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Measurement and Sustainability of the Qualifications Frameworks in the European Higher Education Area through an Employment Survey on Access to the Labour Market

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  • Gracia Serrano

    (Market Research and Quantitative Methods Department, ESIC Business and Marketing School, Madrid 28223, Spain
    Department of Applied Economics and Statistics, Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid 28040, Spain
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Francisco Llamazares

    (Technology Department, ESIC Business and Marketing School, Madrid 28223, Spain
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • F. Javier Otamendi

    (Departamento Economía Aplicada I e Historia e Instituciones Económicas y Filosofía Moral, Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos URJC, Madrid 28933, Spain
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

There is a clear need to measure the correct implementation of the European Framework through the employability of the alumni. The evaluation of the deployment of the Qualifications Frameworks in the European Higher Education Area (QF-EHEA/QF) should shed significant light on the action that must be taken by legislators and higher education managers to foster employability and guarantee the sustainability of the EHEA. We propose a methodology based on a Survey on Access to the Labour Market (SALM) to assess the correlation between the education provided to the students and the practical utility of the knowledge acquired in the workplace. A questionnaire has been produced to measure the competencies and descriptors that had been theoretically defined within the QF-EHEA. Fifteen questions were disguised so that the six QF-EHEA descriptors were quantified through the difference between education and utility. The quantification methodology for the framework has been tested successfully on the former students of a higher education center in Spain. In this center, the alumni perceived that the utility of their acquired competencies and their employability level was greater than their education content, while both levels were reasonably high. The results hold for both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees.

Suggested Citation

  • Gracia Serrano & Francisco Llamazares & F. Javier Otamendi, 2015. "Measurement and Sustainability of the Qualifications Frameworks in the European Higher Education Area through an Employment Survey on Access to the Labour Market," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-36, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:10:p:13777-13812:d:57059
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    References listed on IDEAS

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