by Omolabake Fakunle and Helen Higson

We were very proud to have our paper accepted at SRHE’s 2023 Research Conference. This was particularly because we value our collaboration, which was born via SRHE, and our paper was about that journey. This blogpost shares highlights from our SRHE 2023 conference paper which outlined: (i) our collaboration to publication research story; (ii) the importance of SRHE in our collaborative journey; which amongst many positives for nearly a decade, links directly to (iii) our award-winning journal paper that presented a conceptual framing of employability in different global contexts.

Our collaboration to publication research story

This recent piece of work started with a joint seminar at the 2019 SRHE Conference at Celtic Manor. We gathered a group of employability researchers to explore different aspects of interrogating methodologies and approaches on employability from different disciplinary perspectives and country contexts. It was a lively session, inspiring much debate including questions from the audience, and making us realise that it was time to re-evaluate yet again the conceptions of what employability meant.  We were encouraged to suggest a follow up session, and by the time we left the room we had agreed to investigate the production of a special issue of Higher Education Quarterly (HEQ).

We discussed the initial steps in our collaboration to publication journey. Helen shared her recollections and how she persuaded Labake, as an early career researcher, that her career would be strongly enhanced by taking the lead in the endeavour. Hence, throughout the Covid-19 lockdown and beyond, Labake pitched our idea, had it accepted by the editors of HEQ, and then worked to make sure that all the contributors met deadlines, and delivered papers of the quality needed for publication.

In July 2021, our special issue entitled ‘Interrogating theoretical and empirical approaches to employability in different global contexts’, appeared online and on paper in HEQ. We were ecstatic and amazed at the success of the publication, particularly when we discovered in 2023 that our introduction paper, Fakunle & Higson (2021) and Labake’s substantial paper (Fakunle, 2021), had been Wiley’s top cited and most downloaded articles respectively (in 2021/22). Additionally, both papers and two other papers from the Special Issue were cited in Tight’s (2023) recent review and synthesis of the debate and continuing discussion around how employability is viewed in relation to the core purpose of higher education. This affirms the intellectual quality and care with which the work had been carried out. We talked about the impact for our career trajectory, and its significance as Helen entered her third decade of researching in employability, with the first 20 years charted in Higson (2023).

The importance of SRHE to this work

This second part of our paper concentrated on the role of SRHE in the triumphs mentioned above.  As we chart this contribution, we acknowledge that it is a story that many other HE researchers will recognise.  For both  of us, the SRHE has played a major and significant part in our research journeys, both individually, but in this context particularly together.

The story begins when Helen was appointed Co-Network Convenor of the SRHE Employability and Enterprise special interest group. This involved running a number of very successful research days in London, and an eventful one held in 2014 in Edinburgh, which saved Scottish colleagues some journey time. The well attended event attracted participants not only from Scotland, but also from Northern Ireland and from England, as far south at Bournemouth. The session was held at the Dovecote Studios, where we first met when Labake, then a PhD student, was working on the employability of international students. This shows the importance of these events, and the vital role of supervisors and network convenors to encourage PhD students to attend these events, which are always collegiate and inspire confidence in early career researchers. This SRHE event at Edinburgh was the starting point for the mentoring relationship and follow-up conversations at subsequent SRHE Conferences. We provide below a brief snapshot/testimonial about the efficacy of SRHE network events.

Helen’s reflections

As network convenor, I was always keen to create a community of practice for employability researchers at the Conference.  On the first night, before most of the conference had started, I always hosted a table in the restaurant.  This allowed lone researchers, new researchers, and first time conference goers to join our group in an informal setting.  This always ensured that there were friendly attenders at conference presentations, and often led to future collaborations.  A number of my best collaborators and now friendships (including with Labake), stemmed from those friendly dinners, at which we always ran out of chairs.

Labake’s reflections

I kept in touch with Helen during and after completing my PhD and my academic roles at the University of Edinburgh. I enjoyed attending several Employability events as a valued opportunity to network with colleagues from the UK and abroad and explore collaborative opportunities. This formed the basis for asking Helen to join me in contributing to the Conference seminar in 2019, and our continuing mutually beneficial collaborations. I am especially proud that one of my PhD students was accepted to present her research at the 2023 SRHE conference and is able to avail themselves of the networking opportunities!  

Our groundbreaking employability framework

Our presentation culminated with the discussion about the employability framework in our award-winning journal article published here. The framework proposes a conceptualisation of employability in 3 dimensions: outcomes, process and conceptual. The outcomes approach is centred on economic parameters based on individual competence and employment rates. We point to the dominance of the outcomes approach in the multiplicity of definitions and understandings of employability. The process approach captures the role of higher education institutions in providing and assessing employability development opportunities. We differentiated between different conceptual approaches of employability dimensions such as the dominant human capital theory (underpinning the outcomes approach), critical realism, capability and positional conflict. The framework provides conceptual clarity that addresses contesting positionalities and differing positions on what employability is, and the relevance beyond dominant outcomes approach and western-focused context.

Conclusion

We are grateful and mindful that SRHE worked the magic for us, bringing together an experienced researcher and ECR with impactful outcomes. Our story is one of many. Hopefully, our story will inspire other ECRs to reach out and make the best of the opportunities that SRHE provides. We also want to highlight how the input and support from more experienced researchers, and collaboration can make a lot of difference in academic career trajectory!

Dr Omolabake Fakunle is Chancellor’s Fellow, and Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh. She is Affiliate Faculty, Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI), Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano. Her award-winning research, teaching and consultancy includes inclusivity in internationalisation, employability, and decoloniality. She was a member of the inaugural Scottish Funding Council’s Tertiary Quality Framework Expert Advisory Group, and current member of the SRHE Governance and Appointments Committee. 

Professor Helen Higson OBE DL was Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Aston University.  She is now Professor of Higher Education Learning and Management in Aston Business School.  Helen is a Principal Fellow of Advance HE and a National Teaching Fellow.  Her recent research, policy and consultancy work includes intercultural training, developing employability and skills development, facilitating a coaching