Abstract
Recently, the employability of higher education graduates has been a topic of interest within many policy documents and scientific studies. Given the lack of comprehensive research identifying the implications of this issue for practice, this article presents a maturity model to support graduates’ early careers within higher education institutions (HEIs). The model is developed using a five-step approach, following the design science paradigm and exploiting four case studies across Europe. The final maturity model contains 65 practices within four key process areas—13 within strategic planning, 26 within curriculum design and delivery, 16 within student support, and 10 within the provision of extracurricular activities. In addition, a description of capability assessment criteria at the five maturity levels for each practice is provided. The model presented in this article can be used by HEIs as a tool to assess the maturity of their practices that contribute to graduates’ employability.
Highlights
The concept of employability has been researched for years from both scientific and professional points of view
This phase resulted in 110 practices within four key process areas, representing the initial strategic framework for supporting higher education graduates’ early careers within higher education institutions (HEIs) (Pažur Aničić & Divjak, 2016), which provides an answer to the second research question, “Which are the key HEIs’ practices having impact to the preparation of higher education graduates for their early careers?” Using the capability assessment criteria, this framework was further evaluated and amended to form the final maturity model
The scientific contribution is evident in the development of a comprehensive maturity model for supporting graduates’ early careers
Summary
The concept of employability has been researched for years from both scientific and professional points of view. In terms of higher education, key strategies and policies at the EU and national levels indicate that HEIs are under pressure to educate graduates who will be employable after graduation This was recognized by Pažur Aničić and Divjak (2015), who proposed the connection between a strategic framework and a maturity model, and described the strategic framework as a basis for the development of a maturity model. The final strategic framework to support higher education graduates’ early careers presented in the scope of this article contains three main elements: key process areas, practices, and capability dimensions; while the maturity model contains five maturity levels (capability assessment criteria) for each of the practices, further described within the “Research Method” section. Along with the presented research objectives, three research questions related to the development of the final maturity model guide this research: Research Question 1: Which are the key higher education systems’ determinants having a major impact on the preparation of higher education graduates for their early careers? Research Question 2: Which are the key HEIs’ practices having impact to the preparation of higher education graduates for their early careers? Research Question 3: Which are the capability assessment criteria of key HEIs’ practices having impact to the preparation of higher education graduates for their early careers?
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