University Graduates And Employability: A Comparative Study In Europe And Australia

Background

In the recent times, the concern for the employability is seen to be growing day by day which is evident with the advancement in the educational sector along with introduction of the new reforms (Harvey et al., 2017). Some off the main concerning questions needs to eb followed with the various nature of the research which are seen to be based on the various types of the skills such as employment associated with the qualification and understanding of the skill sets which are needed for a particular job. Some of the different types of the other considerations for the study has been useful in depicting the relation between University Graduates and their employability level in Europe and Australia (Moore & Morton, 2017).

Employability is regarded as a vital consideration in the platform of commerce and industry for individuals especially with professional. However, in the recent times there has been some regions which has opposed to this theory. Despite of having no university degree, these regions are depicted with a high employability rate.

The main aim of the research is to find the relation among the university graduates and their level of employability.

As discussed by Bhola & Dhanawade (2014), employability of a graduate is understood as a propensity for exhibiting the attributes which the employers anticipate to be necessary for the effective functioning of their organisation. Some of the research has emphasised on attributes and skills such as knowledge for selecting the employability in a certain area. It is often considered as the capacity of an individual for being employed. The definition of employability passes through three main phases, firstly the one which talks about employability skills, second which deals with the process of the changes and third which applies the employability skills for getting a job. Therefore, employability is considered as the capacity of an individual in acquiring and understanding the attributes for satisfying the employer and gaining employment (Helyer & Lee, 2014).

Employability skills are those basic skills which are mandatory for getting along and doing well in a particular job. The varied nature of the transferable core skills group is often essential for representing essential and functional skills in the workplace. In simpler terms, employability skills are depicted as those skills which are applied across a wide variety of jobs and context inclusive of the page and formal education. These are considered as the set of social skills which are used to facilitate the socially situated activities such as learning, work and leisure. These skills are required for developing an individual’s career and life which are quite different from the technical viewpoint of ‘doing’ skills both in the way they are developed and by their nature (Johnson et al., 2016).

As stated by Pavlin & Svetlik (2014), the main concept of the employability skills is sometimes referred to the basic skills with the carrier and employability skills which are related to know how of the formalities. The graduates based in Europe and UK have often rated team work under oral communication and problem solving to be important in nature. The employer’s skill requirement is however depicted to vary by region, occupation and sector. Therefore, understanding and definition of the term skills is seen to be intricate in nature and often overlap between qualification and characteristics (Brooks, 2017).

Employability Definition and Skills

The of collection of data for the research study are based on secondary sources. The main source of data for collecting the findings of the relation between University Graduates and their employability level in Europe is based on based on the various type the information available in Euro stat (Walliman, 2017). The source of data for collecting the findings of the relation between University Graduates and their employability level in Australia is based on Graduates Carriers Australia (GCA). In order to ensure the reliability of the information, the data collected with respect of both Australia and Europe have been ensured to be taken from only 2017 (Silverman, 2016).

The main approach of analysing the data has been conducted with finding the relation of employability levels among the individuals who are graduate and undergraduate. The important nature of the data analysis tools has been depicted with the use of regression model and descriptive statistics (Choy, 2014). The regression model has found whether there is any significance among the employability of the individuals who are graduate courses in compared to those who are undergraduates. The use of descriptive statistics has been conducive in knowing about the mean employability levels of individuals who are graduate and non-graduate both in Europe and Australia. The software used to record and analyse the data is seen with IBM SPSS (Smith, 2015).

Findings of the relation between University Graduates and their employability level in Europe

Upper secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary and tertiary education (levels 3-8)
From 1 to 3 years
From 15 to 34 years
Europe
GEO/TIME	2017
European Union (current composition)	75.0
European Union (before the accession of Croatia)	75.1
European Union (15 countries)	75.0
Euro area (19 countries)	72.5
Euro area (18 countries)	72.5
Euro area (17 countries)	72.5
Table: Upper secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary and tertiary education (levels 3-8) in Europe The table shown above clearly shows the employment rate of the individuals with university graduates with levels three to eight Upper secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary and tertiary education in Europe. The time consideration is depicted with the data collected from 2017. The various types of the regional consideration have been further taken from the European Union before the accession of Croatia and Euro area. The main source of the data has been seen to be based on the various type the information such as Euro stat Less than primary, primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 0-4)
From 1 to 3 years
From 15 to 34 years
Europe
GEO/TIME	2017
European Union (current composition)	61.1
European Union (before the accession of Croatia)	61.1
European Union (15 countries)	61.1
Euro area (19 countries)	57.7
Euro area (18 countries)	57.8
Euro area (17 countries)	57.7

