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Introduction
The impetus for students to acquire employability skills comes from a variety of sources including employers, government and educational institutions. Most employers are very specific about the skills required for a particular post, usually including a detailed person specification in the job details. Over the last 20 years in the UK there has been a whole range of government initiatives to encourage employability and the development of lifelong learning such as Enterprise in Education (1995). The Dearing Report (1997) stated that the development of such key skills should be the aim of every higher education (HE) institution. It concluded that the rapid change in the labour market and the unpredictability of the UK economy meant that "institutions will need to meet the aspirations of individuals to re-equip themselves for a succession of jobs over a working lifetime" ([9] National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education, 1997). In the light of these findings, HE institutions worked hard over the next decade to change their curricula to reflect the importance of employability skills for students and also to strengthen their links with local employers.
More recently, an article published in Studies in Higher Education stated that "Employability issues are at the very core of contemporary HE in the UK" ([2] Cranmer, 2006). "The graduate labour market is not a level playing field, and these graduates obviously do need to develop and effectively present the kinds of personal skills and qualities demanded by employers if they are to stand a chance" ([8] Moreau and Leatherwood, 2006). For example, it has become very apparent over the last few years that "information literacy skills are too important to students' future success to be ignored" ([11] Zalaquett and Osborne, 2007). The current economic downturn and subsequent recession has put pressures on the job market and in turn this has increased the pressure on universities to produce employable graduates. David [10] Rae (2008) commented "given that the UK may be about to experience for the first time a period of economic downturn during the era of mass participation in higher education ... it is unclear what implications these factors may have for higher education". It is now extremely important that a graduate leaves HE with a deeper knowledge of the...