Exploring the value of values: Does higher education need to abandon a ‘skills transferability’ focus in favour of ‘values transferability’?

Jeffrey Naqvi

doi:10.21153/jtlge2026vol17no1art2200

Authors

Jeffrey Naqvi University of Sydney https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3857-6884

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21153/jtlge2026vol17no1art2200

Abstract

Higher education institutions (HEIs) in Australia have responded to their environment – driven by government and industry - and cultivated a skills focus when it comes to employability of its graduates. However, this has led to criticisms of a ‘job factory’ with minimal thought given to longer-term lifelong learning orientations and at the core, the students themselves and their values. With a quasi-field experiment design, using both phenomenology and surveys, 15 undergraduate and postgraduate students were exposed to a range of experiences exploring the role of values in career choice and career development. Findings reveal that students appreciate the focus on values as a currency of the employability equation. Five core themes arose out of the research: amplified career awareness; entrepreneurial thinking; anxiety; educational purpose; and understanding personal values. These findings pose questions for HEIs: whether to incorporate a discussion on values as part of employability; how to achieve this in a manner which reaches all students; and when is best to do so. Participants unanimously felt that the penultimate year of study is the ideal time to have a conversation with students not based on skills transferability into the workplace, but values transferability.

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Author Biography

Jeffrey Naqvi , University of Sydney

Interdisciplinary Lecturer, Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor – Education, Enterprise & Engagement

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreynaqvi/

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