Experiences with Link and Match in Higher Education. Results of Tracer Studies Worldwide - EXLIMA

International Conference - "Experiences with Link and Match in Higher Education. Results of Tracer Studies Worldwide." (EXLIMA)
The conference Experiences with Link and Match in Higher Education. Results of Tracer Studies Worldwide (EXLIMA) takes place from 22 to 23 October 2012 in Denpasar/Bali (Indonesia). EXLIMA is organised by the Career Centre of the University of Indonesia in co-operation with the International Centre of Higher Education Research of the University of Kassel (Germany).
A maximum of 300 participants – mainly researchers and scholars dealing with tracer studies –  are accepted.
EXLIMA is organized with the friendly assistance of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
The relationships between higher education and the world of work is one of the current key issues of higher education policy and practice. There is a common belief that the expansion of student enrolment contributes to economic growth and societal well-being. However, concerns are widespread that graduates might face problems of getting employed, of finding appropriate employment and of taking over professional assignments for which their study turns out be relevant. Terms such as “mismatch” and “over-education” express such concerns.
Studies on graduate employment and work, often called “tracer studies”, have spread worldwide in recent years in order to collect in-depth information on the relationships between study at higher education institutions and the professional situation of graduates.
An account of the approaches and the findings of tracer studies can help both to understand the potentials of these studies and to analyse our worldwide state of knowledge about the ways higher education may contribute more successfully to the subsequent career of graduates.
The international conference envisaged aims at serving the exchange of information on tracer studies both methodologically and with regard to content:
(a) to deepen the understanding of the links between curricula, learning, competences as well as graduate employment and work,
(b) to discuss how tracer studies have to be designed and implemented in order to elicit the most valuable results.
Therefore, the organizers of the conference call for contributions which combine a strong research approach with empirical work on data from tracer studies, especially on the following research questions in three areas:
A. Link and Match: The Relationships between Study, Graduate Employment and Work
1. NEETS, Freeters and Generation Precaire: Graduates’ under- and unemployment – similarities and differences around the world; who and how many are they?
2. Causes and consequences of over-education and mismatch
3. The relationships between curricula, competences and work tasks
4. Professional success: What does really matter –  study programs, motivations, mobility, personal characteristics?
5. Changing job requirements and employers' expectations: causes and developments
6. How to measure graduates professional success? Applications of success indicators
7. Transition to the labor market: individual, institutional or structural factors of success and failure (duration of job search and search methods)
8. Striving for excellence or serving the society? Diversity of higher education: the relevance of degree levels, types of higher education institutions, field of study and institutions
9. Effects of student-centered learning for learning outcomes/competencies and work
10. Effects of different modes of practice-oriented study programs on learning outcomes/competencies and work
11. The extent of practical training in higher education programs and the relevance for employability and professional work
12. The extent of temporary international mobility during study and the relevance for employability and professional work
13. Equity regarding the transition to employment and professional success – the relevance of gender, social class, minorities, etc.
14. Other topics – open for additional contributions
B. Methodology of Tracer Studies
1. Thematic complexity and formulation of questionnaires: What can be learned from various approaches?
2. Tracer studies and link and match: Potentials and limits of tracer studies as a feedback for higher education institutions
3. Methods to enhance the quality of tracer studies: verification and update of addresses, online surveys, response rate and representativity
4. Applications of structural equation modeling with tracer study data (and other advanced data analysis strategies)
5. Methodological challenges of comparative studies/comparability of tracer studies
6. Other methodological topics – open for additional contributions.
C. Implementation of Tracer Studies in Different Countries
Progress in implementing tracer studies (e.g. best-practice examples from different countries)
1. Africa
2. America
3. Asia and Australia
4. Europe