Table: Less than primary, primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 0-4) in Europe

The table shown above clearly shows the employment rate of the individuals with Less than primary, primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 0-4) in Europe. The time consideration is depicted with the data collected from 2017. The various types of the regional consideration have been further taken from the European Union before the accession of Croatia and Euro area. The main source of the data has been seen to be based on the various type the information such as Euro stat.

Descriptive Statistics and Regression Analysis

Mean	Std. Deviation	N
73.7667	1.38804	6
59.4167	1.84436	6
The mean of the employment rate of the individuals with Upper secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary and tertiary education (levels 3-8) in Europe is seen with 73.76%. Moreover, the deviation of 1.38 has been able to suggest that there is significantly less variation of the rate of the employment for the individuals with graduation degrees.  The mean value for the individuals with Less than primary, primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 0-4) in Europe is seen with only 59.416. Correlations
	VAR00002	VAR00003
VAR00002	1.000	.999
VAR00003	.999	1.000
VAR00002		.000
VAR00003	.000
VAR00002	6	6
VAR00003	6	6
Similarly, the low correlation value from the data has been able to suggest that there is significantly less variation of the rate of the employment for the individuals with graduation degrees in compared to the individuals with non-graduate degrees. Variables Entered/Removeda
Variables Entered	Variables Removed	Method
VAR00003b		Enter
a. Dependent Variable: VAR00002
b. All requested variables entered.
Model Summary
R	R Square	Adjusted R Square	Std. Error of the Estimate
.999a	.999	.999	.05109
a. Predictors: (Constant), VAR00003
ANOVAa
Model	Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Regression	9.623	1	9.623	3686.939	.000b
Residual	.010	4	.003
Total	9.633	5
a. Dependent Variable: VAR00002
b. Predictors: (Constant), VAR00003 The non-significance of the regression analysis in the Upper secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary, tertiary education (level 3-8) and Less than primary, primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 0-4) clearly suggests that there is difference in the employment rate among the individuals who are university graduates and non-university graduates in Europe is significantly high. The non-significance in the regression analysis further suggests that the employment rate of the graduates is not comparable with the undergraduates.
Coefficientsa
Model	Unstandardized Coefficients	Standardized Coefficients	t	Sig.
B	Std. Error	Beta
(Constant)	29.075	.736		39.486	.000
VAR00003	.752	.012	.999	60.720	.000
a. Dependent Variable: VAR00002

The low amount of the coefficient value has been further able to suggest that there needs to be the main consideration made in in terms of the individuals with the Upper secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary and tertiary education (levels 3-8) in Europe. They have a significant difference with the rate of employment when compared to Less than primary, primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 0-4) in Europe.

Median full-time salaries by study area and sex, 2015-17
Study area	2017 Graduates	2017 Undergraduates
Agriculture and environmental studies	55.8	84.2
Architecture and built environment	56.4	87.2
Business and management	55.2	87.2
Communications	50	84.6
Computing and Information Systems	59.9	82.1
Creative arts	48	80
Dentistry	78.3	95.7
Engineering	64	86.5
Health services and support	61.3	89.9
Humanities, culture and social sciences	47	83.6
Law and paralegal studies	60	85.3
Medicine	70.3	95.9
Nursing	60	91.7
Pharmacy	44.2	95.8
Psychology	57.6	84.8
Rehabilitation	61.5	95.8
Science and mathematics	57.5	80.6
Social work	62.6	86.1
Teacher education	63.5	93
Tourism, hospitality, personal, Services, sport and recreation	52.2	86.8
Veterinary science	51.6	87.5

Table: Difference between the graduates and undergraduates of 2017 in Australia

The given table suggests the rate of employment in different sectors among the individuals who are graduates and undergraduates in 2017. The overall data set is able to state that there are several instances where the employment rate of the undergraduates is much higher than the graduates. The inference for such a result can be drawn due to varied range of external factors.

