Employability deconstructed: perceptions of Bologna stakeholders

Abstract

The paper analyses employability as a floating signifier – a construct that accommodates different and often contending meanings. A preliminary analysis of scholarly literature identifies two opposed interpretations of employability – an individual responsibility versus a comprehensive context-aware construct. These are subsequently applied to the discourse of the major interests in the Bologna Process: policy-makers; institutions and academics; students; and employers. Their standpoints are examined from two dimensions: How far is responsibility for employability individualised? and What is higher education's role in fostering employability? As a concept, employability commands little consensus. Rather, it is interpreted in the light of each interest group's concerns. As to higher education's role, utilitarianism characterises all but academic actors' views. Applying the concept of a floating signifier to employability as it is debated within the Bologna Process – a policy arena for competing interest groups to dispute meaning – reveals a finer, more nuanced understanding of how policy comes to be and, in particular, the importance of discourse and conflicts over meaning as factors intrinsic to it.

Keywords:

• employability
• definitions
• Bologna Process
• implementation
• actor perceptions

Acknowledgements

This work has been funded by a post-doctoral fellowship (SFRH/BPD/85724/2012) awarded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in Portugal financed by the QREN/POPH Programme, the European Social Fund (ESF) and national funds from the Ministry of Education and Science (MEC).

Notes

1. BUSINESSEUROPE brings together 41 industrial and employers’ federations from 35 countries.