INTERNSHIPS, SKILLS AND EMPLOYABILITY: MAPPING THE FIELD THROUGH A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

The paper provides an innovative approach of the less studied interactions between internships, students' skills, and employability, relying on a bibliometric analysis. Students’ skills are enhanced through internship, which contributes to increasing employability. We analysed: the dynamics of the number of studies for the time framework 2010-2021, the geographical distribution, the links between the keywords and the number of citations, using VOSViewer. The papers were selected from Web of Science and Scopus, that seem to be rather complementary: in Web of Science the majority of publications are conference volumes (and with Open Access), in Scopus journals predominate (mainly with restricted access). Also, there is a shift of the research interest from education to labour market related concepts, such as “work experience”, “graduate employability”, “performance”.