Employability: A Contested Concept in Higher Education

Employability is a concept that has attracted greater interest in the past two decades as Higher Education (HE) looks to ensure that its output is valued by a range of stakeholders, not least Central Government. The graduate labour market has changed remarkably during the past two decades with global employment becoming an option for some and a threat for others. In addition, the nature of work has changed with a range of technological and employment practices altering the way we work. It is this dynamic and uncertain context that has led many within the Higher Education sector to re-evaluate its purpose and value. A number of universities have drawn-up typologies of behaviours and attributes that characterise their graduates. This paper aims to look beyond the apparent ascendancy of employability and ask why is employability a contested concept within HE? This paper draws from post-structuralism, Positional Conflict Theory as well as liberal-humanist thought. The paper is structured at three levels of decision-making: the macro-that of public policy, the meso-that of the Higher Education sector, and the micro-that of the student.