Discipline-specific and academic competencies of the higher educated: their value in the labour market and their acquisition in education

This paper summarizes the outlines of three empirical studies that we have carried out on actual labour market value of the various types of competencies acquired in higher education and how these competencies may be taught most effectively. The focus is on the discipline-specific competencies and academic competencies. In all three studies, use was made of the European CHEERS dataset. The main results with regard to the labour market value of the various competencies are that a high level of discipline-specific competencies provides graduates with a comparative advantage in jobs within their own professional domain, where they also earn more than outside this domain. Graduates who possess a high level of academic competencies, have a comparative advantage outside their own professional domain, where they may initially earn less than in their own domain. As they are more inclined to take part in training activities and are able to obtain the required competencies for a supervisory position more quickly, their salaries rise more quickly with time. With regard to the organization of the education process, we found that activating learning methods contribute effectively to both the acquisition of academic competencies and the acquisition of discipline-specific competencies. By combining these methods with a more prominent position for knowledge transfer by teachers, the acquired level of discipline-specific competencies can be increased without affecting the acquisition of academic competencies.