Descriptive Statistics and Regression Analysis

Descriptive Statistics
	Mean	Std. Deviation	N
VAR00002	57.9476	7.90940	21
VAR00003	87.8238	5.05133	21
The important nature of the inference drawn from the descriptive statistics is able to suggest in Australia the mean of the individuals with higher employment rate is applicable to the non-graduates. This is evident with mean of the graduates in Australia who are seen to be having average employment rate 57.94, whereas the individuals who are non-graduates are 87.82. Correlations
	VAR00002	VAR00003
Pearson Correlation	VAR00002	1.000	.454
VAR00003	.454	1.000
Sig. (1-tailed)	VAR00002		.019
VAR00003	.019
N	VAR00002	21	21
VAR00003	21	21
The high amount of the correlation among the graduates and non-graduates in Australia has been able to suggest that there is significant amount of similarity among the employment rate of the individuals who are graduates and who are non-graduates. This is evident with a Sig. (1-tailed) value of 0.019. Variables Entered/Removeda
Model	Variables Entered	Variables Removed	Method
1	VAR00003b		Enter
a. Dependent Variable: VAR00002
b. All requested variables entered.
Model Summary
Model	R	R Square	Adjusted R Square	Std. Error of the Estimate
1	.454a	.206	.164	7.23237
a. Predictors: (Constant), VAR00003
ANOVAa
Model	Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
1	Regression	257.337	1	257.337	4.920	.039b
Residual	993.835	19	52.307
Total	1251.172	20
a. Dependent Variable: VAR00002
b. Predictors: (Constant), VAR00003
The significant nature of the regression is suggested with a regression value of 0.039. This states that there is a considerable amount of the similarity of the employment levels of the graduates and undergraduates in Australia in 2017. Coefficientsa
Model	Unstandardized Coefficients	Standardized Coefficients	t	Sig.
B	Std. Error	Beta
1	(Constant)	-4.418	28.161		-.157	.877
VAR00003	.710	.320	.454	2.218	.039
a. Dependent Variable: VAR00002

The high amount of the coefficient value of 0.877 is able to state that there is considerable amount of relation of the individual’s employment who are graduates and under graduates.

Methodology and Data Collection

University Graduates and their employability level in Europe

The overall findings from the secondary analysis has been able to state that the highest employment rate in 2017 were discerned with the individuals who had graduated with Upper secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary and tertiary education (levels 3-8) in Europe. While low employment rates were discerned for the individuals with Less than primary, primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 0-4) in Europe. The indicator for the employment rate of the recent graduates are mainly concerned with the present graduates who into another employment and those who do not poses any further formal or non-formal education or training. The proportion of the present graduates undertaking the present education or training are not considered under the current indicator. There may be significant amount of the falling participation in the training and education since the time there has been considerable amount of the increase in the level of the employment.  In several instance in cases of skills mismatch the tertiary graduates are seen to be taking the jobs for which they are over qualified in nature. This is seen as another reason form the increase in the rate of the employment level among the graduates in Europe.

University Graduates and their employability level in Australia

The 2017 report published by GOS has been able to suggest on the overall employment and fulltime employment for the 21 QILT based fields with the AGS figures. The fields achieved with full time employment rate of 80% in various fields. These fields were relevant with medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, rehabilitation, education and veterinary science. Majority of the fields were seen to be based on the significant nature of the consideration with the 2015 and 2016 figures. The graduates of the creative art were often able to find themselves in unrelated part time employment during the practising the craft or art on a part time basis. In simpler terms it may be stated that there are few available full-time positions with regard to the new creative arts along with the degrees of entrepreneurship.  The varied results for the higher employability for the undergraduates might be defined with self-employment which is essential for establishing their personal careers even without a graduate degree.

