Marketing graduate employability: The language of employability in higher education

In this chapter, we report on a study that focused on a rarely acknowledged but important feature of massification: namely, the increasing pressure exerted on higher education institutions to market their courses to prospective students. Students invest considerable time and money in their higher education studies. Although most students select their program and major on the basis of interest and strength, they expect their efforts to be rewarded with graduate-level paid work. Students' expectations of this work are informed by their academic and personal self-efficacy, subjective norms, behavioural intentions and their engagement with multiple communities of practice. Students are also influenced by institutional messaging, including that contained on university websites.