EURASHE organised a Round Table on Employability in Brussels (Belgium) on 7 February 2013. Underneath are further information on:
(Photograph: CC by-sa by Dennis Jarvis)

Day 1 – Thursday 7 February 2013
09.45 – Participants’ welcome
Michal Karpíšek, EURASHE Vice-President/Czech Association of Schools of Professional Higher Education (CASPHE) (Czech Republic)
10.15 – BLOCK I-A: EMPLOYABILITY: REFINING A DEFINITION
How can we understand Employability? The concept of Employability
World of work representatives: Carlo Parietti, EUROCADRES President (EU)
11.30 – Coffee break
11.45 – BLOCK I-B: EMPLOYABILITY: CRUCIAL ELEMENTS
What are the key elements of higher education graduates’ Employability?
Researchers: Jan Koucký, Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic), Rolf Van der Velden, Maastricht University (Netherlands), Martin Humburg, Maastricht University (Netherlands)
13.00 – Roundtable Lunch
13.45 – BLOCK II: EMPLOYABILITY AND PROFESSIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION (PHE)
Are there any specifics as regards Employability and its promotion within the PHE sector?
PHEIs representatives: Bernadette Frech, FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences (Austria), Birgit Hanny, ASIIN e.V. Deputy Director (Germany)
15.15 – Coffee break
15.30 – BLOCK III: EMPLOYABILITY IN PRACTICE
What steps should be taken in order to better understand Employability, to promote it within HEIs’ activities?
View the programme here.
Taking up on EURASHE’s long-standing involvement in the field of Employability, EURASHE’s working group on Employability and Lifelong Learning under the impulsion of its members organised a Round Table on Employability on Thursday 7 February 2013 in Brussels (Belgium) gathering experts in the area.
Our policy paper ’Towards a Diversified, Responsive and Competitive European Higher Education’ communicated to the Ministers of the EHEA at the occasion of the Ministerial Conference in April 2012 in Bucharest (Romania) highlights our belief in the corner-stone importance of Employability in current times:
EURASHE believes that the best long-term future for the citizens of Europe is one in which employability, rather than immediate employment, is fully focused, and that it is inextricably linked to the constant pursuit of self-development and professional fulfilment through lifelong learning.
To promote and develop this concept further, Employability was chosen to be one of EURASHE’s priorities for its 2013 work programme. Thereby EURASHE strives to translate the general concept into more concrete tools and approaches, as well as promoting Professional Higher Education (PHE) graduates’ employability and entrepreneurship within curricula in order to reflect the ‘New Skills for New Jobs’ agenda and relevance of PHE.
This is brought about by and culminating into a common position within PHE on the concept of Employability by the end of the year. Previous discussions by the working group on Employability and Lifelong Learning have established a wide framework of what may be understood under this notion, which will be further developed by this Roundtable. Several other activities in 2013, such as a Study to be commissioned and a Seminar on the Role of PHE in Regional Development in Ireland in the first half of 2013 will bring about further insight into the refining of the Employability concept. This should lead to a more specific EURASHE policy on Employability and to the identification of a set of concrete actions in line with such policy.
The Round Table was organised as a 1-day closed event gathering specifically targeted experts in the field highlighting 4 different areas identified by the organisers which structured our debate. Through discussions deepening the understanding of the notion of Employability, the 12 participants engaged with other colleagues in the field to widen the community’s overall participation in the further exploring of Employability.
Download the rationale here.
Conclusions
The main points of the discussions are available in the Report of the Round Table here.
It compiles the discussions themes, including recommendations for further action, and a selection of relevant projects and publications on the topic of Employability.












Organisers

- 2013 Round Table Employability: Agenda (0.4 MB)
- 2013 Round Table Employability: Rationale (0.3 MB)
- 2013 Round Table Employability: Report (0.4 MB)
- EURASHE - Roundtable on Employability (1.9 MB)
- EURASHE Round Table on Employability - Brief Written Input, Bernadette Frech (0.2 MB)
- EURASHE Round Table on Employability - Brief Written Input, Carlo Parietti (0.2 MB)
- EURASHE Round Table on Employability - Brief Written Input, Rolf Van Der Velden, Martin Humburg (0.2 MB)
- EURASHE: Supporting Professional Higher Education in Europe (0.8 MB)
- Promoting Employability in Professional Higher Education – An Austrian Case Study (0.5 MB)