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The focus on short-term graduate employment metrics has catalysed the employability agenda as a strategic directive in universities. A raft of embedded, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities has emerged for developing employability. Their relative value lacks empirical exploration. This study explored graduates’ self-reported participation in, and their perspectives on the value of, a range of embedded, extra-curricular, and cocurricular learning activities, as well as paid work, for employability. Survey data were gathered (N = 510) from Business and Creative Industries graduates from three Australian universities about the perceived value of activities for skill development, gaining relevant experience, networking, and creating employment opportunities. The activities were considered more useful for gaining experience and skills than for broadening networks and improving career outcomes. Embedded and extra-curricular internships, as well as extra-curricular activities, were believed to be important for enhancing employability. Internships organised as an extra-curricular activity rated better than those delivered as work-integrated learning. Implications for stakeholders responsible for curricular and cocurricular design are discussed.

Big Data technology is one of the most promising organizational processes within the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical industry and crucial for any company that wants to preserve the competitive advantage in the market, where most of the organizational structures are already struggling with the right skills and knowledge to fully support existing business needs for storing and processing and even analyzing information. This paper aims to examine the extent to which new Big Data technology and data-related processes are developing different professionals skills and competencies within the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical industries, and creating sustainable development in addressing critical organizational challenges in recruiting, retaining, and discover professional skills that can fully support the advances and exponential growth of Big Data technology benefits. This research paper also highlights the significant aspects of Big Data in professional technical and process oriented skills development, and the influence it has on organizational business processes including how various internal functions will need to adapt to new circumstances with renewed competency and skills development programs for departments that are strongly connected to the business and analytical needs. We conducted a focus group with twenty-five industry based professionals’ ranges from analysts to executive directors to better assess the necessary knowledge to answer the proposed research questions: (1) which professional skills can big data influence in employee development and (2) how can organizations adapt their employee skills to big data. Regarding the key research limitations/implications most of the article and research was built on the foundation of the literature review and the performed focus group. The conceptual recommendations and observations presented provide solid empirical evidence but should be subjected to more comprehensive, large-scale empirical testing and validation. It’s recommended for future research a more extensive sample of companies, organizations, and interviewees. Studying a broader set of similar research questions in more homogeneous organizations could provide deeper insights into the process, governance, and stakeholder dimensions of Big Data within specific contexts. Therefore this study contributes to explore in-depth and systematically to what extent Big Data technology and processes are currently influencing the healthcare and pharmaceuticals industries where to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first focus group dealing with the presented research questions.

This book provides a comprehensive overview and in-depth analysis of research on psychosocial skills, examining both theory and areas of application. It discusses students' psychosocial skills both as components of academic success and desired educational outcomes in grades K through 12. The book describes an organizing framework for psychosocial skills and examines a range of specific constructs that includes achievement, motivation, self-efficacy, creativity, emotional intelligence, resilience, and the need for cognition. In addition, it reviews specific school-based interventions and examines issues that concern the malleability of psychosocial skills. It addresses issues relating to the integration of psychosocial skills into school curriculum as well as large-scale assessment policies.

PurposeThe paucity of artisans in some construction trades and the transitioning of the experience of the few for sustainability calls for concern. Mentorship programmes offer a promising mechanism to support construction artisans through those transitions. Mentorship may enhance artisan decent work and economic growth, like increased income for artisans. This is part of Sustainable Development Goal 8 (Goal 8). Hence, this study aims to investigate issues hindering construction artisan skills growth and suggest measures to improve construction artisan skills through mentorship mechanisms to achieve Goal 8.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a qualitative approach and collected data via oral interviews with knowledgeable participants. The participants were consultant experts in mentorship and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) matters, construction organisation management staffers and construction artisans in the Nigerian construction industry. The study covered Lagos and Abuja and achieved saturation at the 30th interviewee. Also, the research utilised a thematic method to analyse the collated data.FindingsEnhanced knowledge sharing accelerates junior artisans’ learning skills quickly, improving artisans’ performance, ensuring sustainability of the skills learned (knowledge retention), encouraging collaboration, building the next generation of leaders and transitioning of experience to mentees emerged as mentorship’s role in developing construction artisans’ skills. Findings show that mentorship mechanisms to develop construction artisan skills face encumbrances. The perceived 32 encumbrances were re-clustered into mentee, mentor and government-related encumbrances. Also, achieving Goal 8 regarding construction artisans may be threatened if these issues are not checked. Thus, the study recommended measures improving construction artisan skills through mentorship mechanisms to achieve Goal 8.Originality/valueIdentifying the major encumbrances facing construction artisan skills improvement through mentorship would be useful to advocate measures to improve construction artisan’s skills to achieve Goal 8.

