Cross-country comparison of engagement in apprenticeships: A conceptual analysis of incentives for individuals and firms

Purpose: A fundamental assumption of the apprenticeship model is that there are benefits to both employers and individual learners. This paper offers a broad conceptual interrogation of an inherent assumption in the apprenticeship model, in that it provides incentives for participation to both individual learners and employers. Approach: This study combines the analysis of literature and available data and draws upon apprenticeship models in ten nations: Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Egypt, England, Finland, Germany, India, Malaysia and South Africa. Findings: For individuals, incentives to undertake apprenticeship may be linked to the process and outcomes of that learning, such as the appeal of learning through doing; the opportunities for occupational socialization; the possibility of progression to employment or to additional education; and learning while earning. The analysis of incentives for employers shows a range of reasons related to their short-term interests and the needs of the production processes, technologies, and associated skills; longer-term benefits for the company’s staffing strategy; and the opportunity to make a contribution to the wider education and economic systems. Despite all the potential incentives, many firms consider apprenticeships too costly, risky, and complex to justify the investment. However, when firms are making decisions under the umbrella of chambers or associations, they are more likely to coordinate their skills investment strategies around collectively beneficial outcomes. Conclusion: The links to the labour market and specifically to employers are a key challenge for sustaining apprenticeship systems, as well as for the task of researching them. As such, policy maker (and researcher) engagement with apprenticeship should account for the capacity and commitment of employers. Another key challenge for apprenticeship is related to the relative attractiveness of this pathway within E&T and labour market system for individuals. What is clear from this study is that the development of a strong apprenticeship system requires the buy-in of both employers and individual learners, and as such the necessity to identify and effectively implement incentives cannot be underestimated. Governments can play a key role in realizing the potential incentives for both employers and learners, thereby yielding benefits of all parties engaged in apprenticeships

How do international student returnees contribute to the development of their home countries? A systematic mapping and thematic synthesis

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This study investigates the significant yet under-examined role of international student returnees in catalysing societal development in their home countries. Through systematic mapping and thematic synthesis of 53 articles selected from an initial pool of 1515, this review delineates the literature’s portrayal of returnees’ impacts across various domains, including firm growth, industrial innovation, higher education, research, social diversity, equity, inclusion, democracy, and civic engagement. While highlighting the skills, knowledge, and resilience students garner abroad—facilitating innovative problem-solving and engagement in their countries—the study concurrently points out the emerging nature and methodological limitations of the extant literature. This review identifies critical gaps in the literature on international student returnees. It notes a lack of global evidence and an overemphasis on certain geographical contexts which questions the generalisability of the findings. Furthermore, there is a narrow focus on economic and political impacts, overlooking crucial areas like poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. Equally important is the absence of comparative studies between returnees and local counterparts. This lack of comparative studies highlights the need to distinguish the unique effects of international versus domestic higher education. This review not only advances academic understanding by systematically mapping the underexplored nexus between international student mobility and societal development but also offers implications for policy. By delineating the transformative potential of returnees and highlighting the importance of conducive environments, it underscores the necessity of informed, strategic interventions to maximise returnees’ societal contributions. In doing so, the study acknowledges existing gaps and methodological limitations within the literature, advocating for a more nuanced and evidence-based approach to leveraging international education for sustainable development.Peer reviewe

Cross-country comparison of engagement in apprenticeships: A conceptual analysis of incentives for individuals and firms

Purpose: A fundamental assumption of the apprenticeship model is that there are benefits to both employers and individual learners. This paper offers a broad conceptual interrogation of an inherent assumption in the apprenticeship model, in that it provides incentives for participation to both individual learners and employers. Approach: This study combines the analysis of literature and available data and draws upon apprenticeship models in ten nations: Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Egypt, England, Finland, Germany, India, Malaysia and South Africa. Findings: For individuals, incentives to undertake apprenticeship may be linked to the process and outcomes of that learning, such as the appeal of learning through doing; the opportunities for occupational socialization; the possibility of progression to employment or to additional education; and learning while earning. The analysis of incentives for employers shows a range of reasons related to their short-term interests and the needs of the production processes, technologies, and associated skills; longer-term benefits for the company’s staffing strategy; and the opportunity to make a contribution to the wider education and economic systems. Despite all the potential incentives, many firms consider apprenticeships too costly, risky, and complex to justify the investment. However, when firms are making decisions under the umbrella of chambers or associations, they are more likely to coordinate their skills investment strategies around collectively beneficial outcomes. Conclusion: The links to the labour market and specifically to employers are a key challenge for sustaining apprenticeship systems, as well as for the task of researching them. As such, policy maker (and researcher) engagement with apprenticeship should account for the capacity and commitment of employers. Another key challenge for apprenticeship is related to the relative attractiveness of this pathway within E&T and labour market system for individuals. What is clear from this study is that the development of a strong apprenticeship system requires the buy-in of both employers and individual learners, and as such the necessity to identify and effectively implement incentives cannot be underestimated. Governments can play a key role in realizing the potential incentives for both employers and learners, thereby yielding benefits of all parties engaged in apprenticeships. (DIPF/Orig.

