Higher Education Research Paper

Introduction

For the longest time now, people are ignoring the details and concepts of academic development both in Australia and the world as a whole. Due to the lack of significant attention towards higher education, it delivers the need for writing a literature review. The literature review aims to provide the precise analysis of published literature on the specific topic along with a summary, classification, evaluation, and comparison that help deliver the particular information concerning the issue at hand with the relevant information from prior research and depicts on the strengths and weaknesses.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Also, the objective of the literature review is to explore, examine, and understand the different activities surrounding academic development, (higher education to be specific).

Method: I gathered research article spanning within ten years from 2006- 2016 which helped in analyzing the specific occurrences in higher education learning. From the literature reviews, different themes emerged, and I will discuss them within the literature review. They include:

• Graduate performance
• Intellectual and Skill Development
• Education and knowledge

Findings: The arguments delivered significant information about the topic of academic development. For instance, prior studies offer that graduate performance needs to equate the expected levels of performance. Also, the intellectual and skill development encompasses the ability of graduates to acquire the generic skills (such as problem-solving, critical thinking, communication) as expected. The theme of knowledge and education define the overall concepts of higher education. However, in this literature review, I will first deliver the details and evaluation of every researched literature under subheadings, and conclude by offering arguments, controversies and suggestions for further research in the literature pertaining higher education.

Literature Review

Graduate Performance

Steur, Jansen, and Hofman (2016) conducted a study aimed to expand the knowledge about the expected level performance of graduates. Within the details of their research, they are focused on three domains of graduateness (good citizenship, reflective thinking, and scholarship) in three faculties at both the beginning and end of the first-year graduate programmes. Graduates may acquire different developments especially with the diversity of the programmes and various personal differences. The study by Steur, Jansen, and Hofman (2016) found that not all the intellectuals appeared to acquire the expected level of graduateness at the end of the programme. Regardless, this study mentions a revelation concerning an increase in the proportion of graduates meeting the graduateness threshold. Also, there is a specific increase in at least two of the three domains of graduateness (Steur & Hofman, 2016).

Intellectual and Skills Development

Nonetheless, higher education has been known to deliver the development of different skills. In the different university settings, the development of various skills among the students is amongst the expected outcomes. In a study by Badcock, Pattison, and Harris (2010), they deliver an examination of the relationship between the aspects of undergraduate education, assessment and the development of generic skills. Within the study, they collected a sample of 323 students learning arts, engineering, or science degrees in Australia. In their research study, they administered a skills assessment to measure generic skills (such as problem-solving, interpersonal understanding, communication, and critical thinking).

In the study, they found that in every programme, there was a significant relationship between the generic skills and overall performance (Badcock & Harris, 2010). Although the study involved a cross-sectional, correlation analysis design that comprised four independent variables (enrolled programs, participants, grade point average, and length of study), they were able to investigate the relationship of academic achievement, duration of education, and particular programme to generic skills acquired. However, Badcock, Pattison, and Harris (2010) did not find enough evidence linking skill levels with studies progression as the study length was majorly related to problem-solving skills. Regardless, they were able to find interdisciplinary variations in the skill scores (Badcock & Harris, 2010).

In the higher education learning, the formative function of university education help in monitoring the education of students to ensure the provision of prompt feedback to the instructors. According to Steur, Jansen, and Hofman (2012) on a study examining the empirical examination of the formative function of the university education, they built an approach with the use of a formative function of learning instead of seeking for similarities between graduates in the different programmes. With the use of a questionnaire in the study to examine the graduateness, Steur and Hofman (2012) found that reflective thinking delivers the most substantial influence on learning.

Education and Knowledge

Correspondingly, in strive to ensure the achievement of academic development in higher education; it is imperative to understand the generic attributes of the graduates. In a study by Barrie (2006), he delivers research regarding what it means by the terms generic skills of the graduates. Through the research, he gives an example of the evolution of numerous Australian Universities especially in determining these generic attributes. Also, Barrie (2006) uses phenomenographic analysis that explores the varying qualities along with the variations in academics' learning.

