International students’ graduate employability: employer and student perspectives

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International students’ graduate employability: employer and student perspectives

By Xin Zhao (Skye) and Andrew Cox (Information School) and Yiyun Ling (Careers Service)



 

Employability is an important aspect of student education. That is not to say that it is the sole reason for study, but it is an important issue for most students. How does studying in the UK impact the employability of Chinese students? There is surprisingly little research on this question and we probably all feel a little unsure about what Chinese employers might want from new employees and how what students learn here in the UK aligns with their needs. In this context, the blog reports on a study we undertook last year looking at how Chinese employers, students and alumni viewed the impact on employability of studying in the UK.

This blog posting is based on an online survey conducted in May 2020, which explored the perspectives of Chinese employers (n=45), current Chinese students (n=89) and alumni (n=59) on international student employability. In particular, we wanted to find out what count as essential employability skills and how study abroad might impact student skills development. In this posting, we focus on the overseas employers’ perspectives, which we had identified as a gap in the literature. We also highlight some of the main issues that students face when returning to their home country to work. We conclude with our reflections on how this might inform our teaching practice.

We would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude to the Careers Service department for supporting the data collection process. 

Highlights of the main findings:

  • The majority of our Chinese international students plan to seek employment in China.
  • There is a need to align our employability training to the essential employability skills considered by overseas employers. In this blog, we have listed the top 10 essential skills from the perspective of overseas employers, including time-management skills, ability to take initiative, analytical and problem-solving skills.
  • Our data suggest that overseas employers, current students and alumni rely mostly on Chinese career information platforms to search for jobs. The top three Chinese career channels are Zhilian, 51job, Liepin.
  • Chinese students returning home from study in the UK often face a reverse language barrier. We should encourage them to learn and communicate subject-related knowledge in both languages.
  • There is a mismatch between Chinese recruitment rounds and teaching semesters in the UK. Career support could target these two recruitment rounds to support Chinese international students.

 For inclusivity purposes, we have included a separate description of all figures in this article.

 

The majority of Chinese international students plan to return to work in their home country

According to our data, although employability is not the sole driver for students to study abroad, it is ranked as the second most important reason (Figure 1). The majority of Chinese international students (75%) plan to go back to China to work directly after graduation. Only 13% of student participants expressed interest in looking for employment in the UK. This highlights the importance of providing ongoing career support with a focus on the Chinese job markets.

Figure 1: Reasons for study abroad (Figure 1 description)


Essential employability skills from the perspective of overseas employers

In the survey participants were asked to categorise a list of 34 different employability skills derived from the literature into not important, desirable and essential. Employers consider time management and the ability to take the initiative as the joint top essential employability skills. Subject-specific skills, Chinese language and foreign language skills are also prominent. Perhaps not surprisingly, Chinese language skills are considered more important than English language skills. 

Figure 2 Employers’ rating of the top 10 essential skills (Figure 2 description) 


How does study abroad experience impacts student employability skills development

Employers were asked which skills they considered those who had studied abroad in the UK were stronger in than students who had studied in China. Figure 3 presents the results. The list aligns with the teaching focus in UK universities. However, among these skills, only foreign language skills are considered both essential and to have been enhanced from study abroad. Employers were then asked which skills they considered students who had studied solely in China are stronger in compared to overseas returnees. The list of skills in Figure 4 aligns with a recent British Council report, that suggests that students studying abroad may be perceived to lose touch with the local markets, to have fewer contacts in China and have seen their numerical skills decreased. Among these weaker skills, Chinese reading and writing skills, customer service skills and loyalty to positions happen to be considered essential for employability according to employers. This gives us food for thought, about whether we should align our teaching and training sessions on student employability more towards the needs of such overseas job markets.

Figure 3 Top employability skills enhanced by study abroad from the perspectives of employers (Figure 3 description)


Figure 4   Top employability skills that are less strong among students who study in the UK compared to those who studied in China (Figure 4 description)


Chinese information channels are more popular with overseas employers

Our data suggest that overseas employers, current students and alumni rely mostly on Chinese career information platforms to search for jobs rather than UK ones (Figure 5). Zhilian, 51job, Liepin are the top three information channels for searching for graduate jobs in China. This highlights the needs for us to have awareness or collaborations with these platforms.

 

Reflection and conclusions

Employability is a key driver for students to study abroad. Our academic departments make a great effort to embed employability skills into curriculum design and the Careers service provides training and information to students in these areas. Our blog posting highlights the need to identify essential employability skills from the perspective of overseas employers to support international students to gain the skills they need. In addition to analysing this from a skills perspective, our blog also emphasises the importance of an awareness of non-UK career information channels. A reverse language barrier and mismatch between Chinese recruitment rounds and teaching semesters in the UK can potentially negatively impact student employability.

As teachers, we could do more to explore student needs with our colleagues in careers services to prepare students for returning to their home employment market. For example, we can organise more training sessions on essential employability skills identified by overseas employers. We should use global case studies to internationalise our curriculum. But perhaps there should be greater encouragement to think about encouraging students to discover how to express ideas in both English and students’ native tongue and to engage in Careers opportunities at an early stage. These findings may well apply not just to Chinese students, but to all international students, albeit there may be significant variation across groups. It is a cliche, but true: more research is needed!