\"This book will introduce fourteen of the most important soft skills in the field of education. It will explain how each skill is used in teaching as well as ideas for how to model and explain them in college classrooms, field experiences, and student teaching\"-- Provided by publisher.

PurposeStudies show that apprenticeships can enhance skills development and economic growth. There is a paucity of academic literature concerning apprenticeship’s role in developing Nigerian construction artisans’ skills, especially regarding achieving Sustainable Development Goal 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth). Thus, this study aims to appraise the role of apprenticeship in developing construction artisans’ skills and suggest measures to improve skills development for artisans’ on-the-job training mechanisms to achieve Goal 8.Design/methodology/approachGiven the unexplored nature of the problem, the study utilised face-to-face data collection via a qualitative research approach. It covered two major cities in Nigeria and achieved saturation at the 29th chosen interviewee. Also, the study adopted a thematic method to analyse the data from selected construction artisans, construction firm management staffers and consultant experts in skills matters.FindingsEnhancing skills development, replacing the ageing workforce through practical broad-based skills training, bridging skills gaps, enhancing work-integrated learning and economic upliftment emerged as apprenticeship’s role in developing artisans’ skills in the Nigerian built environment if well implemented. Apprenticeship to develop skills in the built environment is not without hindrances. The perceived 34 barriers were re-clustered into employee, employer and government-related. Findings show that achieving Goal 8 may be threatened if these hindrances are not mitigated. They suggest improving skills development for artisans’ on-the-job training mechanisms to achieve Goal 8.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates that apprenticeship’s role in developing construction artisans’ skills should be all-inclusive. Also, the three stakeholders must do more concerning training programmes to improve artisans’ skills development to achieve Goal 8.

Purpose Even though sustainable entrepreneurship has increasingly received researchers’ attention in recent years, the topic remains rather under-researched in natural resources’ rich Gulf countries such as Oman. Hence, this paper aims to fill this gap in the literature and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is one of the first attempts to assess the state of sustainable entrepreneurship development in Oman from a multi-stakeholder perspective. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a qualitative research approach where in-depth semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 12 respondents representing relevant stakeholders of sustainable entrepreneurship development in Oman. The interviewees included four sustainable entrepreneurs, four policymakers and four educationists representing entrepreneurial skills development institutes in Oman. Findings This papers’ findings highlight that despite some positive improvements, several critical challenges remain, which hinder sustainable entrepreneurship development. The authors further found the role of FinTech to be critical in this concern by all stakeholders, though its usage and acceptance remain low. Also, the costs associated with the post-carbon (sustainable) economy and different profitability evolution have resulted in a slow change in the policy development in this concern. From an educational (skills development) perspective, a lack of context-specific training programmes and culture-based hesitations appeared to be hindering achieving sustainable entrepreneurship possibilities in Oman. The nascent entrepreneurial ecosystem, bureaucracy and lack of human capital (attraction as well as retention) appeared to be significant challenges for entrepreneurs. Finally, the findings highlighted the need for cross-sector collaboration with clear benchmarks for effective policy development concerning sustainable entrepreneurship in Oman. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first academic study explicitly highlighting the state of sustainable entrepreneurship in Oman by incorporating the development initiatives as well as the major challenges in the analysis. Secondly, this study is also a pioneering work specifying the interlinkage between financing (FinTech), policy initiatives and skills development and the development of a sustainable entrepreneurship ecosystem in an under-researched context of Oman. Finally, the transition to a sustainable economy is challenging in natural resources’ dependent economies like Oman, as it needs to be supported by the mindset change in the larger society (legitimacy). In this concern, this paper, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is one of the first academic endeavours to also specify the role of legitimacy from the perspective of different stakeholders (and larger society) for sustainable entrepreneurship development in such contexts.