Developing graduate employability skills and attributes: Curriculum enhancement through work-integrated learning

Abstract

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is considered a key strategy for promoting graduate employability. Graduate employability is a complex concept, one which has broadened in recent years to encapsulate a diverse range of skills, attributes, and other measures such as networks, professional-identity and active citizenship. This special issue presents recent scholarship on WIL and employability, addressing the question of how WIL contributes to enhancing employability outcomes for students and graduates. The importance of embedding WIL experiences in the curriculum so they are effectively supported by appropriate pedagogical strategies is emphasized, as well as the provision of quality assessment to support employability outcomes. Such supports, while critical, have resourcing implications for higher education, including impacts on staff workload which also need to be considered. Employability is considered in relation to the related construct of employment outcomes, pointing to ways in which these two perspectives can be better integrated. Recommendations are made for future research.