A bibliometric and visual analysis of Chinese and international postgraduate employment in the last decade: developments, hotspots, and trend directions

Abstract

The continuous expansion of postgraduate education and the structural bias of the job market have brought much attention to the employment of postgraduate students. To better understand the employment gap between Chinese and international postgraduate students and effectively advance future research, this research selects China National Knowledge Infrastructure and Web of Science as data sources to conduct a quantitative scientometric assessment of the literature from 2011 to 2021. According to the survey, Chinese publications mostly focus on the discipline of higher education, whereas overseas journals are more diverse. There is no systematic network of inter-author and inter-institutional cooperation in China and internationally. Research hotspots have some convergence, but with slightly different focuses. There is still a rich field of employment for graduate students in China and overseas that has yet to be explored. In the future, we should enhance the breadth and depth of research and cooperation and strengthen academic innovation and interdisciplinary research.