Dr Jasvir Kaur Nachatar Singh1
1La Trobe, Bundoora, Australia
Scholarly articles around employability has been widely emerging from the Western settings. Limited studies have been written on employability of international students in the non-Western settings such as China. China is now a new contender in the international student’s mobility market and with the rise of this giant market as a receiving country of international students, how has China navigated the employability of international students? Based on the recent QS Graduate Employability Rankings, Chinese universities especially Tsinghua and Wuhan universities are comparatively ranked higher as compared to other Western universities. But are these rankings reflecting the support provided by these universities to international students to increase their employability skills? This paper discloses the insider views on how internationals students in China are navigating their employability skills. Semi-structured one-to-one interviews were conducted with thirty international students studying in two Chinese universities (Tsinghua University and Wuhan University). Based on the thematic analysis, international students are aware that content/theoretical knowledge is not sufficient in this competitive job market. They are extremely conscious of developing their ‘hands-on’/practical skills which are related to their profession. These Chinese universities have allocated limited resources for assisting international students to develop their employability skills and as a result, international students have the sense of self-responsibility in charting their career path. For example, seeking internship/placements in China or at their home country, mentoring/guidance received from their former teachers in their home countries in managing their career passageway and the importance of visitations to organisations in China. The paper also discusses the micro (international students and Chinese higher learning institutions) and macro (China as the receiving country) implications on the employability of international students studying in China.
Biography:
Dr Jasvir Kaur Nachatar Singh is an award winning lecturer at the Department of Management, Sport and Tourism, La Trobe University. Dr Singh has been researching academic success, teaching and learning as well as employability issues relating to international students from Malaysia, Australia and China. Dr Singh has received several top La Trobe University grants and has published in quality higher education journals (mostly Q1) as well as presented her work worldwide.