Can bridging programmes strengthen employability
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21458644 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Line Nortvedt (0000-0003-2874-5138, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University, corresponding author), Astrid Gillespie (0000-0002-9998-5975, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University), Ida Drange (0000-0002-1762-4341, OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-19 |
| Publication date | 2026-05-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Studies in Continuing Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0158-037X • E-ISSN: 1470-126X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0158037x.2026.2675566 |
| OpenAlex | W7161765529 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 27 |
Foreign-trained professionals face barriers to occupational reintegration in the destination country. These barriers may be formal, such as a lack of professional accreditation from sectorial authorities or statutory language requirements, or informal, such as social closures, in-group preferences, and discrimination. Bridging programmes aim to equip foreign-trained professionals with the credentials and skills required in local labour markets. We investigate the experiences of professionals who have completed the bridging programmes for nurses, teachers, and engineers to understand whether and how, according to the candidates, these programmes prepare them for employment. We use the theoretical lens of graduate capital to consider the impact of these programmes on self-perceived employability and employment trajectories. Our findings show that bridging programmes improve candidates’ self-perceived employability, but the transition to work also depends on external structures, such as occupational labour markets and support networks in local communities, at workplaces, and at the university. While nurses are highly employable, teachers and engineers do not surmount labour market barriers from bridging programmes alone and voice the need for further education to familiarise their competence with employers
Accreditation · Employability · Professional development · Statutory law · Higher Education and Employability · Higher Education Learning Practices · Human Resource Development and Performance Evaluation · Social Work
Forms of graduate capital and their relationship to graduate employability
Self‐perceived employability
The complexity of professional integration
‘Back to work’—factors facilitating migrants’ re-entry into their previous vocations
Investigating the relationship between career planning, proactivity and employability perceptions among higher education students in uncertain labour market conditions
Relaunching labour-market integration for migrants
Graduate Employability
Professional integration as a boundary crossing
Forms of capital and agency as mediations in negotiating employability of international graduate migrants
From surviving to thriving
Job-seeking narratives
Introduction “Labour market integration of highly skilled refugees in Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands”
Professional development of newly arrived teachers in Sweden
Agency in deskilling
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Liminalitet og appropriering
In their own time
Intersecting Experiences
The Demand Side of Hiring
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |