Over the past two decades, there has been a growing interest in the role of universities in developing generic skills, in addition to disciplinary ones, to help students adapt to a changing workplace. The need to develop these skills is particularly critical for healthcare students who must face challenges in health systems. This scoping study,…

The PhD by Publication offers doctoral students an opportunity to focus on publishing during their candidature. A considerable body of literature has explored questions of legitimacy, consistency and quality of this model of scholarship, while students have reflected on how this approach helped build a publishing track record and develop skills…

Globally there is recognition that doctoral programmes need to offer the opportunity for career pathways beyond academia, as PhD graduates are entering a range of careers. Consequently, some doctoral programmes now provide opportunities to develop a broader skill set. However, most PhD programmes in the United Kingdom and Australasia still…

Higher education institutions increasingly recognise the need to develop both disciplinary knowledge and soft skills to foster the employability of their graduates. For students in International Studies programmes, the workplace opportunities to develop soft skills relevant to their intended professions are scarce, costly and unavailable to many.…

The case for integrating generic skills in university accounting programmes is well documented in the literature, but the implementation of strategies designed to teach generic skills in the context of accounting courses has posed ongoing challenges for academics and course administrators. The imperative for generic skills in accounting programmes…

Curtin University's Curriculum 2010 (C2010) initiative aimed at ensuring degree programs were excellent and sustainable. Before C2010, graduate attributes were not universally emphasised and indicators showed room for improvement in generic skills. C2010 focused on embedding graduate attributes through three strategies. The first was embedding…

It is argued that college students can learn to improve their writing by being taught a number of basic strategies. A distinction is made between weak and strong strategies, and a number of each are identified and discussed. Classroom instructional procedures supporting improvement of skills are outlined. (Author/MSE)

An Australian university honors course in political science used an apprenticeship model to develop student appreciation of and skills in the process of research, in preparation for research careers. In the pilot course, students conducted a survey on corruption. Challenges encountered and lessons learned in implementing the course are discussed.…

This paper analyses changing approaches to system-level governance in Canadian post-secondary education from 1995-2006. A review of major policy initiatives reveals a shift in provincial and federal government roles in and approaches to the coordination of post-secondary education. The federal government has strategically invested in…

With increasing importance being placed on the development of generic skills in higher education, institutions are espousing, as part of their mission and objectives, which generic skills their graduates achieve, and teachers are being required to document how their courses and programs support the development of those skills and attributes. The…

This paper presents findings from Stage 4 of the Griffith Graduate Project. Graduates from three Schools within Griffith University were surveyed to determine their perceptions of the contributions that the learning contexts of university, work placement and post-graduation employment made to the development of their generic skills. All graduates…

An Australian report identifying "generic skills, attributes, and values" as the central achievements of higher education is criticized as vague and inconsistent. A more systematic analysis is offered of higher order generic skills as they manifest themselves in thinking, research, and communication, and of the way in which these skills…

A course in academic writing for international graduate students at Flinders University of South Australia was found to enhance students' written expression and structure. However, participants continued to produce high error rates in grammar and show weakness in developing an argument. Journal entries suggest participants began with…