Search Results (4)

In the context of universal higher education and labor market polarization, undergraduates in universities of applied sciences (UAS) face growing challenges in forming career orientation. Drawing on data from a UAS in China (N = 3138), this study examines how perceived career advising influences students’ career orientation. Three key findings emerge: (1) Only perceived perspective advising (PPA) exhibits significant and direct effects on career orientation, underscoring the developmental value of structured guidance. In contrast, perceived emotional advising (PEA) and perceived growth advising (PGA) show no direct effect. (2) Both PPA and PGA are positively associated with career exploration, whereas PEA exhibits a negative association. This suggests that when advising interactions are overly affective, they inadvertently reduce students’ initiative to explore. (3) Career exploration fully mediates the effects of PEA and PGA, while it partially mediates the effect of PPA. This reflects that different types of career advising influence career orientation through distinct mechanisms, with PEA and PGA relying more heavily on exploratory engagement. The cultural and educational context in China shapes how students respond to different types of career advising. This study offers theoretical and practical insights for building career advising systems to actively foster students’ autonomous, cognitively engaged exploration processes. Full article

Economic mobility and career success for undergraduate students is enhanced by understanding students’ experiences and supports and addressing the barriers they face. This study explores how U.S. undergraduate transfer students described their career journeys and how they perceived contextual barriers and supports for their career-oriented experiences. This longitudinal narrative case study was conducted with undergraduate students who were transferring from a community college to a four-year college. They participated in a professional development program, which funded science/engineering internships within bioproducts and bioenergy sectors. The study drew from social cognitive career theory and analyzed data collected over two years, including student interviews, biographical mapping, and reflective writings. Students most frequently described supports they received from their professors and program staff (institutional), family (social), and their internship hosts. The barriers they identified were more variable, such as inadequate advising and communication issues, and were often resolved by program staff (institutional) and financial supports from the program and internship sites. Internship participation led to all of the participating students feeling a sense of job readiness. Programmatic supports, such as clear communication between the internship host and the academic program, funding the internships, and addressing barriers by providing adequate mentoring and logistical supports, were found to enhance the experiences of science and engineering transfer students. Full article

Perceived Employability acquires growing relevance as a psychological protective resource now that new entrants in the labour market from higher education are experiencing a deterioration of their occupational prospects due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which brings worries and jeopardises psychological well-being. This study aims to extend research on perceived employability among Italian University students and graduates. Perceived employability is posited to predict flourishing directly and indirectly by reducing material, social, and health worries related to COVID-19. Moreover, this study contends that perceived employability buffers the positive impact of perceived adverse conditions of the labour market on worries, changing the effect on flourishing. In total, 471 university students and graduates completed an online survey. The analyses reveal that perceived employability positively influences flourishing directly and indirectly by reducing COVID-19-related worries. Nevertheless, the results do not support the moderating action of perceived employability. Despite some limitations (e.g., a cross-sectional design), this study significantly advances the exploration of perceived employability as a critical personal resource to deal with the transition to work under pandemic-related crises. This study draws on its results to advise higher education to increase perceived employability, such as through career guidance activities and work-based learning experiences. Full article

For nursing students in the vocational education system in Taiwan, English-language writing skills, whether for general or specific purposes, have long been ignored, which may jeopardize their success in medical-oriented courses and their future careers. This study designed a nursing note-writing course (NNWC) for university nursing students and explored the teaching outcomes of its implementation. The three main objectives were to (a) examine the effectiveness of the NNWC in enhancing learners’ competencies; (b) survey learners’ satisfaction with the NNWC, and (c) investigate learners’ perceptions of the NNWC. In this action research, 49 students practiced five writing tasks while guided with five teaching tools, namely an online writing platform, multiple revisions, peer-review activities, and direct and indirect teacher feedback, for a semester. External examiners included a language teacher and a nursing professional, and the data-collection instruments used included a writing competence scale and a course satisfaction questionnaire. The results showed that the learners’ writing competence significantly improved after the NNWC. They also demonstrated a fair level of satisfaction toward the NNWC. A total of 90% of the learners preferred online writing compared to traditional handwriting. The learners also indicated a preference for feedback from the teacher rather than from peers, and they perceived vocabulary capability to be crucial. ESP/ENP teachers are advised to consider the implementation of the NNWC when designing syllabi. Full article