Wednesday, April 10, 2019 • 12-1:30pm
Ed Sciences 259, 1025 West Johnson Street
Dr. Michael Tomlinson provided a critical overview of the problem and construct of graduates’ employability, charting its evolution and the ways in which it has been conceptually and politically applied in understanding macro-level changes between higher education (HE) systems and the labor market. The talk drew on evidence from the perspectives of students and graduates making the transitions from HE to formal employment, examining the challenges for their career readiness and employment prospects. It explored salient issues relating to the resources, career values, and identities which graduates develop through and beyond HE.
Michael Tomlinson is an Associate Professor at the Southampton Education School at the University of Southampton, UK where he has been based since 2011. His research interests are in higher education policy, the sociology of higher education and the HE-work relationship and has published widely in these fields. His previous books are Education, Work and Identity (2013, Bloomsbury Publishers) and Graduate Employability in Context (2017, Palgrave Publishers).