning design on courses ranging from level 4 to level 6 of the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications. The cases add weight to the argument for embedding employability within the curriculum wherein the core skills/intended outcomes are delivered as part of the taught curriculum rather than as paralleled approaches which aim to develop employability as an add-on. Each of the case studies are individually distinct, however they each share commonalities that collectively produce an effective framework for authentic assessment design. These key components include effective collaboration with external stakeholders (employers) from within the respective sectors, the joint formulation of a ‘problem’ that allows students to apply real world skillsets to overcome, and lastly the opportunity for external stakeholders to contribute towards feedback that students receive in respect to the assessment carried out. Learning developers in higher education should look to utilise the conclusions of this paper to inform learning design in their contexts.

Globally, with the recent technological advancement and innovative capabilities, Higher education institutions (HEI) are adopting information technology tools for teaching in online environments through virtual classroom platforms. Further, the administration of HEI is majorly concerned with students' employability skills and is always willing to empower students to achieve their career goals. The study explores the online e-learning tools like learning analytics and examine their impact on the employability skills of students of higher educational institutions for sustainable development. The paper investigates the mediation effect of learning analytics in influencing the online learning usefulness, and knowledge on the employability skills of the students. The study has used PLS-SEM approach to analyze the responses collected from 172 undergraduate students across universities of Delhi-NCR to test the hypothesis. The results confirm a positive and significant mediation of learning analytics in the relationship of e-learning usefulness and knowledge in achieving employability skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Ensuring a sufficient, appropriately qualified health workforce is of global concern. Understanding the attributes that employers seek is critical in recruitment, retention, and educational design. In physiotherapy, there is a dearth of evidence on desirable attributes that employers seek from early-career physiotherapists. This study directly addresses this gap. The aims of this study were to identify the characteristics of the jobs advertised for early-career physiotherapists in Australia; determine which attributes were most desired when employing an early-career physiotherapist; and identify if there were differences in the attributes required based upon workplace location. Methods: New graduate and early-career physiotherapy job advertisements were collected for six months from 1st October 2020 until 31st March 2021 from SEEK.com.au, a large online employment marketplace that operates across ten countries in the Asia Pacific and Latin America. Job advertisements needed to specify new graduate or early-career physiotherapist eligibility and be located within Australia. Data extraction were completed using QuestionPro®. The Modified Monash Model was used to classify rurality of job location. Job advertisements were analysed descriptively and using content analysis to identify attributes. Results: The search yielded 578 job advertisements with the greatest number collected in October 2020 (25.3%). Of the advertisements, 428 (74.0%) were in metropolitan locations (Modified Monash 1), 47 (8.1%) were in regional (Modified Monash 2), 99 (17.1%) were in rural locations (Modified Monash 3–5), and 4 (0.8%) were in remote locations (Modified Monash 6–7). Most roles were in private practice (63.3%) or aged care (21.7%). The top five attributes requested by employers were client focus, communication and interpersonal skills, team player, willingness to learn, and being able to build rapport, relationships, and networks. Academic results, resilience, and empathy were the least requested attributes. Differences in requested employability attributes increased with rurality. Conclusions: This study addresses the current knowledge about attributes sought by employers for early-career physiotherapists. The most prevalent attributes requested were client focus and communication and interpersonal skills. This exploration of attributes can help to better prepare graduates for their first roles, align expectations, and increase understanding of priorities for entry level university programs, as well as identify priorities for support during transition to practice. Desired attributes should be clearly defined by employers in recruitment and retention processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the key roles, responsibilities, and skills sought when advertising for the recruitment of Applied Performance Analysts (APAs) in UK and Irish professional sports settings. Deductive and inductive content analysis of the job descriptions and personal specifications of 130 job advertisements from 2021 to 2022 across the entire APA spectrum was undertaken. This encompassed 21 different specific role titles. Despite unified advertisement formats, noticeable variations emerged regarding length and content focus, regardless of First-team or Academy positions. The findings revealed a greater focus on Sports Performance Analysis (SPA), sports, and technical expertise