Higher Education and the Employability Ecosystem: Localizing Evidence Generation to Catalyze Locally Led Employability Solutions

• In Event: Localization in Education and International Development

Proposal

Higher education institutions (HEI) are uniquely positioned to support local capacity strengthening across multiple stakeholders and systems through its research, education, workforce training, and community engagement functions. For example, donor investments in HEI capacity allow institutions to increase the skills of the local workforce by improving its curricula and pedagogy that is reflective of local and global industry needs. HEIs can also lead to local development as implementers of development projects that require the technical expertise and community connections necessary for sustainable development look to increase their workforce. Using higher education employability as the subject of investigation, this presentation will present preliminary findings from a global evidence generation and usage study supported by an international development agency that seeks to identify evidence-based practices that support the employability of higher education learners and graduates.

This research was developed through a localized and emergent process in which higher education faculty, learners, international development staff, and implementing partners in Africa and Latin America were able to contribute evidence-based practices and inform each phase of the research based on their collective employability experiences. As the generation and capture of evidence continued through desk review, key informant interviews, and consultations, local research teams began to pilot deliverables designed to increase usage of evidence-based practices through a localized approach to knowledge generation and dissemination in an international development agency. This presentation will share preliminary findings from this work and offer synthesis and lessons learned for implementing a localized research design process to inform international development practices within international development agency priorities of localization and capacity strengthening.

Author

• Jennifer Lebron, Education Development Center