ABSTRACT
Cross culturally speaking, the prevailing approach to higher education as a priority area for national development is built on the assumption that investment in education at the highest level of the system is the path for both individual advancement and sustained upward mobility of the students that can enter the system and attain the corresponding technical or professional credentials. In the context of an increasingly open market global economy the ‘employability’ of graduates is at the core of this crucial assumption. is is probably the major factor that explains the massive growth of the student population in the higher education systems everywhere. National higher education systems are being shaped according to dierent public policy combinations or ‘models’ through which the concerned ocial agencies face the challenges emerging from this generalised assumption. e student experience in each national context cannot be understood without taking into consideration the impact these policy models have on the students and their families.
