Graduate being without a job - Whose fault is it?

When the pressure of singeing budget cuts to higher education institutions to make more with less, they have to justify the value of a variety of purposes.

These activities weighted against each other in the training of people for active citizenship, social mobility, facilitating the improvement of the skills needed in the labor market or whether it's a high-quality research, and funds a competition to create a more efficient education system.

Rising unemployment in Europe in recent graduates, the job market has highlighted the need to reform higher education.

Unemployment is not caused by education

Three arguments are used to explain the need for reform.

It is said that there is a match of skills and labor market demands. The other says that there is oversupply in certain fields for graduates. Then just a few reasons to argue that the unemployment rate is high enough to reform the education system.

That may affect, or be the cause of these problems is the lack of a thorough examination of other factors. A Root cause of graduate unemployment has to be investigated further, and to understand the content and quality of education to expand beyond.

They are able to talk about a variety of graduate unemployment. Students and employers with their previous work experience in the sector and the fact that many graduates offered temporary contracts, paid less and are easier to be laid off will include requests.
It used to be a structural problem with a range of issues, fiscal policies, and the lack of incentives for employers to contribute to the poor economic performance.

Initiatives to improve the employability

Education should not be used as a scapegoat to solve the graduate unemployment - to recognize and deal with the obstacles that exist and all actors must accept their responsibility for solving these problems.

That aim to improve the employability of graduates going on in Europe, there are many initiatives at the national and local levels.

Rethinking Education in the last communication between the European Commission and the employment of graduate studies in universities and centers of higher education to develop as an indicator of the financing agreements calling for reform of the national targets.

There is a willingness to do something, but on the condition that we should ask.

As an example, the introduction of innovation and entrepreneurial studies to enhance the employability of graduates has become a staple of almost all discussions. However, this alone does not make a difference for the students to benefit from the labor market and social skills necessary to facilitate the necessary measures if they are not ready.

Individual entrepreneurs are expected to be ready for it? Entrepreneurship is attractive to graduates? Does it make sense in all fields of study?

This example shows that there are causes and possible solutions to combat graduate unemployment and the lack of a comprehensive debate that involves all stakeholders.

It is evident from these examples go beyond the skills needed in the labor market and, at the same time, they gained outside formal education. Transversal skills that are highly valued by employers, such as communication, talent projects and groups, analytical skills and intercultural skills in the work.

Such skills are not only gets formal education and higher education institutions and employers alike need to be accepted. Shifting from a narrow focus on the necessary skills and expertise to provide a certain level of education to promote the debate on the reform of the higher education curriculum and how it is also essential.

Analysis of the four countries

At the moment the European Students' Union (ESU) is responsible for research and studies on this particular subject. Since 2011, the ESU Graduate Student Employability, or running a project on the Advancement of SAGE.

The main aim will be to analyze the impact of the reform of European higher education policy, to explore the issue of employability education serving more than one purpose, to improve the employability of the collection of examples of good practice from the perspective of promoting and defining the topic of the student's point of view to arrive at a conclusion.

Denmark, Finland, Hungary and Spain, the four countries involved in the study SAGE. SAGE case study based on the analysis of national policy, to discuss the current state of higher education in the conversation with the agents, will be published in these four countries.

By default, our education system, the labor market by giving individuals preparing to enter the market and according to the skills that allows you to adapt to life. Instead of limiting the freedom and opportunities for academic study, we should ask instead, as long as the quality is good enough to prepare graduates for the future of education.

* Tainan Goosander is vice-president of the European Students' Union.