The shape of research in the field of higher education and graduate employment: some issues

This article offers a critical evaluation of research in the field of graduate employment in the UK. In these days of ever-growing research and governmental interest in the nature of graduate employment, as well as in the purposes and efficacy of higher education, such a review is timely. Every field in every discipline has its particular shape, which is usually unquestioned and which arises out of historical influences, disciplinary traditions, the personal interests of leading figures past and present macro-societal and intellectual developments funding arrangements for research and so on. The field of higher education and graduate employment is no exception. This article will probe the shape of the graduate employment literature and query some taken-for-granted norms in the field. The article will explore issues such as the forces shaping research in the field, the foci of the research, and the scholarly and methodological limitations of the research. The article offers a selective critique, rather than a comprehensive review.