What happened to the Soviet University?

What Happened to the Soviet University? explores how one of the largest geopolitical changes of the twentieth century - the dissolution of the Soviet Union - triggered and inspired the reconfiguration of the Soviet university. The reader is invited to engage in a historical and sociological sensemaking of radical and incremental changes affecting sixty-nine former Soviet universities since the early 1990s. The study departs from traditional deficit-oriented, internalist explanations of change and illustrates how global flows of ideas, people, and finances have impacted higher education transformations in this region. It also identifies areas of persistence. The processes of marketisation, internationalisation, and academic liberation are analysed to show that universities have maintained certain traditions while adopting and internalising new ways of fulfilling their education and research functions. Soviet universities have survived chaotic processes of post-Soviet transformations and have self-stabilised with time. Most of them remain flagship institutions with large numbers of students and relatively high research productivity. At the same time, the majority of these universities operate in a top-down, one-man management environment with limited institutional autonomy and academic freedom. As the homes of intellectuals, universities represent a duality of opportunity and threat. Universities can nurture collective possibilities, imagining and bringing about a different future. At the same time, or perhaps because of this, the probability is high that universities will continue to be perceived as threats to the governments with authoritarian inclinations. One message to take away from this monograph is that the time is ripe for former Soviet universities to loosen their last remaining chains

Who funds the production of globally visible research in the Global South?

There exist large disparities globally when it comes to knowledge production with very small proportions of publications from the majority world penetrating the global science system. This paper examines the Scopus data on the funders of publications (co-)authored by individuals based in the Caucasus or Central Asia. The analysis shows that in the conditions of scarce local funding for research, research activity has been fuelled by international funding. The funding has been rather diverse and originated from 98 countries across North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Australia. The two countries most frequently mentioned in the funding acknowledgements are the United States and the Russian Federation, cumulatively accounting for approximately 20% of funding acknowledgements. Different types of organisations have funded globally visible research produced by authors based in the Caucasus and Central Asia, most notably bilateral agencies (68% of all funding acknowledgements), followed by philanthropies (7%), and multilateral organisations (5%). This paper offers evidence to question the viability of the narrative of North–South divisions in the global science system. While higher education and research are shaped within territorially bounded, self-contained, and discrete spaces of nation-states, the global science system rests on the extensive flows of funding and knowledge which extend well beyond the nation state

Three-Capital Approach to the Study of Young People who Excel in Vocational Occupations: A Case of WorldSkills Competitors and Entrepreneurship

This paper examines the entrepreneurial inclinations of young people who achieved excellence in vocational occupations. We propose a three-capital approach to the study of entrepreneurship. Relying on the existing theories and original qualitative and quantitative data analyses, findings from interviews with 30 entrepreneurial and 10 non-entrepreneurial WorldSkills competitors show that psychological capital, social capital and human capital can be combined to explore how young people who excel in vocational occupations develop entrepreneurial mindsets. We show that training for and participation in the largest vocational skills event globally - WorldSkills competition - develops selected aspects of three capitals. However, we also discover that the entrepreneurial motivation precedes competitors' involvement with WorldSkills

Georgia: marketization and education post-1991

The pre-copyediting and typesetting version of this book chapter will be available after 16 November 2015. It is not the final print version. Material is not to be cited

The role of non-state providers in informal science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education: a Malaysian perspective

The role of non-state providers in the provision of education has been expanding globally. However, there is a dearth of literature on the role of non-state providers in informal education, especially when delivered alongside formal education in schools predominantly under government purview. Using a mixture of methods designed with surveys and interviews involving 32 non-state providers of informal STEM education in Malaysia, this study provides new empirical material to understand the role of non-state providers in informal STEM education. Non-state providers play a complementary role to the government’s provision of formal STEM education through the informal variant, motivated by concerns of posterity and national development. At the same time, instances of political competition and bureaucratic barriers are at odds with the government’s aspirations for partnership with non-state providers in order to raise students’ interest in STEM