coupled with professional behaviours in APA advertisements, with less priority shown to relationship-building skills. First-team positions particularly requested more skill-specific analysis expertise. Academy APAs were expected to focus on collecting data, facilitating feedback, in addition to creating and approving infrastructure for various age groups. Comparatively, First-team roles involved more complex data analysis tasks, including interrogating data, trend identification, and stakeholder reporting. The analysis not only highlights role discrepancies but also serves as a potential framework for employers when creating job advertisements, assists applicants in identifying the key skills to highlight, and informs curriculum and training programmes to cover the entire APA spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study exploring the perspective of employers on architecture graduates' employability skills during their employment. The study employed a survey research methodological approach. A total of 85 employers completed the survey. The findings of the study revealed that among the four employability skills dimensions measured, the communication skills dimension was scored highest, (M = 3.69, SD = 0.78), this was followed by career-related and teamwork skills (CTW) (M=3.64, SD=0.732), technical skills dimension (TECH) (M=3.52, SD=0.79) and the lowest total mean (M=3.41, SD=0.84) was reported for critical thinking skills (CT). The study elucidates that employer value graduates' communication skills; however, they expected the graduates to demonstrate a range of other essential skills that include critical thinking, problem-solving, leadership and profession-related skills such as construction and structure that is essential to develop and build their design. Consequently, the study suggests for the HEI to unlock the existing curriculum, adopt the work-based learning (WBL) approach which allows greater partnership with employers and exposure to the real-life project, to develop the essential employability skills that employers value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surveying profession has proven its value in the current era of development, as it offers services that generate, enhance, preserve, and protect valuable property and assets. Despite increasing attention, surveying education seems to be falling behind in meeting the demands of the construction industry by producing graduates with essential employability skills. Only a few studies have attempted to review the employability skills expected by employers from surveyor graduates. Therefore, this systematic review aims to identify essential elements of employability skills for surveyor graduates. The preparation of this review follows the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) review method. A total of 25 related studies were obtained from three databases: Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. The findings revealed that the most crucial employability skills expected from surveyor graduates are communication skills (functional work skills), leadership skills (functional work skills), teamwork skills (functional work skills), critical thinking skills (cognitive skills), and emotional intelligence (personal and entrepreneurial skills). Surveying education should consider incorporating these identified skill sets into their curriculum and training modules to ensure the employability and readiness of graduates for the workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies on employability skills and job performance utilised data from employers and students without paying attention to graduates who work concurrently. These studies also presume that having acquired employability skills, one will perform on the job. According to other studies, this is far from reality due to recent mismatches between graduate skills and their jobs. Thus, questions remain as to whether the link between employability skills and job performance has been thoroughly investigated. Against this background, the current study examined the moderation of skill mismatch on the relationship between employability skills and graduate job performance. Data were collected from 580 respondents and analysed using PLS-SEM. It was revealed that skill mismatch moderates this relationship. It was also indicated that the perceptions of graduates who work concurrently were equally relevant for assessing this link. Future studies were, thus, recommended to consider the perceptions of graduates who work concurrently in their respective studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employability of youth in India has emerged as a major concern in recent years. Generally, it is as for uneducated or unskilled, but the situation is quite alarming even for educated youth as the skills provided by the institutions may not be at par with the industry's requirement. With this background, the study discusses the outcome of the preliminary research into the employability skills that private engineering institutions try to instill during their graduate course and the employability skills that software/IT companies consider when they undertake fresh recruitment. This paper aims to find the gap between industry's expectation and the availability which results in partial placements of engineering graduates and to ascertain the relationship between the employability skills and placement of engineering graduates. In particular, the set of employability skills considered for the study was derived from the literature review and pilot study. The data are