The degree of fit: The future relationship between qualifications and jobs in New Zealand

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Research and Development in Higher Education Vol. 26: Learning for an Unknown Future

July, 2003, 692 pages
Published by
Helen Mathews and Rod McKay
ISBN
0 90 8557 55 8
Abstract 

We tend to view our future through the lenses of accepted visions. The main meta-narrative that stitches together policy in the post-neo-liberal world is that of the ‘knowledge society’. This has several strands, one focusing more on the engendering of innovation and research in the economy and another the equipping of individuals with the education and/or skills to perform the tasks that such an economy might demand. (In addition, this latter strand strangely involves separate attention to (higher) education and to training.) Yet, ironically, this notion is not itself underpinned by much mobilisation of appropriate knowledge or information. While agencies in this arena have much recipe-knowledge, this is not built into wider structures of understanding. This paper attempts to contribute to this broader analytical need by attending to information on the link between education and occupations.

Keywords: Skills-job mismatch; employment of graduates