Discipline-specific and academic competencies of the higher educated: their value in the labour market and their acquisition in education

This paper summarizes the outlines of three empirical studies that we have carried out on actual labour market value of the various types of competencies acquired in higher education and how these competencies may be taught most effectively. The focus is on the discipline-specific competencies and academic competencies. In all three studies, use was made of the European CHEERS dataset. The main results with regard to the labour market value of the various competencies are that a high level of discipline-specific competencies provides graduates with a comparative advantage in jobs within their own professional domain, where they also earn more than outside this domain. Graduates who possess a high level of academic competencies, have a comparative advantage outside their own professional domain, where they may initially earn less than in their own domain. As they are more inclined to take part in training activities and are able to obtain the required competencies for a supervisory position more quickly, their salaries rise more quickly with time. With regard to the organization of the education process, we found that activating learning methods contribute effectively to both the acquisition of academic competencies and the acquisition of discipline-specific competencies. By combining these methods with a more prominent position for knowledge transfer by teachers, the acquired level of discipline-specific competencies can be increased without affecting the acquisition of academic competencies.education, training and the labour market;

The effects of higher education programme characteristics on allocation and performance of the graduates: a European view

This paper provides new insight into the role of higher educational programmes in allocation and performance during the transition from education to the labour market. Using a unique data set on the labour market situation of graduates in nine European countries, we investigate the significance of five characteristics of the higher education programmes: (1) The academic versus discipline-specific character of the competencies generated by the curriculum; (2) the level of standardization of the generated competencies; (3) the extent by which working and learning activities are combined, (4) the level of internationalization of the educational programme and (5) the extent to which a programme provides exclusive entrance to particular occupations.First, our results reveal in particular the importance of the competence orientation of the education programme. Allocation of graduates to occupations takes place in a manner that yields a situation wherein the competence orientation of the education is in congruence with the competence orientation of the occupation. Second, we show that the standardization of the education programme with respect to the competencies students acquire plays an important role in both informing the employer, and reducing the adjustment costs. By that, it allows for a higher remuneration of the graduates.education, training and the labour market;

Student time allocation, the learning environment and the acquisition of competencies

This paper investigates the significance of the higher education learning environment and the student’s time allocation over study related activities for the acquisition of generic and discipline-specific competencies. We discern four learning environments according to the emphasis placed on activating learning methods and the emphasis placed on the teacher as main source of information. Time used is measured for attention of formal education, self-study, extra-curricula activities and paid work. Using a unique data set on European higher education graduates, providing detailed information, we investigate the competencies acquisitions process by stochastic frontier production function methods. The results suggest that activating learning methods are effective in both, the acquisition of generic competencies and the acquisition of discipline-specific competencies. Moreover, the results show that discipline-specific competencies are acquired by attending formal education, by self-study and by paid work, as long as there is a strong link between the work and the study. Generic competencies are acquired by self-study and paid work that is related to the study.labour market entry and occupational careers;

Polarized laser-wakefield-accelerated kiloampere electron beams

High-flux polarized particle beams are of critical importance for the investigation of spin-dependent processes, such as in searches of physics beyond the Standard Model, as well as for scrutinizing the structure of solids and surfaces in material science. Here we demonstrate that kiloampere polarized electron beams can be produced via laser-wakefield acceleration from a gas target. A simple theoretical model for determining the electron beam polarization is presented and supported with self-consistent three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that incorporate the spin dynamics. By appropriately choosing the laser and gas parameters, we show that the depolarization of electrons induced by the laser-wakefield-acceleration process can be as low as 10%. Compared to currently available sources of polarized electron beams, the flux is increased by four orders of magnitude.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Is the 130 GeV Line Real? A Search for Systematics in the Fermi-LAT Data

Our recent claims of a Galactic center feature in Fermi-LAT data at approximately 130 GeV have prompted an avalanche of papers proposing explanations ranging from dark matter annihilation to exotic pulsar winds. Because of the importance of such interpretations for physics and astrophysics, a discovery will require not only additional data, but a thorough investigation of possible LAT systematics. While we do not have access to the details of each event reconstruction, we do have information about each event from the public event lists and spacecraft parameter files. These data allow us to search for suspicious trends that could indicate a spurious signal. We consider several hypotheses that might make an instrumental artifact more apparent at the Galactic center, and find them implausible. We also search for an instrumental signature in the Earth limb photons, which provide a smooth reference spectrum for null tests. We find no significant 130 GeV feature in the Earth limb sample. However, we do find a marginally significant 130 GeV feature in Earth limb photons with a limited range of detector incidence angles. This raises concerns about the 130 GeV Galactic center feature, even though we can think of no plausible model of instrumental behavior that connects the two. A modest amount of additional limb data would tell us if the limb feature is a statistical fluke. If the limb feature persists, it would raise doubts about the Pass 7 processing of E > 100 GeV events. At present we find no instrumental systematics that could plausibly explain the excess Galactic center emission at 130 GeV.Comment: 16 pages, 22 figure

An investigation into the role of human capital competences and their pay-off

Learning is possible both in school and later on when working. The learning process is thereby dependent on the context wherein it takes place. This implies that in particular three groups of competences can be distinguished. First of all, competences acquired in school, which are of direct use in later work, secondly, competences acquired in school, which facilitate acquiring new competences after graduation from school and finally, competences acquired mainly in a working context. Using a unique dataset on Italian university graduates, the target of this paper is to show that these three competences can indeed be distinguished and to discuss their different roles and pay-offs in the labour market.We will show that, firstly, the level of field-specific skills obtained in higher education offers graduates a comparative advantage when working inside the own field-specific domain and therefore has a pay-off for those graduates who are able to find a job in their own field-specific domain; secondly, that management skills are valued in the labour market but seem to be more effectively acquired in a working context than in higher education and thirdly, that general academic competences acquired in higher education do not pay off directly but have a significant supportive role when learning skills that have a direct pay-off in the labour market but are more effectively acquired outside education.labour market entry and occupational careers;