Abstract
This article examines the employability of Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) graduates in China, where globalized exchanges have led to an increasing need for translation education in recent decades; however few studies have assessed the employment of MTI graduates. To that end, we have surveyed all the MTI alumni that graduated between 2015 and 2020 from one first-tier university in Shanghai using a questionnaire based on a comprehensive employability measurement model. By processing the collected questionnaire data in a quantitative manner, we illustrate the industrial distribution of the employed MTI graduates and identify the core assets constituting their employability needed to work in different industries. Via comparisons between our inquiry results and the current enrollment and curricular design of MTI programs, we further argue that the actual market for MTI graduates is experiencing a surplus and that MTI curricula have not completely met the employability requirements in various industries and professions. The conclusion herein implies a nationwide revision of China’s MTI programs, which may include the control of student enrollment and updated syllabi catering to the employability requirements in China’s workplaces.
Highlights
For the subcomponents, we differentiated the impact of every single item in each respondent group using variable importance in projection (VIP) scores (VIP >1) in a partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model based on the values (1 to 5) ascribed to them in the questionnaire answers
We have focused on the demand-supply relationship in translation education, and compared the actual market need for translators, as indicated by graduates’ industrial distribution, and recent Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) student enrollment
To cope with the lack of understanding related to the employability of translation graduates, this article has explored the distribution of the employed MTI graduates in different industries, and identified the core assets constituting their employability needed to work in various industries of professions among graduates from one MTI program in a Chinese university
Summary
Despite the “remarkable” development of translation education in the past decades (Caminade & Pym, 1998) in the aspects of educational philosophy and training methods, few studies have evaluated to what extent translation programs have prepared their graduates with the multilingual skills and nonlinguistic competences needed for actual practice in the language services market from the perspective of employability. For this reason, we conducted this inquiry to investigate the employment status and core employability assets of the Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) graduates from a university in China. With the research findings, we will evaluate whether current MTI programs have well met China’s workplace reality, and we will provide a further discussion
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
