The Transition from Higher Education to Employment in Europe

Abstract

The study of the so‐called transition phase in the lives of young people as they move from higher education graduation to employment is becoming an important area of study. A thorough understanding of the process contributes to a general understanding of the link between higher education and employment. The transition phase is examined from an international comparative perspective. Transition can be “smooth” or “rough”, Japan being known as having, by and large, the smoothest and the most institutionally aided process of transition. The type of institution from which one graduates plays a role in the type of transition process that one will experience, but it does not follow that graduates of applied programmes and institutions (Fachhochschulen) will have an easier time than graduates of traditional universities. The subject as a whole, that is filled with subtleties, clearly deserves to be the object of additional study.