derived from a survey carried out of 98 private engineering institutions in Delhi NCR and 20 IT/software companies, and the data were analysed using regression analysis and ANOVA. Both institutions and employers were found to focus on employability skills for the best returns. However, there is mismatch in consideration of the employability skills. There are certain skills on which companies lay more attention than the engineering institutions. The findings will be helpful for the engineering institutions and the regulatory bodies in revamping the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We described an exploration of the impact of India's state Gujarat Government's Employability enhancement drive, 'Finishing School' (FS) training on the graduate level tribal college students in Gujarat, India. A literature review on employment skills (ES), vision, mission, and ES set module of FS was used to formulate the tool–Employability Enhancement Measuring Scale (EEMS). Data generation methods include pre and post-tests by EEMS survey questionnaire. SPSS 24 statistical package program was used for data analysis. The values before and after the training were compared using the Paired and Independent samples t-test and descriptive statistics. Results indicated a significant positive effect on tribal students' employability skills. The tool traced what students became by improving upon the ES sets by the end of the 'FS' training. The study's significance lies in the focus on tribal groups, aligning with the state's long-term vision for holistic growth. With a majority of students from the underprivileged Dang Forest area, the research suggested that FS training promoted inclusive growth, contributing to New India @ 75, and supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4, 8, 10, and 16. It could be inferred that the experimental group in this study constituted 93% tribal students, many of whom were first-generation learners, making the Gujarat experiment a valuable model for potential adoption in diverse regions globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In the contemporary globalized and interconnected landscape, technical students pursuing successful career paths must possess indispensable employability skills. This paper acknowledges the shifting demands within the job market, where mere technical expertise may no longer suffice. Objective: In response to this imperative, the study suggests the implementation of a Task-Based methodology, wherein students actively engage in genuine, real-world assignments that mimic the professional challenges they are likely to encounter in their future careers. These practical tasks serve as catalysts for developing employability skills. Moreover, this approach incorporates the integration of Intercultural Competence into the educational framework. This adaptation recognizes the growing diversity within workplaces and aims to equip technical students with the competencies needed. Intercultural Competence encompasses cultural awareness, empathy, communication abilities, and proficiency in working harmoniously within multicultural teams. Methods: This research adopts a quantitative approach, where an online questionnaire is distributed via Google Forms to assess the effectiveness of the Task-Based Approach through Intercultural Competence. The study examines a sample size of 500 technical students from selected colleges in Madhya Pradesh. The statistical technique employed for analysis is Linear Regression in the SPSS software, enabling the exploration of correlations and variations among independent and dependent variables. Results: The results show that there is a high correlation between the variables, as well as showing the significance of the model. Considering the limitations of the study, the benefits of implementing a task-based approach through Intercultural Competence are evident. The challenge may include designing culturally relevant tasks, ensuring that faculty members are adequately trained to facilitate intercultural learning, and assessing students' progress in the areas of technical and transversal competencies. Conclusion: Overall, this study underscores the significance of Task-Based learning and Intercultural Competence in nurturing employability skills among technical students, thereby making a meaningful contribution to their personal and professional advancement.

The study examined the employability skills in clothing and textiles vocation and factors influencing the skills during work-based learning (WBL) among persons with special needs (PSN). These were with a view to enhancing sustainable living among them. The study was carried out in three Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) involved in special education in Nigeria. Purposive sampling was used to select 81 undergraduate students who had experience in WBL and 16 WBL facilitators. Trainees performed below average in screen printing, aso-oke weaving and dyeing of fabrics but did not know about automated manufacturing. Employability skills reported by the WBL facilitators showed that trainees demonstrated better improvement in time management, dependability, team playing and interpersonal skills. Finance, high cost of learning materials (x² = 2.32), tuition fees (x² = 2.31), affected the employability skills of trainees. Greater attention should be given to creativity and dependability skills among PSN. Efforts should be made to provide training in automated textile manufacturing for a more sustainable and inclusive lifestyle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]