discussion with, inter alia, educational institutions and representatives of recruiters (Folketinget, 2013, p. 24). Both quality and relevance is, hence, recurring themes in the proposal for the new Accreditation Law in Denmark - a theme that likewise can be strongly related to the persuaded necessary need of higher education institutions’ sugar - employability.
Having described and analysed the history and different definitions of employability, separate views of quality, stakeholders, the discourses surrounding us, dilemmas and consequences, demand-side and supply-side, challenges for skills and academic freedom, research on employability and a case-study on the Accreditation Law in Denmark, this now leads on to the earlier described alternative model to engage in the issues of employability, taking point of departure in the ideas described by Tom Schuller et al. More specifically, in relation to this thesis, it is obvious to question how to look at quality and relevance, hence employability, within higher education.
3.11. An Alternative Model for Employability To use the words by Martha Nussbaum (2010), the higher education institutions are at a cross road of deciding between the human development model and the growth model. The first model is based on the Socratic human nature, that education is taking point of departure in the intention to make the individual to a fellow citizen, in which dialogue, openness, critical thinking, reasoning and commitment are just as important for individual development and the creation of equal democratic opportunities. The latter model suggests that we must be educated in such a way, that we become a skilled resource for enterprises. The focus of all education is what the business demands and therefore a variety of tests are introduced to ensure that this objective is met. Instead of specific skills, generic skills, such as team-work and flexibility, are now demanded and maybe also more valued. According to Nussbaum, we are now seeing how:
“… education systems all over the world are moving closer and closer to the growth model, without much thought about how ill-suited it is to the goals of democracy.” (Nussbaum, 2011) 54