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are work-ready on graduation. However, they admit that graduates learn and develop employability skills through many experiences in the place of work. The Report on
“Employability Skills for the Future” published the eight most common soft skills that employers need (Prikshat et al., 2018). The eight most common soft skills comprise “communication skills, teamwork skills, problem-solving skills, self-management skills, planning and organising skills, technological skills, lifelong learning skills, and initiative and enterprise skills” (DEST, 2002:
7). The theoretical knowledge of employability skills that graduates learn at universities now applies in the workplace under supervising professional employees (ILO, 2016; Khare, 2016).
Graduates agree that they had the chance to take part in a scheduled programme and worked under supervising professional workers (Walker et al., 2015). Workshop experiences give graduates the possibility of developing work skills, understanding the workplace (Business Council of Australia, 2017).
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al., 2017). Students may be on placement on a part-time or sandwich basis and during school holidays at the employers’ workplaces (Matthews, 2012; D’Abate et al., 2009; Highfliers, 2014;
Nankervis et al., 2018). Students may be mostly in the classroom in HEIs with few direct involvements in the workplace with the employers.
Figure 2.1. Internship and employability stakeholders adapted from (The Work Integrated Learning Report: A national study. Patrick, Peach & Pocknee, 2009).
It is essential to refer to stakeholders who have unique knowledge and understanding of the nature or meaning of the perspectives, significance, and interests of each of them in employability. Many researchers argue that policymakers decide the profile of employability over the past decade according to their political agenda (PWC, 2017b; Mehrotra, 2015; Salmi, 2017). From Figure 2.1 above, the internship experience is placed in a particular context and affected by government and higher education policy. In particular, the government finances HEIs through higher education funding models. The next section records the literature about the State and policy impacting on internships and employability.
2.3.1 The Impact of Government Policies on Internship
Several studies show the policies that impact on the people’s ideas of employability (Gupta et al., 2016; Sin & Neave, 2016; ILO, 2016; Khare, 2016). Policies also have economic concerns in work-readiness and this impacts internship. The government is researching the potential of placement to help graduates, try by “using effort to cope with the economic challenges and fulfill its stated commitment to skill Mauritians for the jobs of tomorrow and close existing skills gaps”
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(Ministry of Finance, Budget Speech, 2013:40). The government’s support for employability through internships in Mauritius has been further identified by the recent introduction of a Youth Employment Programme (YEP). Also, a Dual Training Programme (DTP) has been set up by the Ministry of Finance & Economic Development (MoFED), in response to HEIs Mauritian’s National Internship Scheme (Budget Speech, 2013). Other countries, such as Germany, Austria, France, and Spain, have introduced a post-graduation internship. High unemployment in these countries has made it difficult for fresh graduates without relevant work experience to find the right job (Mohd Salleh et al., 2018; Prikshat et al., 2018).
The first thorough discussions and analyses of employability emerged during the 1960s with the Robbins Report in the UK. The latter describes the role of HEIs as a provider of training of graduates with the essential skills to move into the world of work (Robbins Report, 1963). Recent evidence suggests that higher education is training graduates for work-readiness and this affects the organisation of internships (Leitch, 2006; Dearing, 1997; & Wilson, 2012; Puthucheary (2017). Many studies have tried to explain employability (for example, Economist Intelligence Unit, 2014; the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Report, 2002; Department of Education and Training, 2002; The Allen Consulting Group, 2007). In their studies, the report highlights economic prosperity for the graduate and the country (for instance, the UK, Europe, and Australia among others) by fulfilling the demands for skills by employers. Business Magazine and Verde Frontier Employability Survey (2016) explain that sound employability skills create a skilled labour force. The idea creates a more active labour market which leads to improved social benefits and a general and progressive increase in prices making productivity more desirable. Thus, employability is caught as if in a mesh of economic, social, moral, and policy businesses (Williams et al., 2016).
Mason, Williams and Cranmer (2014) state that a national employability performance indicator was set up in the year 2000 and the results of graduates were measured. From that time of the year, HEIs in the UK collect and supply data six months after graduation, on graduates’
employment status (Harvey, 2001; Gedye et al., 2004). However, Brown (2007) argues that the current measurement of employability is employment. Harvey (2001) states that many researchers have criticised the method used for measuring the employability of graduates and claims that this survey estimates only employment results. Brown (2007) supports Harvey's statement on employability measurement. Pegg et al., (2012) report introducing many comments
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about employability in the UK. Employability reports continued to increase, and HEI displayed concentrated attention on employability.
Policymakers kept repeating their concentration on employability and their associations with employers, contributing to increasing pressure on HEIs. In the next section, the stakeholder introduced will be HEIs.