Ivory tower vs. workplace reality: Employability and the T&I curriculum – balancing academic education and vocational requirements: a study from the employers’ perspective

ABSTRACTThese days employability has not only become a veritable buzzword, but also one of the key indicators in the quality framework of Higher Education (HE) in so far as universities and degrees are regularly measured against the employability rates of their graduates and employers’ satisfaction. Accordingly, HE seems to be torn between two conflicting priorities: legitimate academic freedom and teaching autonomy on the one side and the necessary adjustment to constantly changing professional demands and job requirements on the other. Drawing on the Spanish higher education context, the article touches on issues relating to the tense balance between academic and professional practice knowledge in curricular development and the embedding of employability enhancing contents and activities into the T&I curriculum. The main purpose of the present contribution is to take into consideration the TSP employers’ view on T&I graduates' employability assets and to promote further discussion by trying to bridge th...