Samo Pavlin

Community of practice in a small research institute

Purpose – This paper aims to examine a community of practice (CoP) of a small research organization is examined and compare it with CoPs in large organizations that are broadly described in the literature of knowledge management..Design/methodology/approach – The argumentation includes a case study of a small research institute (public), which performs the CoP related activity. For that purpose three community meetings were attended in the period of four months (attendance with observation). Five formal in‐depth interviews with the organizational staff (mostly with the CoPs coordinator) have been conducted.Findings – The paper finds that a higher degree of community engagement, overlapping of organizational roles such as sponsor and coordinator, scare resources, more dispersed and heterogeneous membership are the main aspects that differentiate a community based on the social network of small organizations from a CoPs in large organizations.Originality/value – The paper looks at CoPs from a different ang...

Employability of higher education graduates in Europe

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on “Employability of higher education graduates in europe” from the perspective of global changes. Design/methodology/approach - – The empirically based papers of the special issue address six main areas related to the transition of graduates from education to the labour market: employment and employability, job (mis)match, development of particular areas of competency, new certificates of higher education, along with the disciplinarity and status of the self-perceived role of academics in supporting graduates’ careers. Findings - – This issue provides empirical findings relevant to various stakeholders of higher education systems which are essential for strategic development in the area. Originality/value - – The selection of papers proposes an interdisciplinary scientific approach in the areas of bridging (higher) education with the labour market.

Revisiting the Role of Formal and Practical Knowledge from a Sociology of the Professions Perspective The Case of Slovenia

The article starts with the question of how the complexity of practical occupational knowledge is linked to and reflected in the vertical grading of an educational programme. The sociology of professional groups theory clearly differentiates between practical tacit knowledge and explicit formal knowledge, which is systemized in educational programmes. It presumes that those occupations whose practical work is more demanding and complex, such as doctors or lawyers, call for university programmes, while the educational programmes of other occupations (e.g. machine operators) appropriately remain at lower educational levels. This article studies whether or not this is really the case. It goes beyond this question and looks into the black box of practical occupational knowledge: required occupational competences, modes of learning and intellectuality of work. The article examines which of these elements are the most important for higher degrees of educational programmes. Finally, it develops a simple classification of occupations by the level of practical knowledge and a vertical formalization of the corresponding educational programme. For testing these confirmatory and exploratory hypotheses, the article uses a Slovenian pilot survey that encompasses 63 occupational groups with very diverse levels of formal education. The findings are put in the context of the Central European educational tradition (to which Slovenia belongs), where the accent on systematic, scientifically structured and theoretically grounded education persists.

The role of higher education in supporting graduates’ early labour market careers

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions by higher education (HE) senior professors and managers of their role in preparing graduates for entry to the labour market. By providing a theoretical and empirical overview of the functional role of HE institutions in preparing graduates for work, the paper designs an own research framework for future developments in this area. Design/methodology/approach - – The conclusions in the paper are based on a literature review and approximately 240 semi-structured interviews with HE professors and managers from six European countries and from six different study fields. The results are broadly compared with an international survey of graduates from 20, mainly European, countries. Findings - – The senior HE professors and managers see their own role in supporting graduates’ careers in a surprisingly intuitive way. There are some important differences and similarities among the study fields, although they are generally not motivated to apply an evidence-based approach to study and programme developments. Originality/value - – This paper is based on the results of a three-year survey of the European research network, and two international conferences comprising more than 100 contributions from over 30, mainly European, countries.