In addition to this, it can be also inferred that in some fields the graduates take longer duration of time to find full time work. This is also evident with slower labour market in and non-necessity of the quality of the graduates for the choices of the subjects. In addition to this, employment reported in the areas of the graduates will be taken into consideration with the trained graduates along with the opportunities in the relevant occupations which may be limited in some cases, while the various types of the other workers may prefer to work on a part-time basis thereby not requiring any university graduation degree. The data collected from the secondary analysis has been also able to state that there is important nature of the variation among the individuals who are seeking full time employment and having a detailed full-time work. In terms of the data on the employment rate despite of the lower rate of employability among the graduates there is a significant difference in the salary range.

Data Analysis

In 2017, the new male graduates were depicted to be drawing a median salary of $ 60,100 whereas the female graduates were depicted to be having a median salary of $ 57,900. The lower range of the salary has been further defined with ‘like for like’ inequalities in some workplace. It may be further stated that the overall identification of the additional information is not seen to be captured with GDS.

Conclusion

The conclusion of the research report has enumerated by him and research question, limitations and recommendation.

Addressing the aim and research questions

The main aim of the research was to conduct a study on relation among the university graduates and their level of employability. As per the findings of the study, there has been mixed results of employability level among graduate and undergraduate which are mainly dependent on employability skill which is varying from one region to another religion, i.e. Europe and Australia. The first research question has been answered with the mean of the employment rate of the individuals with Upper secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary and tertiary education (levels 3-8) in Europe with 73.76% and the mean value for the individuals with Less than primary, primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 0-4) with only 59.416. The low correlation value from the data has been able to suggest that there is significantly less variation of the rate of the employment for the individuals with graduation degrees in compared to the individuals with non-graduate degrees. In addition to this, the non-significance of the regression analysis in the Upper secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary, tertiary education (level 3-8) and Less than primary, primary, secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 0-4) clearly suggests that there is difference in the employment rate among the individuals who are university graduates and non-university graduates in Europe is significantly high.

The second research question has stated that there are several instances where the employment rate of the undergraduates is much higher than the graduates. The mean of the individuals with higher employment rate is applicable to the non-graduates in Australia. regression is suggested with a regression value of 0.039. This states that there is a considerable amount of the similarity of the employment levels of the graduates and undergraduates in Australia in 2017.

Limitations

The main limitation of the present research is seen to be based on the relation among the university graduates and their level of employability only in Australia and Europe. The result may be differing in nature if other countries are also taken into account.

Recommendations

This study is conducive in comparing nature of varying employability rate from one region to another region. The study is also applicable in situations where there is slower labour market in and non-necessity of the quality of the graduates for the choices of the subjects. This research is also helpful in comparing their employability rate among individuals who are graduate and non-graduate according to various types of professions such as medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, rehabilitation, education and veterinary science.

References

Appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu. (2018).  Retrieved 19 July 2018, from https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do

Bhola, S. S., & Dhanawade, S. (2014). Higher education and employability-A review.

Graduatecareers.com.au. (2018). Retrieved 19 July 2018, from https://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/GradStats-2017-3.pdf

Helyer, R., & Lee, D. (2014). The role of work experience in the future employability of higher education graduates. Higher Education Quarterly, 68(3), 348-372.

Johnson, L., Becker, S. A., Cummins, M., Estrada, V., Freeman, A., & Hall, C. (2016). NMC horizon report: 2016 higher education edition (pp. 1-50). The New Media Consortium.

Brooks, R. (2017). ” Who wants a job anyway?”: Student approaches to graduate employability.

Pavlin, S., & Svetlik, I. (2014). Employability of higher education graduates in Europe. International journal of Manpower, 35(4), 418-424.

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Moore, T., & Morton, J. (2017). The myth of job readiness? Written communication, employability, and the ‘skills gap’in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 42(3), 591-609.

Harvey, A., Andrewartha, L., Edwards, D., Clarke, J., & Reyes, K. (2017). Student equity and employability in higher education. Report for the Australian Government Department of Education and Training. Melbourne: Centre for Higher Education Equity and Diversity Research, La Trobe University.