Higher education has always delivered a significant impact, especially in the labor markets. For instance, there is a difference between the skills acquired by the graduates and the skills expectations. In a study James, Warhurst, Tholen, and Commander (2013) found the existence of a gap between what people know and what they do not know about graduate skills. James et al. (2013) argue that there is a need to bridge the difference between supply and demand; in distinguishing the skills acquired by the graduates and the skills expectations. Similarly, the study involves an occurrence evaluating on the employers' perspective regarding graduates' skills. In a survey by HernandezMarch and Leguey (2009) through interviews and questionnaires, they major at finding the competencies required of the graduates by the labor markets, find the mismatch between the market demand and skills acquired, and also discover ways to fill the gap between the market demands and competencies obtained by graduates. However, HernandezMarch, Martin del Peso,and Leguey (2009) Found that the best ways to fill the gap are through work placement supervised by the universities in the progress of learning thus equipping them with the necessary competencies.

Regardless of the achievement of the academic development in higher learning, the biggest question lies within the employability skills acquired by the higher education graduates. Although there is an expansion in the higher education learning promoting smooth transition and benefiting graduates, the labor markets are shifting as well. In a study by Suleman (2016), he found that a majority of employers find graduates poorly prepared but as well informed on information technology skills. In the research, Suleman (2016) suggests that there is a need to ensure proper analysis of the required graduate skills since there is uncertainty concerning graduate skills matching the labor market requirements or demands.

Conclusion

Academic development is meant to help students acquire the necessary skills, and develop them academically following special activities, sessions, learning, and other opportunities after obtaining the essential skills. In all the literary studies, the authors are delivering the agreements' that there is a gap between the higher education graduate skills and competencies and the labor market requirement. In other cases, there is a disagreement regarding a difference in what the labor markets comprise and what the higher education graduates should be equipped with. Nonetheless, different areas are requiring further research. For example, the relation of graduateness to employers' perspective is and areas requiring research since it accommodates both graduate competencies and labor market requirement. Academic development is one of the significant topics especially with the involvement of graduate students of higher education. Thus, I believe it needs critical attention and study in examining the gaps and ensuring overall graduate development.

References

Badcock, P., Pattison, P., & Harris, K. (2010). Developing generic skills through university study: a study of arts, science, and engineering in Australia. Higher Education, 60(4), 441-458. Doi: 10.1007/s10734-010-9308-8

Barrie, S. (2006). Understanding What We Mean by the Generic Attributes of Graduates. Higher Education, 51(2), 215-241. doi: 10.1007/s10734-004-6384-7

HernandezMarch, J., Martin del Peso, M., & Leguey, S. (2009). Graduates' Skills and Higher Education: The employers' perspective. Tertiary Education And Management, 15(1), 1-16. doi: 10.1080/13583880802699978

James, S., Warhurst, C., Tholen, G., & Commander, J. (2013). What we know and what we need to know about graduate skills. Work, Employment and Society, 27(6), 952-963. doi: 10.1177/0950017013500116

Steur, J., Jansen, E., & Hofman, A. (2016). Towards graduateness: exploring academic, intellectual development in university master's students. Educational Research and Evaluation, 22(1-2), 6-22. Doi: 10.1080/13803611.2016.1165708

Steur, J., Jansen, E., & Hofman, W. (2012). Graduateness: an empirical examination of the formative function of university education. Higher Education, 64(6), 861-874. doi: 10.1007/s10734-012-9533-4

Suleman, F. (2016). Employability Skills of Higher Education Graduates: Little Consensus on a Much-discussed Subject. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 228, 169-174. doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.07.025

Appendix

Table 1.0

Citation Sample/Study Description Method Purpose Results/ Conclusions

Badcock, Pattison, and Harris (2010) Used a sample of 323 students enrolled in arts, science, and engineering degree from a university in Australia

Selected participants and gave them a graduate skills assessment.

Also, the study involved cross-sectional, correlational design comprising of independent and dependent variables. To investigate the connection between crucial aspects of university education and the development of generic graduate skills. The study acknowledged that there is a significant variation in student's skill scores with their academic achievement.

Table 2.0

Citation Sample/Study Description Method Purpose Results/ Conclusions

Barrie (2006) The study examines the attributes outcomes of various Australian Universities. Reviewed the different calls for universities to show the quality of their graduate outcomes. To provide more evidence and understanding about what generic attributes entail in graduates. The study described the different ways through which academics understand the concept of graduate attributes.

It highlights the need for evaluation of core outcomes of university education.

Table 3.0

Citation Sample/Study Description Method Purpose Results/ Conclusions

HernandezMarch, Martin del Peso, and Leguey (2009) This study conducted 40 in-depth interviews of human resource managers, questionnaires targeting 872 companies To carry out the study, the competencies were divided into two major groups; (Vocational and Generis).

Latter divided into three subgroups: knowledge-related, methodological, and interpersonal competencies....