The growing emphasis on employability in higher education has increasingly placed literature and other humanities disciplines under pressure to justify their relevance to an ostensibly skills-driven labour market. Yet, the assumption that literature is disconnected from employability is not adequately supported by research. Studies of graduate employability consistently identify communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, adaptability, teamwork, and research skills among the competencies valued by employers, precisely the transferable capacities that literary study can cultivate through close reading, interpretation, argumentation, discussion, and writing. Established research has identified English proficiency, teamwork, communication, and personal attributes as significant employability factors, while also highlighting the continuing challenges faced by graduates in research and persuasive communication. Rather than rendering literature unnecessary, therefore, the employability agenda provides an opportunity to rearticulate literature education as a site for developing transferable human and intellectual capabilities.
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