Working title Finding out the employers’ perspectives on the different forms of post-high school education and employability

Abstract

The Swedish labor market is one of a complex nature with ever-changing preferences. The political discourse of the work strategy has grown stronger, and within this discourse, the concept of employability is central. Due to political initiatives, a new educational institution, the YH academy, has sprung forward. It provides students with short, specialized educations and also claims to make students highly employable. In order to find out if these claims were correct and if they came with a price, the study focused heavily on the reflections of, what we consider to be the actual customers on the labor market, the employers. Through the aid of mainly employers, the study sought to find out if shorter programs meant that the YH graduate had different career possibilities and lower work benefits, compared to a university graduate in the same field. Also, the study dove deeper in to how YH academies operations differed in comparison with universities’ operations, in order to create more employable students. In other words, how did the YH academies business logic differ from the business logic of universities? To approach these problems, qualitative interviews were conducted with six companies employing both YH graduates and university graduates, a program director from a YH academy and a program director from a university. Also, relevant theoretical tools and literature were used in order to better understand the problematic and answer the questions posed. The employers all proved to be very satisfied with the product that the YH academies produced. Their graduates showed qualities such as career rigidness and a rapid learning curve that employers found very valuable. At the same time, most employers emphasized the strength of a good compote of both university graduates and YH graduates. The university graduates’ broader theoretical background and ability to grasp more complex problems, had proven worthy when it comes to innovating systems and qualifying for higher positions. This was appreciated since many companies expressed a desire to recruit internally. So the criteria met by a good compote of both YH graduates and university graduates, is what really constituted true value for employers. The study also concluded that some universities, in the strive toward achieving better employability and by recommendations of trade and industry, have implemented one of the YH academies’ main tools, the work related internship. If more universities would utilize this tool, the competitive edge YH graduates have in their rapid learning curve would severely diminish.