Recent shifts in education and labour market policy have resulted in universities being placed under increasing pressure to produce employable graduates. However, contention exists regarding exactly what constitutes employability and which graduate attributes are required to foster employability in tertiary students. This paper argues that in the context of a rapidly changing information- and knowledge-intensive economy, employability involves far more than possession of the generic skills listed by graduate employers as attractive. Rather, for optimal economic and social outcomes, graduates must be able to proactively navigate the world of work and self-manage the career building process. A model of desirable graduate attributes that acknowledges the importance of self-management and career building skills to lifelong career management and enhanced employability is presented. Some important considerations for the implementation of effective university career management programs are then outlined.

The graduate attributes we've overlooked : enhancing graduate employability through career management skills

Permission to include this report in the Institute research repository granted by Per Binde on January 6, 2016.

Gambling advertising: A critical research review

Summary: Four types of coercive and noncoercive interview strategies (legalistic, physical, cognitive and social) used to facilitate disclosure by high value detainees were examined in an international sample of practitioners and detainees (N=64). Predictive analyses confirmed that the accusatorial approach was positively correlated with physically coercive strategies (rs =.58) and negatively with forms of social persuasion (rs= -.31). In response to social strategies, detainees were more likely to disclose meaningful information [odds ratio (OR) =4.2] and earlier in the interview when rapport-building techniques were used (OR =14.17). They were less likely to cooperate when confronted with evidence (OR=4.8). Disclosures were more complete in response to noncoercive strategies, especially rapport-building and procedural fairness elements of respect and voice. These findings augmented past theory on interactional processes and the evidence-base of international best practices in suspect interviews.

Interviewing High Value Detainees: Securing Cooperation and Disclosures

This article reflects on the "dialogic turn," focusing on one analytical framework for understanding the wide range of processes that fall under the rubric of engagement. The notion of power-in-interaction is explored using a case study of informal dialogue, the Dana Centre, London. Using this framework I argue that we can understand public engagement events as hallmarked by conflict, but that this conflict emerges not in differing assessments of the value of different forms of knowledge but around the very form of a dialogue event; similarly, I suggest that the content of talk indicates that imposed hierarchies are continually re-negotiated. In concluding I reflect on some implications of using power in the analysis of engagement.

The rules of engagement: Power and interaction in dialogue events.

Despite the existence of observational studies revealing a negative correlation between corruption and political trust, we lack reliable evidence that isolates the causal effect of corruption on citizens’ trust, especially outside of the lab. In this paper we capitalize on the causal identification advantages generated by the fact that a major Spanish corruption scandal (the Barcenas scandal) was uncovered during the fieldwork of the sixth round of the European Social Survey in Spain. Given that, under certain conditions, the day at which survey interviews were conducted is as if-random, the uncovering of the Barcenas scandal provides an exogenous source of variation in levels of corruption, and represents a unique opportunity to assess the causal impact of a real-world corruption scandal on citizens’ trust in politicians. Our results indicate that the corruption scandal had a substantial negative effect on citizens’ levels of trust in politicians, even if baseline levels of political trust in Spain were already considerably low before the scandal. We also find that there is a decay of the effect over time, since the differences between the treatment and control groups become smaller as we move away from the day the Barcenas scandal was uncovered. Our results also reveal that the impact of the scandal is independent from partisan preferences, since the treatment effect is similar for those who support the party involved in the scandal (PP) and those who do not.

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The Corrosive Effect of Corruption on Trust in Politicians: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

In order to address the problems of graduate employability in Malaysia, the Malaysian Government produced in 2012, the National Graduate Employability Blueprint 2012–2017. In addition to setting out in detail the government’s philosophy and vision, the blueprint identifies key players who are expected to play crucial roles in making Malaysian graduates more employable. This research provides a critique of the assigned roles by comparing them with those reported in other scholarly research. It was found that the Malaysian Government expects institutions of higher learning (IHLs) to give priority to the needs of the industry, and to take full responsibility for preparing students for the demands of the workplace. This elevates the position of employers as powerful entities who set the direction for IHLs, and takes for granted that graduates need to be moulded by their IHLs before joining the workforce. Intriguingly, the blueprint does not assign any role to the family or the school, and it makes onl...

Prescribing Roles in the Employability of Malaysian Graduates.

The interaction that takes place in a police interrogation room follows certain conventions which are not evident in other settings like the school or home domains. This study which uses data derived from the questioning the Australian police conducted with Dr Mohamed Haneef - a terrorist accomplice suspect - aims to show how the norms of interaction in the Australian police interrogation room are established through protocols and codes of conduct. Another aspect of norms of interaction analysed in this article is the way power relations are created and maintained by looking at recurring discourse markers like the use of address and referent terms, interruptions, topic switching and latching. By identifying these linguistic devices, we are able to see the patterns of interaction conducted by the Australian police with persons of interest.

Interactional norms in the Australian police interrogation room

Because of its gambling nature, lottery gaming has been associated with bankruptcy, the destruction of families, crime and gambling addiction. Despite these stigmas, a Malaysian lottery company has...

‘This is not gambling but gaming’: Methods of promoting a lottery gaming company in a Malaysian daily

The case of humor in the Malaysian House of Representatives

Code-switching (CS) is one of the communicative strategies used in defining and structuring social relationships of speakers. In this study, we demonstrate how teachers perceive and employ CS in a Malaysian Chinese Independent School (MCIS) English classrooms to achieve communicative intents and to create a sense of belonging among students. Ethnography recording of classroom discourse and semi-structured interviews with seven English teachers were employed. The analysis reveals a noteworthy commitment that CS does not only act as a pedagogical tool but also as a means of facilitating interpersonal communication in class.

David Yoong

Papers

Prescribing Roles in the Employability of Malaysian Graduates.

Interactional norms in the Australian police interrogation room

‘This is not gambling but gaming’: Methods of promoting a lottery gaming company in a Malaysian daily

The case of humor in the Malaysian House of Representatives

ESL teachers’ perceptions and practices of code-switching in a Malaysian Chinese independent secondary school