Student feedback gathered by the trade unions - much needed perspective on employability?
Abstract
Are universities responsible for the employability of graduates? In Finland it has been more or less self-evident that people with a university degree are not struck by unemployment. Now, even though the situation in Finland is much less concerning than it could be and higher education still is a major protection against unemployment, the Trade Unions SEFE and TEK see that there are enough reasons to take better care of our higher education from the employability point of view.
To have a role in discussion around employability and to emphasize the importance of actual learning, SEFE and TEK regularly gather feedback from newly graduates. The results are utilized by influencing the universities as well as political decision makers. In this session we will discuss graduate employability in the university education from a QA point of view as well as the role that a trade union can have in this discussion.
This paper was presented at EQAF and reflects the views of the named authors only.
