Work Experience Mobility and Subsequent Employability of Graduated Mexican Students from the VTF Program: A qualitative study

Abstract

The 21st century has brought huge changes to Higher Education (HE). Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have tried to adapt themselves to the effects of globalization, and consequently, massification (Altbach, Reisberg, & de Wit, 2017). These two concepts have increasingly shaped, challenged, and renewed the importance of HE in society (Altbach, Becker, & Moretti, 2012). Currently, the whole field of Internationalization has become “a key strategy for all tertiary education (TE) systems in the world (...) (as) means to improve educational quality, strategy to educate graduates with the competencies demanded by the 21st century” (Gacel-Ávila, Bustos- Aguirre, & Freire, 2017, p. 61). Nevertheless, it seems that in recent years, HEIs are accused of giving students skills that are of little use in the competitive professional market of today (ICEF Monitor, 2016; Pellegrino & Hilton, 2012). Thus, there seems to be a mismatch between what HEIs are teaching students and what the labour market demands of a prospective worker.